'We put our egos aside’ – How the USA harnessed selfless teamwork to deliver Brandon McNulty to World Championships gold

It’s been a long time since the USA won the elite men’s road rainbow jersey, 33 years to be precise, so we can forgive the national cycling federation for their 16 Instagram posts in the seven hours after Brandon McNulty won in Montreal on Sunday.

If the eight riders who represented the USA in the men’s elite road race at the UCI Road World Championships didn’t put in a perfect performance, they weren’t far off it. Rarely out of position and making every ounce of effort count in some way towards the collective goal, they executed their plan to the letter, doing exactly what Matteo Jorgenson said they would do when he spoke to the media on the morning of the race.

"It is a big one today, we have a really strong team, we have eight riders that are all world-class level, and I think we’re going to try to have numbers in the final. That’s our main objective: to have the three of us, Brandon, Quinn and I, in the final and lay our cards from there," he told Eurosport before the start.

As the day's 16-rider breakaway established itself on the 110km opening loop, the British, Dutch, Belgians, Italians and even Isaac Del Toro’s Mexican team, on which he was the only WorldTour rider, all used their resources on the front of the he peloton, while the Americans were notable by their absence, sensibly saving themselves.

France were also notably hiding, but as the race reached its 12 closing laps of the Montreal circuit, they appeared in force, setting an infernal pace around in support of their favourite, Paul Seixas, the Swiss also lending a hand. All this time while other teams were using energy, USA bided their time, using their domestiques to do the donkey work, while their favourites stayed sheltered, close to, but never at the front.

They covered the French-led attacks at the start of the sixth lap, but Team USA would only be seen on the front the next time across the line, when, with 94km to go they moved up en masse. With Quinn Simmons now nestled safely on Larry Warbasse’s wheel, they were now ready to make their statement, however, it was here they made their only misstep.

They’d been there for Mathieu van der Poel’s first move halfway around the previous lap, but missed it when the Dutchman tagged on the back of Alex Baudin’s effort of the Voie Camillien-Houde. However, so did Wout van Aert, McNulty following the Belgian across the gap, and being joined by Simmons shortly afterwards.

From that moment on, Team USA were in control. Simmons managed – only just – to stay with Van der Poel, while in the favourites’ group the presence of McNulty and Jorgenson meant they always outnumbered the opposition.

When Simmons and Van der Poel were finally caught, the Americans deftly executed the next phase of their plan, Jorgenson attacking, before McNulty made the race-winning move. For the next 32.5km Simmons and, in particular, Jorgenson covered every threat, proving the capable anchor to others’ ambitions.

Throughout the regular season, we see such amazing rides by the likes of Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel, it’s perhaps sometimes easy to forget that road cycling is a team sport. On Sunday, the US team’s approach was a brilliant example of teamwork.

All for one and one for all

While the majority of the other teams included at least one out-and-out star, every American rider able to win on the Montreal course after such an attritional race is well used to working for others.

Jorgenson might have won Paris-Nice twice, but he spends much of his season as a domestique de luxe for either Van Aert or Jonas Vingegaard. Brandon McNulty has plenty of wins on his palmarès, but performs a similar role for Pogačar, and though Quinn Simmons is developing into a fine breakaway artist, he has accepted his role working for others.

So, perversely, the lack of that big-name winner was the Americans’ strength. Everyone who signed up to the strategy stuck to the script and played their part perfectly. Each had their chance, and one came out on top.

What’s more, the strategy of other nations played into their hands, all using their teams to make the race hard, while USA had the quality to play the perfect game of patience.

There’s no doubt that both Simmons and Jorgenson would have loved to have taken the jersey, but equally you get the feeling McNulty would have been delighted had they done so. There was certainly joy when they found McNulty among the throng of cameras and stars and stripes; "You fucking did it, you just won the Worlds, bro!" beamed Jorgenson.

"We made a plan last night, we set our egos aside a little bit and we decided OK, we just want an American to win this race," Jorgenson told Eurosport later.

"It might be my proudest victory," he continued, having finished in eighth place. "Right now it’s easy to say that, but I really believe I spent a long time thinking about this, I wrote a little bit of a document last week when I was training in Vermont to send to the guys with some analysis. I think we made a great plan and we were able to set our egos aside, which I think won us the race, and I’m proud to be a part of this team today, it’s really cool."

If you read the replies to those endless USA Cycling Instagram posts, the word proud comes up a lot, and the team’s performance was certainly something to be proud of.

Subscribe to Cyclingnews for comprehensive race coverage of both the UCI Road and Gravel World Championships, alongside the final monument of the season, Il Lombardia. Subscribers get unlimited access to exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.