Brandon McNulty

McNulty at the 2023 Giro d'Italia
Personal information
Full name	Brandon Alexander McNulty
Born	(1998-04-02) April 2, 1998 (age 26) Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight	153 lb (69 kg)
Team information
Current team	UAE Team Emirates XRG
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Puncheur Time trialist
Amateur teams
2012	Fly Racing
2013–2014	Landis–Trek
2015–2016	LUX Cycling Development
Professional teams
2017–2019	Rally Cycling[1][2]
2020–	UAE Team Emirates[3]
Major wins
Grand Tours Giro d'Italia 1 individual stage (2023) Vuelta a España 1 individual stage (2024) Stage races Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (2024) One-day races and Classics National Time Trial Championships (2023, 2024) Classic Sud-Ardèche (2022) GP Miguel Induráin (2024)
Medal record Representing  United States Men's road bicycle racing World Championships 2016 Doha Junior time trial 2017 Bergen Under-23 time trial 2015 Richmond Junior time trial 2019 Yorkshire Under-23 time trial

Brandon Alexander McNulty (born April 2, 1998) is an American cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam UAE Team Emirates XRG.^[4] In the 2016 UCI Junior World Time Trial Championships McNulty became the fourth American junior world champion after Greg LeMond, Jeff Evanshine, and Taylor Phinney, winning the time trial by 35 seconds.^[5]

McNulty grew up in Phoenix, Arizona and enjoyed riding mountain bikes in his free time. McNulty excelled early, winning almost every mountain bike race he entered while racing in the 11-12 junior categories^{[citation needed]}. McNulty gradually transitioned to road racing. After several wins in local races in Belgium in 2014, McNulty caught the eye of Roy Knickman, manager of LUX cycling. Knickman, realizing McNulty's talent, referred McNulty to coach Barney King. 2015 was a breakout year for McNulty when he won the Valley of the Sun Stage Race TT, averaging 30 mph on a standard road bike. McNulty won the junior national time trial championships that year and went on to compete at the UCI world championships in Richmond.

In 2016, McNulty had even more success, winning the Tour de l'Abitibi and Trofeo Karlsberg, stage races, and the junior national time trial championships for the second year in a row. Then he competed at the UCI Road World Championships and became the fourth American to become a junior world champion after Taylor Phinney, Jeff Evanshine, and Greg LeMond, winning the time trial by 35 seconds.^[5]

McNulty turned professional in 2017, and despite being offered numerous contracts with UCI WorldTeams, he chose to ride with the American UCI Continental team Rally Cycling.^[6] He won the under-23 national time trial championships and finished second in the World Championships that year.

In 2018, McNulty continued to ride with Rally Cycling, who upgraded to UCI Professional Continental status that year. McNulty made his UCI World Tour debut in the Tour of California, where he finished fourth on stage 6, the queen stage, and ultimately seventh overall, about three-and-a-half minutes behind winner Egan Bernal. He would head to Europe for the second part of the season, after finishing 3rd overall at Tour Alsace, McNulty would have a string of good results at his first Tour de l'Avenir where he would finish 2nd on a mountain stage to Colombian rider Iván Sosa, demonstrating his ability on the climbs. At the UCI Road World Championships, McNulty would go on to finish 7th in the individual time trial event.

In 2019, McNulty took his first win as a professional at the newly revived Giro di Sicilia in the penultimate stage to Ragusa, thus taking the lead in the general classification. On the following day's stage to Mount Etna, he came fourth, and won the general classification.

His first grand tour participation was in the 2020 Giro d'Italia,^[7] in which he finished 15th overall. He rode in the 2021 Tour de France where he supported teammate Tadej Pogačar, who won the race.

McNulty rode in the 2020 Summer Olympics road race in late 2021 and put himself in position to win. Late in the race, with less than 25 miles to go, he was among the surviving group, which would likely contain the winner and with approximately 15 miles to go he attacked. Only Richard Carapaz could go with him and the two of them began to open a gap. For more than 10 miles they stayed ahead of the elite group, but with under 5 miles to go Carapaz got away and rode solo for the gold as McNulty fell back into the elite group where he finished. Despite not medaling his result has only been exceeded once by an American cyclist at the Olympics in the previous 20 years.^[8]

McNulty started 2022 off strongly winning a few races and went into Paris-Nice with intentions of a high place in the general classification. His hopes were dashed early in the race as he got caught out in crosswinds, and for all intents and purposes lost any hope of even a top 10 finish.^[9] He considered quitting the race, but eventually decided to continue and ended up involved in a breakaway on stage 5. With just under 40 kilometers to go he attacked and no one could follow. He continuously built his lead over the breakaway group and won the stage by nearly two minutes.

He entered the 2022 Tour de France as one of the primary Lieutenants for Pogačar, along with Majka, Soler and Bennett; however all of them were out of the race by the critical final two high mountain stages. On stage 17, which included Col de Val Louron-Azet to Peyragudes, McNulty drove a pace that broke the entire elite GC group with the exception of his team leader Pogačar, and Jonas Vingegaard. He crossed the line 3rd and became the first American to be awarded Most Combative Rider since David Zabriskie, who won the award on a flat stage in 2012.^[10]

In May 2023, he took his first win in a Grand Tour, outsprinting Ben Healy and Marco Frigo from a three-man breakaway on stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia.^[11] He was crowned the United States National Time Trial Champion a month later, followed up with a fourth place finish at the World Time Trial Championships in August. He ended the year with a second place finish to teammate Marc Hirschi at the Tour de Luxembourg.^[12]

McNulty had a strong start to 2024, winning the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in February, after taking the race lead with his victory on stage four.^[13] He next won the stage two time trial in the UAE Tour, but fell out of contention for the overall win on the final day. A week later, he competed in Paris–Nice, where he held the race lead going into the final day, but lost time on the final climb, and ended up third overall, 1 minute and 47 seconds down on compatriot and race winner Matteo Jorgenson.^[14] On the final weekend of March, McNulty won the GP Miguel Induráin, beating out Maxim Van Gils to become the first American to win the event.^[15] He again displayed prowess as a time trialist, taking the stage three time trial of the Tour de Romandie in late April.

Grand Tour general classification results
Grand Tour	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Giro d'Italia	—	—	15	—	—	29	—
Tour de France	—	—	—	69	19	—	—
Vuelta a España	—	—	—	—	69	—	54
Major stage race general classification results
Stage races	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Paris–Nice	—	—	—	DNF	12	—	3
Tirreno–Adriatico	—	—	—	—	—	12	—
Volta a Catalunya	—	—	NH	13	—	—	—
Tour of the Basque Country	—	—		17	—	7	5
Tour de Romandie	—	—		—	DNF	—	DNF
Critérium du Dauphiné	—	—	—	40	11	—	—
Tour de Suisse	—	DNF	NH	—	—	—	—

Event		2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Olympic Games	Road race	Not held				6	Not held		24
	Time trial					24			5
World Championships	Road race	—	—	—	DNF	DNF	—	—	17
	Time trial	—	—	—	29	22	—	4	6
National Championships	Road race	DNF	10	DNF	NH	—	—	4	2
	Time trial	22	6	36	NH	—	—	1	1

• Brandon McNulty at ProCyclingStats