First, the 28-year-old from Phoenix banged his hand against his handlebars several times, then he clutched his helmet with both arms. Not only McNulty himself, but hardly anyone else could really believe that he would become the new world champion in Canada. In a race where the winner remained unpredictable right up to the very end, it was a complete outsider who came out on top. This was largely down to teamwork.

McNulty’s compatriot Matteo Jorgenson repeatedly acted as a brake in the chasing group, particularly when, on the final ascent of the Voie Camillien-Houde – the biggest climb at the start of each of the twelve final laps through the city – the eventual winner’s lead dropped from one minute to 14 seconds. Jorgenson moved to the front of the chasing pack, who were constantly at loggerheads anyway, meaning that McNulty ultimately took enough time into the final sprint to secure victory. In the time trial exactly a week ago, McNulty had narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing fourth.

“I’m really lost for words,” said McNulty in his first interview, visibly overwhelmed by his unexpected success. “Right up until 300 metres from the finish line, I couldn’t believe it. I was so tired, but I just kept pushing on. Before the race, a woman and I had been joking about the possibility of me becoming world champion. But it would have taken a miracle. Yet today, it seems one has happened.”

Top favourites Evenepoel and van der Poel have to admit defeat

About a year ago, McNulty celebrated his greatest success to date in Montréal, when, after putting in a tremendous effort for Tadej Pogacar, the Slovenian gifted him the victory at the Grand Prix de Cycliste. Even without Pogacar, who was absent following his crash in the Vuelta, the rainbow jersey thus remains within the ranks of UAE Emirates – XRG.

Matthews, who finished on the podium in the World Championships road race for the fourth time in his long career, made further history today. The Australian celebrated his 36th birthday just a day ago. In 2015, eleven years ago, he had already won silver. In between, he claimed two further bronze medals. In the sprint finish on the Avenue de Parc, he kept van der Poel – one of the two top favourites for gold – at bay, relegating the 31-year-old to third place.

The other of the two highly fancied riders, Remco Evenepoel (Belgium), was also part of the chasing group right up until the home straight and eventually finished twelfth. The time trial world champion initially spent a long time chasing the leaders, but fought his way back to the front from the third chasing group and even launched an attack, only to end up empty-handed. Van der Poel, on the other hand, had gone on the offensive early in the race, but had apparently overreached himself a little and was left with little to show for his bronze medal at the finish.

Zimmermann ranks 38th among German athletes

The German professionals played no part in the race at all. Georg Zimmermann was the best of them, finishing in 38th place, almost seven minutes behind. Apart from him, only Florian Lipowitz managed to complete the race. Things went hardly any better for the Austrians. Only Felix Großschartner made it to the finish line, albeit in 54th place and well behind the leading pack. Things went better for the Swiss, however. On the penultimate lap of the 13.4-kilometre course, Mauro Schmid managed to break back into the leading chase group and was even on course for a silver medal shortly before the finish, but was eventually caught and ultimately finished eleventh. Stefan Küng finished three places behind him.

The only nation to feature in the top 10 on more than one occasion was the USA. Quinn Simmons came off second best in the sprint against Matthews and van der Poel and finished fourth, but, like the Dutchman, he was in the leading group for a long time, only to be dropped at one point before rejoining them in the final stretch. The loyal ‘brake pad’, Jorgenson, who countered every attack on McNulty but made no effort to close the gap on his compatriot, finished eighth.

Although the youngsters Isaac Del Toro (Mexico) and Paul Seixas (France) tried to make their mark on the most thrilling World Championship in years, after more than six hours of racing they had to give way to the older riders. Whilst Del Toro still managed to finish fifth, Seixas was plagued by cramp on the final lap. Although he had also been among the chasers for much of the race, he ultimately finished only 15th.

2026 World Championships Individual Time Trial – Men’s Results

Here’s how the men’s road race went at the 2026 World Championships

A group of 16 riders, led by Felix Engelhardt (Germany) and Andreas Leknessund (Norway), as well as Biniam Girmay (Eritrea), formed the first breakaway of the day, building up a lead of more than six minutes. After the first 100 kilometres, the riders reached the circuit in Montréal. France found itself in the position of having to set the pace.

As the gap narrowed, the group also shrank, but with 107 kilometres to go, the final four had been caught up with too. After that, it was the Dane Anthon Charmig who reignited the race. With seven laps remaining, the race really picked up pace shortly afterwards. Van der Poel, Wout van Aert (Belgium), Primož Roglič (Slovenia), Simmons and Oscar Onley (Great Britain) also moved up to the front. This gave them a 40-second lead.

At the back, Del Toro then began to close the gap on the climb. He reduced the gap to ten seconds, but no one else was willing to do the work, which meant the gap widened again. There were around 15 riders in the chasing group.

Van der Poel’s early attack comes to a premature end

With 75 kilometres to go, van der Poel stepped up the pace once again and halved the size of the leading group. Onley and Simmons kept up, whilst a second trio established itself 16 seconds behind. Whilst Roglič managed to get back to the front, van Aert and Charmig were caught by a chasing group comprising Del Toro, Jorgenson, McNulty, Ben Healy (Ireland), Seixas, Matthews and Tom Pidcock (Great Britain).

With four laps to go, van der Poel stepped up the pace again on the climb. This left Onley behind. The Briton settled in behind him alongside Healy, whilst the larger chasing group was already a minute behind. One lap later, Healy managed to break away, whilst Onley was dropped. Meanwhile, Del Toro and his group had closed the gap to 30 seconds again. Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) was not among them.

However, 35 kilometres from the finish, the leading group had been caught. Seixas, Pidcock, Jorgenson, Del Toro, Giulio Ciccone (Italy) and Santiago Buitrago (Colombia) caught up with them. McNulty also caught up again and went on the attack shortly afterwards. He built up a 33-second lead in no time at all. With two laps to go, his lead was more than a minute.

Jorgenson holds off the chasing pack

On the climb in the penultimate lap, Del Toro and van der Poel also ran into trouble when Pidcock upped the pace. Seixas, Matthews, Ciccone and Jorgenson formed the first chasing group, but van der Poel and Del Toro managed to catch up. With 16 kilometres to go, even Evenepoel, Simmons and Schmid caught up, as there was a lack of coordination within the group.

McNulty went into the final lap with a 50-second lead. On the climb, Ciccone and Pidcock broke away. Although both were reeled back in, the gap to the leader had shrunk to 14 seconds. However, the chasers were held up by Jorgenson, who extended his lead to half a minute again seven kilometres from the finish.

Five kilometres from the finish, Schmid broke away from the group once more as the peloton came to a standstill yet again. Pidcock and Jorgenson closed the gap again three kilometres from the finish, and the rest of the field caught up shortly before the ‘Teufelslappen’. McNulty, however, rode to gold. Behind him, a sprint ensued – Matthews sprinted to silver ahead of van der Poel.