It was, in some respects, another day at the office for Brandon McNulty to support UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader Tadej Pogačar, but it was not so straightforward a task at Milan-San Remo. It was a debut for the US rider at the opening Monument of the season, and a sixth appearance Pogačar. The process, however, was fraught with two significant crashes and team adjustments across the six-and-a-half hours of racing.
The US rider was in the thick of the action across the 298 kilometres, which wasn't decided until the final 200 metres with the World Champion winning a final kick to the line ahead of Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5). Across the opening 55 kilometres from Pavia to San Remo, the peloton looked to be biding their time until the turn south on the Ligurian Coast, but the first disaster struck.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Jan Christen crashed with Orluis Aular (Movistar), their two bikes piled together on the road. Christen was seen walking over to the Venezuelan road champion who was moving slowly next to a guardrail. The day was over for both.
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"We were already up and down with the headwind, because it's always easier to draft. And then, we had the crash, and I didn't know what was going to happen," McNulty told Eurosport and other media at the finish, shaking his head.
"Yeah, it was unfortunate. I saw him. I was just behind him, it looked like a bad crash."
Across the next 150 kilometres, UAE, Alpecin-Premier Tech and Pinarello-Q36.5 settled in and kept a nine-rider breakaway in check as the Tre Capi approached, the three climbing appetisers signaling the time to position team leaders. It was UAE Team Emirates-XRG who stepped up the pace across Tre Capi to wipe away the leaders' gap.
"So yeah, we already were down one, but the guys went crazy through all the Capi," described McNulty of the catch and push to the front, the plan to set up Pogačar at the base of the Cipressa. "Then we had a bit of trouble."
That 'bit of trouble' was a second disaster when Pogačar went down in a crash with about 6km to the start of the Cipressa and 32km to the finish. He went down with Visma-Lease a Bike duo Wout van Aert and Matteo Jorgenson, Biniam Girmay (NSN), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
Pogačar suffered cuts and scrapes with a large section of his UAE kit torn away, but he and Van der Poel were quick to remount quickly, and not wait for a team car to switch equipment like Van Aert and others.
UAE went immediately into crisis mitigation mode, wondering if the World Champion could regroup due to any injuries. Any concerns were quickly wiped away.
"We came back just at the bottom of the Cipressa, I went as hard as I could to get to the front and then I didn't see in the front, but I could hear on the radio that it was crazy."
That 'crazy' was Pogačar blasting along the right side of the road and through the peloton to accelerate even quicker once he reached the front. Only Pidcock and Van der Poel could respond for the penultimate claim, and then by the Poggio only Pidcock remained to battle the Slovenian.
In his post-race comments, Pogačar recognised Florian Vermeersch and Felix Großschartner for bringing him back from the crash to reconnect with the peloton at the base of the Cipressa. Then it was up to his lieutenants Isaac del Toro and McNulty to do the rest of the work on the climb itself.
Del Toro came into the race fresh off the GC title at Tirreno-Adriatico. Meanwhile, McNulty was part of the Paris-Nice squad which endured difficult weather conditions, a withdrawal from a crash on stage 4 when the weather was at its worst with cross-winds, freezing temperatures and driving rain. He was back in form for his first appearance at La Classicissima.
It was also the first race McNulty had done with Pogačar since last year's Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, the two escaping at the front of the race and McNulty crossing the line ahead of his teammate for the victory.
"It's always an honour to ride for him. After [Montréal], it was definitely nice to repay him," McNulty said, referencing their last competition together.
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