The Rise and Fall of Brandon McNulty

23-year-old Brian McNulty has certainly made his mark on the professional peloton this spring. The time trial specialist - he was Junior World Time Trial Champion in 2016 and twice on the podium at the U23 World Time Trial Championships afterwards – is a star recruit of the UAE-Team Emirates youth movement that includes Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacâr and Swiss phenom Marc Hirschi, both only 22. McNulty made a powerful entrance into the top-tier pro racing world at last year’s Giro d’Italia with a third-place time trial performance behind World Champions Filippo Ganna and Rohan Dennis, finishing 15th overall in his Grand Tour debut.

He started off this year at Paris-Nice with a superb fourth place in the time trial, moving into the Young Riders jersey before crashing out of the race. A week later in Spain, at the Volta Catalunya (Tour of Catalonia), McNulty bounced right back with another fourth place TT ride. The American again showed the same weakness at the top of climbs that we’d seen in France, he could hold on but would get popped when the accelerations to and over the crests began, but tenaciously held on to finish third in the all-important Young Rider Classification (all anyone looks at with the youth mania of today) and a fine 13th overall, only 2’19” behind winner Adam Yates – a man finally out of the shadow of his twin brother Simon.

Seven-days later Brandon McNulty struck hard: he was second in the opening time trial of the Tour of the Basque country, an incredible race to my view, considered the hardest of the one-week races on the international calendar, only two-seconds behind Primož Roglič. McNulty was storming, beating the Slovenian at the first time check, just losing that little bit at the end to perhaps the strongest racing cyclist in the world, but finishing 16” ahead of third placed Jonas Vingegaard (Roglič’s teammate – a key point in this drama) and a whopping 26” ahead of teammate Pogačar. It was the finest performance of his career, putting him right back into that cherished Youth Rider jersey.

Basque racers are famous for their aggression, their never-say-die attitude, and when one sees the road of their home the reasons for those characteristics become clear: steep and twisting, never that high - only hitting about 500-700 meters in altitude - but they keep coming at you. It was on Stage Two, when the Astana – and Basque – duo of Alex Aranburu and Omar Fraile ripped over the top of the final climb and plunged down toward the finish that we saw both the incredible skills - especially Aranburu – and home knowledge of the Basques, who treated us to a heart-in-mouth extravaganza of downhill racing. It was so very beautiful to watch. McNulty, again, was gapped, losing 19” to a bevy of Tour de France stars, yet held onto his Youth Rider lead, 18” ahead of Pogačar.

There was an important moment on Stage Three when, at the top of a tough, steep climb, Roglič made an attack and McNulty was one of the few able to respond. That, for a young, rising racer, is a mark: a moment in a career when you see and feel that you’ve got the goods to go with the very best. He faded slightly on the finishing climb, losing 18” to winner Pogacâr, who now took over the Young Rider, while Roglič held onto his overall lead. Deep into the mountains of the Basque Country, Brandon McNulty was sitting in third overall.

His confidence was high and on Stage Four McNulty showed the world that he was a rider in full progression. It’s been intimated in some the media surrounding the race that the Jumbo-Visma were either tactically deficient or that Roglič simply didn’t seem to care, but for me, Brandon McNulty simply took the race by the horns and made a successful assault on race leadership. With Mikel Landa suffering on his wheel, McNulty dropped Colombian climber Estaban Chaves on the final climb, leading over the summit ahead of Landa and Vingegaard, before a group of 15 formed on the descent to the finish. McNulty rode hard to keep the group away but had to keep an eye on the fast-finishing Vingegaard and the 10” time bonuses at the finish. The American rode like an experienced veteran, balancing his efforts finish to third on the stage and take the Yellow Leaders Jersey in a culmination of his steady yet powerful rise through the pro ranks.

It all went terribly wrong on the final day, a short, violent race with 3200 meters of climbing crammed into 112-kilometers. There was Brandon McNulty, resplendent in his Yellow Jersey – with accessorized yellow trim shorts – looking magnificent. He’s seems very much like a Miguel Indurain to me, one with about 10% less body mass but with the same long, powerful legs, strong wide shoulders and beautifully flowing style. He had the Tour de France champion Pogačar acting as his pilot fish, the grizzled UAE-Team Emirates veterans as Diego Ullissi working the front for him and he had to be feeling mighty real. And feeling mighty pressure too because after his attack that fetched the leader’s jersey, McNulty now had the heavy responsibility to bring home the win.

The race exploded from the start into a madhouse of attacking. It was the 35-k mark, where the 13.5-k climb to Elosua-Goria began, that Brandon McNulty met his Waterloo. He actually made it up the climb in fine shape, riding well near the front in his team’s draft, but when the Astana’s Alex Aranburu and Ion Izagirre attacked near the top to get into position for what was to be an all-important descent, Roglič jumped with them. It was in that split-second of inattention, the breaking of the cardinal rule of never letting an inch between yourself and the one who threatens your lead, that both McNulty’s and his UAE-Team Emirates race collapsed. They let a gap open as Aranburu, with Roglič attached, bombed down the descent at warp speed. Pogačar, with McNulty on his wheel, chased like mad behind but the Astana-led break gained second after second after second on the wild downhill with the Yellow Jersey tantalizingly in sight but losing ground with every 80-kph turn. This was some of the most interesting racing ever; the Astana’s were blasting on the front with Pogačar and McNulty – they’d used up their teammates - at about 20”. There’d been another group in front this entire time and when Roglič’s group caught them he had two teammates conveniently waiting for him, the Astana had one and Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde – still by far their best rider – had two. The three big teams joined forces and the gap on McNulty and Pogačar opened to 36”. Marc Hirschi, who had also been up front, dropped back to his UAE teammates, and absolutely buried himself pulling 10” back before blowing. It was now up to Pogačar, with McNulty on his wheel, their group at 40”, to go into action on the 5-K, frightenedly named Krabelin climb with its 17% grades. The Tour Champ began to close the gap, amazingly getting McNulty to within 16” of the leaders when the American cracked, spectacularly, into pieces. And that was that. Roglič had flown and would win the Tour of the Basque Country with Jonas Vingegaard in second.

Brandon McNulty had a brilliant spring, progressing to the point that he was leading a WorldTour stage race in a field full of Tour de France stars. So he and his team should be happy. But he also failed in a manner that also caused Pogačar to fail. These are the types of racing moments that leave scars, especially on a young soul. For McNulty, who’s had a steady path towards success, to have been all alone, lost in the countryside wearing the Yellow Jersey of Race Leader, hearing commentators say how they “feel sorry for him” and to suffer the cruel disappointment of having had his team gift him all of their resources only to come up short as he did, could be devastating. It will take considerable mental fortitude, an unshakable self-belief, for him to overcome this setback and rediscover that confidence-fueled pathway that has taken him so far in cycling. The Giro d’Italia, his next major race, will show us how he’s done.