{"id":2156507,"date":"2026-09-21T17:36:39","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T14:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2156507"},"modified":"2026-09-21T17:36:39","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T14:36:39","slug":"team-usas-best-worlds-card-might-not-be-quinn-simmons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2156507","title":{"rendered":"Team USA\u2019s Best Worlds Card Might Not Be Quinn Simmons"},"content":{"rendered":"
Updated September 21, 2026 03:13PM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Quinn Simmons might pack the hype, but Brandon McNulty could be the man who quietly ends the longest drought in American cycling.<\/p>\n
The United States will bring one of its strongest elite men\u2019s teams in decades into Sunday\u2019s road race at the UCI Road World Championships.<\/p>\n
Simmons is the obvious leader after his breakthrough season and aggressive showing in the Canadian classics, but McNulty offers something no other American can match.<\/p>\n
He has already won on these roads.<\/p>\n
McNulty won the 2025 Grand Prix Cycliste de Montr\u00e9al after Tadej Poga\u010dar attacked from the elite selection and then waited for his UAE Emirates XRG teammate. Poga\u010dar effectively handed him the victory, but McNulty still had to be strong enough to follow the world champion when the race exploded.<\/p>\n
One year later, McNulty proved it was no fluke.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old returned to Montr\u00e9al this month and finished third behind UAE teammate Isaac del Toro and French teenager Paul Seixas.<\/p>\n
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McNulty then kicked off the Montr\u00e9al worlds with fourth in Sunday\u2019s elite men\u2019s time trial, missing the bronze medal by only 12 seconds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it showed the work was paying off and hopefully I can keep getting better,\u201d McNulty said after averaging 50.79 kph over the 39.2km course.<\/p>\n
The result confirmed that McNulty has arrived at worlds in top condition, and strengthened the case that Team USA can play multiple cards on Sunday.<\/p>\n
McNulty as the ultimate worlds outsider<\/h2>\nThird at the GP Montr\u00e9al and fourth in Sunday\u2019s time trial bode well for McNulty. <\/span> (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Sunday\u2019s 273km road race is an old-school suffer-fest that begins in Brossard before reaching Montr\u00e9al for 12 punishing laps around Mount Royal.<\/p>\n
The repeated climbs and more than 3,700m should produce a race of attrition, exactly the sort of race when McNulty\u2019s climbing ability, time trial power, and resistance after six hours could become decisive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have our work cut out, but I think we have a good team to race aggressively,\u201d McNulty told Cycling Weekly<\/em> on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a ton of strong guys that I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve ever really beaten before, so it\u2019s going to be hard,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think we have numbers to at least play our cards well.\u201d<\/p>\n
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McNulty gives the United States an extra card to play behind Simmons, who\u2019s being billed as the team\u2019s leader among equals.<\/p>\n
Simmons races as loud as his wild looks. He isn\u2019t afraid to attack and buries himself in the pedals in \u201cRicky Bobby\u201d style. A junior road world champion in 2019, Simmons was ninth in 2024 in Zurich, so he can go the worlds distance.<\/p>\n
McNulty is the opposite. A junior world time trial champion in 2016, he can follow the right wheels and then strike late. Though he pulled out sick from the Tour de France, McNulty showed up in Paris to party sporting blonde-tinted hair.<\/p>\n
That contrast in styles and attitude could make the pair even more dangerous and give Team USA a serious shot at the podium.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a long wait for another rainbow jersey. Greg LeMond won twice \u2014 1983 and 1989 \u2014 Lance Armstrong in 1993.<\/p>\n
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\u2018Dream Team\u2019 squad chasing the rainbow<\/h2>\n
Team USA brings its strongest elite men\u2019s road squad to Montr\u00e9al in years.<\/p>\n
Simmons and McNulty are already flying, and will see top support.<\/p>\n
Matteo Jorgenson, Kevin Vermaerke, Sean Quinn, Artem Shmidt, Riley Sheehan, and Larry Warbasse round out the eight-rider selection, meaning the Americans have the depth and experience to go deep.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it gives the U.S. probably our best shot at a win since Lance won in \u201993. I mean, we have eight guys that are all really strong, and all have a job to contribute,\u201d Vermaerke told Cyclingnews<\/em> at the recent Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a.<\/p>\n
Team USA will have options in what\u2019s only the fifth time North America has hosted the road worlds.<\/p>\n
Vermaerke spent much of the second half of the 2026 Vuelta in breakaways after Poga\u010dar crashed out, so he\u2019ll be one to watch for early moves.<\/p>\n
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Jorgenson can also shine in the monument-plus distance, and Sheehan could be a wild card in a reduced bunch kick.<\/p>\n
Neilson Powless, who recently pulled out of Montr\u00e9al, was fifth in 2021 Leuven for the best men\u2019s American finish in two decades in the elite men\u2019s road race.<\/p>\n
The United States hasn\u2019t won the men\u2019s road title since Armstrong took the rainbow jersey in Oslo in 1993.<\/p>\n
If the 33-year drought ends Sunday, it might not come from the American everyone is watching.<\/p>\n
It might come from the quiet outsider who already knows how to win in Montr\u00e9al.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Updated September 21, 2026 03:13PM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/mcnulty-worlds.jpg”] Updated September 21, 2026 03:13PM Quinn Simmons might pack the hype, but Brandon McNulty could be the man who quietly ends the longest drought in American cycling. The United States will bring one of its strongest elite men\u2019s teams in decades into Sunday\u2019s road race at the UCI Road World Championships. Simmons […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2156507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2156507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2156507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2156507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2156507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2156507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2156507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"McNulty](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2295099312.jpg?width=2048&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")