Results 2026 World Championships Men's Elite Road Race - Brandon McNulty survives race for the ages to end 33-year US drought after Van der Poel, Pidcock, Evenepoel and Del Toro thriller

Brandon McNulty has won the elite men's road race at the 2026 World Championships in Montreal, ending a 33-year wait for an American rainbow jersey after surviving one of the most chaotic and relentlessly attacking editions of the race in recent memory.

The American crossed the line 13 seconds clear after a solo move which looked, at different points, both decisive and doomed. Michael Matthews completed a remarkable ride to take silver for Australia, while Mathieu van der Poel salvaged bronze after spending much of the final 70 kilometres as one of the principal aggressors.

McNulty had gone clear from an elite selection on the Mont-Royal circuit and at one stage stretched his advantage beyond a minute, only to see it collapse to around 10 seconds on the final lap as Tom Pidcock and Giulio Ciccone finally began making serious inroads. Just as the catch seemed inevitable, the cooperation behind disappeared once again.

That hesitation proved decisive. McNulty found another handful of seconds, then another, and by the time the race reached the final kilometre the rainbow jersey was his to lose.

The opening half of the race had been built around a 16-man escape containing Biniam Girmay, Andreas Leknessund and Felix Engelhardt, with Henok Mulubrhan, Guillaume Boivin, Emils Liepins and Jamie Meehan adding further quality.

The move formed after an aggressive opening outside Brossard and was eventually allowed to stretch its advantage to around eight and a half minutes. Belgium, the Netherlands, Mexico and Great Britain shared much of the early workload behind, while France initially stayed relatively quiet despite arriving with a squad clearly designed to make the race as hard as possible for Paul Seixas.

That changed almost immediately once the race reached the repeated Mont-Royal circuit. Bruno Armirail moved to the front and spent lap after lap driving the peloton, steadily stripping time from the break and riders from the back of the bunch. Switzerland and Mexico offered occasional help, but much of the damage came from the Frenchman alone.

The break began to fragment under the pressure. Girmay and Engelhardt were among those eventually distanced, while Leknessund, Mulubrhan, Meehan and Liepins became the final survivors before the move was finally swallowed up.

Behind them, riders were disappearing from the peloton too. Alec Segaert paid for his earlier work for Belgium, while Afonso Eulalio, Felix Gall and Ben O'Connor were among those unable to survive the increased tempo.

Once the early break had almost been erased, France switched from control to attack. Valentin Paret-Peintre and Jordan Jegat were among the first to move, while Pavel Sivakov was also used as the race began to open up. Anthon Charmig briefly escaped before Alex Baudin helped trigger the first move containing several genuine contenders.

Oscar Onley, Maxim Van Gils, Giulio Ciccone and Ben Healy were among those involved, but the danger increased sharply once Van der Poel decided to jump across.

Wout van Aert soon followed with an attack of his own, while Primoz Roglic and McNulty also worked their way into the action. When that larger group threatened to come back together, Van Aert went again rather than allowing the race to settle.

This time Van Aert, Van der Poel, Roglic, Onley and Charmig opened daylight, with Quinn Simmons bridging across to make six. Their advantage quickly moved towards 40 seconds and, for the first time, the riders who had spent much of the afternoon waiting were forced to show their hands.

Isaac del Toro accelerated on the Cote Camillien-Houde, with Remco Evenepoel and Seixas immediately responding. Healy, Juan Ayuso, Ciccone and Matteo Jorgenson were also drawn into a chase which repeatedly threatened to close before hesitation opened the door again.

The first really violent split among the six leaders came from Van der Poel. Only Simmons and Onley could initially follow his acceleration, while Van Aert, Roglic and Charmig were left behind. Roglic resisted the temptation to chase the Dutchman immediately, settled into his own rhythm and steadily rode his way back across.

Van der Poel attacked again with just over 50 kilometres remaining and this time Onley could not stay with him. That left Van der Poel, Simmons and Roglic together at the head of the race, with Healy beginning a determined chase from behind.

The Irishman first caught Onley, then left him on the Cote Camillien-Houde before eventually completing the bridge to the front trio. For a brief period, Van der Poel, Roglic, Simmons and Healy appeared to have turned the race into a four-man battle.

Behind them, however, nothing stayed settled for long.

Evenepoel repeatedly struggled when Del Toro increased the pace, while Van Aert went from one of the day's main attackers to working for his Belgian teammate after waiting for him further down the road. Evenepoel responded by attacking once he had been brought back, only for Seixas to follow and Del Toro to counter again.

The constant accelerations eventually dragged a larger group back into contention, ending the long spell in which Van der Poel, Roglic and Simmons had seemed to hold the upper hand.

When the front of the race came back together, twelve riders briefly found themselves in contention. It lasted only moments.

Jorgenson attacked with Ciccone and Pidcock, while Matthews somehow remained involved despite appearing close to being dropped several times earlier. Del Toro then forced another selection which left Seixas, Ciccone, Jorgenson, Pidcock, Van der Poel, McNulty and Matthews among the strongest riders still in the fight.

McNulty chose that moment to attack. Nobody reacted immediately, and the American's tactical situation could hardly have been better. Simmons and Jorgenson had no reason to help the chase, while Del Toro was understandably reluctant to tow a group of rivals back towards his UAE Team Emirates teammate.

The gap opened quickly. Thirty seconds became more than a minute, even after McNulty briefly misjudged a corner and came close to throwing away the biggest opportunity of his career.

Pidcock was the rider most willing to keep the chase alive. Having earlier recovered from a crash, the Brit repeatedly accelerated and at one stage managed to distance both Del Toro and Van der Poel.

Seixas also remained prominent, while Evenepoel somehow reappeared after repeatedly looking finished and even launched another late attack of his own. Still, McNulty reached the final lap with around 53 seconds in hand.

That advantage suddenly looked far less comfortable on the final ascent of the Cote Camillien-Houde. Pidcock and Ciccone began cutting heavily into the gap, while Del Toro, Seixas, Matthews, Jorgenson and Van der Poel remained close enough to keep the pressure on. The chasers could see McNulty ahead and, at one stage, had reduced his advantage to around 10 seconds.

For the first time since his attack, the American looked genuinely vulnerable. Then the chase stalled. After more than 250 kilometres of racing, nobody wanted to spend the final reserves of energy only to tow a rival into position. McNulty, visibly tiring, suddenly had another chance.

Van der Poel tried once more on the university climb. Pidcock attacked again. Mauro Schmid also launched a late move, while Evenepoel and Healy somehow returned to the picture yet again.

McNulty kept riding. By the final kilometre, the race for gold was finally settled. Matthews emerged from the fragmented chase to take a superb silver, while Van der Poel completed the podium with bronze after spending so much of the afternoon trying to break the race apart.

McNulty crossed the line after 6:17:04, ending America's 33-year wait for an elite men's road world title.

In a race where Van der Poel, Van Aert, Roglic, Pidcock, Evenepoel, Del Toro, Seixas, Healy, Onley, Simmons, Jorgenson and McNulty all had moments where victory or a medal looked genuinely possible, it was the American who finally survived the last swing of momentum.