“The King of Montreal” - Tadej Pogacar passes rainbow torch to Brandon McNulty one year after gifting him victory on same roads
CyclingMonday, 28 September 2026 at 14:45
Tadej Pogacar has hailed Brandon McNulty as the new “King of Montreal” after his UAE Team Emirates - XRG teammate claimed the rainbow jersey on roads where the Slovenian had already helped deliver him one of the biggest wins of his career.
“The King of Montreal. Proud of you, Brandon,” Pogacar posted on Instagram after watching McNulty complete a stunning solo victory in Sunday's elite men's road race. There was more history behind the message than a simple teammate congratulations, with the pair having already shared one of the most memorable moments of their partnership on the same Montreal circuit just 12 months earlier.
From gifted Montreal win to world champion
At the 2025 GP Montreal, Pogacar had attacked clear before waiting for McNulty, allowing the pair to ride the closing kilometres together before the American crossed the line first.
Pogacar was clearly the stronger rider on the day and effectively handed his teammate the victory, giving McNulty a major WorldTour win on roads which would become even more important one year later. This time, however, there was no gift involved.
McNulty attacked with around 32 kilometres remaining in the World Championship road race and built a lead of more than a minute before the chase finally began to close. Tom Pidcock, Mathieu van der Poel, Isaac del Toro and others repeatedly threatened to bring him back, with the gap falling towards ten seconds on the final lap, but the American held on to win by 13 seconds ahead of Michael Matthews and Van der Poel.
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Pogacar’s rainbow jersey stays in the family
Pogacar had worn the rainbow jersey after winning the elite men's road race in both 2024 and 2025, but injury prevented him from defending the title in Montreal. McNulty ensured the jersey would remain within UAE Team Emirates-XRG anyway, taking over from his teammate on the same roads where Pogacar had helped put him on the top step a year earlier.
This time McNulty had earned the victory entirely on his own, surviving one of the wildest World Championship finales of recent years to become the first US elite men's road world champion in 33 years.
McNulty said after the finish that he hoped he had made Pogacar proud. His teammate’s reaction left little doubt.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- How much was this podium a Pogačar podium, even in his absence? A loyal domestique deservedly wins it after the 1-2 they shared on this circuit. In second is a great friend and training partner who helped Pogačar get to winning MSR. In third is the friend who is the second best monuments winner of this generation, the race rival who has made Pogačar better and better. Not a bad podium for a guy who wasn’t there, and I can only assume that he’s incredibly and genuinely happy for every single one of them.RidesHills28-09-2026
- And mostly fines to countries that don't have money to wasteHills3328-09-2026
- What is it with him and the Canadian races? An incredible result from one of the elders of the peloton (Valverde winning was crazy, Matthews second on this course is crazy in a different way). What a great result for him, what a ride!RidesHills28-09-2026
- With a strategy of following every del Toro move, he placed his fate in the hands of another - and the way the race unfolded was very much because of their 1-2 just two weeks ago on this circuit. His cramps are to me a sign of youth and inexperience (was this his longest ever race?), his disappointment shows how much of a human being he is, what pride he has, and what responsibility he feels toward honoring his team’s work as their leader. An honorable loss from a great and still very young rider.RidesHills28-09-2026
- The most important sentence here is where he ran out of energy when he and Pidcock were so tantalizingly close. Had he been able to take a pull, able to push that one little bit harder, the two of them likely would have reached McNulty and the trio would have possibly ended up on the podium. Instead, chase group politics happened, as they always do in these situations. He tried, and like so many others the legs gave out at the wrong time. Such is racing.RidesHills28-09-2026
- Well said
Rggg28-09-2026 - UCI handing out fines like crazymij28-09-2026
- For sure. And I love WVA. He is a great rider. But watching MVDP attack - Wout can’t hang with him. You can see it in CX all the time too. He lacks Mathieu’s explosiveness. It’s amazing.mij28-09-2026
- Why didn’t he go with McNulty to start with? It wasn’t some kind of blistering attack. But you don’t let a guy that got 4th in the TT worlds a week prior get a gap like that. He can literally TT to the finish and win - which is what he did. And why even mention Simmons. He’s an American. He isn’t going to work to close the gap to his teammate.mij28-09-2026
- Road races are about those that sit on' and win at the end..
leedorney28-09-2026
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