"It’s kind of a roll of a dice" - Brandon McNulty anticipates final Vuelta time-trial and World Championships
Cycling
Brandon McNulty has shown himself at a very high level this year against the clock and will be a favourite to win the final time-trial of the Vuelta a España but also the World Championships. This afternoon, he has the chance to finish the Spanish race the same way he started it.
The UAE Team Emirates rider talks about the crash on stage 14 which left him battered and bruised in dramatic fashion. “I was scared to go off under the guardrail, but I could feel right away that I was fine, just road rash and cuts,. It was traumatic, but in all honesty, I’ve had worse injuries in a crash at a roundabout or something, so I was quite lucky," McNulty admits in words to Cyclingnews. “You get so used to leaning the bike over and being at one with the bike one day but then the next it’s like a foreign thing. It’s been tough to get the confidence back, but it’s coming.”
He talks about a minor injury in the Achilles heel but that has been worked on in the past few days and he is hoping to show his best legs today in Madrid where he is a contender for victory; alongside the likes of Stefan Küng, Primoz Roglic and Mathias Vacek who was second to him in Lisbon three weeks ago.
Whether it will favour him or not, it's a bit of an unknown. “I haven’t seen it in person, but I have looked at the Veloviewer, and I’ve seen enough of it. And obviously, it’s stage 21, so it’s also about what you have left.”
He was selected this week for the World Championships, where he will team up with Magnus Sheffield for the time-trial event. “I didn’t really know how I’d go in long ones, but in Glasgow, it was nearly one-hour long and I think I was better actually,” McNulty added. “I think if I have legs, then it could be a good course for me. But it’s tough when you’re two weeks after a Grand Tour.”
“For me, it’s kind of completely random,” he said. “In 2021, I was super good in the Olympic road race the week after the Tour, but then my TT was bad. We’ve seen guys like Remco were good in the TT after riding the Tour this year, but he’s obviously a different rider to me. For me, it’s kind of a roll of a dice," he concluded.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- the headline is poorly written too. it makes it sound like their plan is to simply wait until he stops.mij13-11-2026
- It doesnt take a genius to understand that Pogi is 1 level above and Pogi is younger that Jonas, so Jonas will not win under ordinary circumstances. Pogi has to crack hard for Jonas to win. It doesn't matter whether you defend Jonas or not , facts remain facts. Jonas himself says his numbers are better than 2022/2023, so Jonas is more or less optimized and we are just see the stochastic variation due to other factors. I think he will retire along with Pedersen in WC denmarkabstractengineer13-11-2026
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- your clinging to the past. Jonas was dropped by del toro many times last year and jonas never managed a climbing numers del toro did in dauphine last year -entire year. Trend is also evident theres no discussion your living in the past, its beent he same with jonas for many years now and only developing, meanwhile del toro is rising and developing greatly. This is all obvious stuff and im not even a del toro fan. No point discussing numbers or this i suspect you dont watch much now but rather think its 2022 still cause this aint hard.miguel13-11-2026
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- What wins? Are you LA operating under a pseudonym?mij13-11-2026
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