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 30mph 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 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.
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]
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.
Major results
2015
1st Time trial, National Junior Road Championships
Francesco Moser, nicknamed "Lo sceriffo", is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer. He finished on the podium of the Giro d'Italia six times including his win in the 1984 edition.
Gösta Artur Roland Pettersson is a retired Swedish cyclist. As an amateur, he competed in the individual and team road events at the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics and won one silver and two bronze medals, in 1964 and 1968. In 1968 he also took part in two track events: individual and team 4000 m pursuit.
Maurizio Fondriest is a retired Italian professional road racing cyclist.
Janez "Jani" Brajkovič is a racing cyclist from Metlika, Slovenia, who most recently rode for UCI Continental team Adria Mobil. He was the world under-23 Time Trial champion in 2004.
Pavel Aleksandrovich Brutt is a Russian former professional track and road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2001 and 2017 for six different teams.
Ben Hermans is a Belgian professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Cofidis.
Bob Jungels is a Luxembourgish road bicycle racer, who rides for UCI WorldTeam Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe.
Michael James Matthews is an Australian professional road and track cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Team Jayco–AlUla.
Wilco Kelderman is a Dutch professional road bicycle racer who rides for UCI WorldTeam Visma–Lease a Bike.
Jan Tratnik is a Slovenian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Visma–Lease a Bike. Professional since 2009, he has won the 2024 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and a stage of the 2020 Giro d'Italia. Tratnik is also a four time Slovenian national time trial champion and a one-time national road race champion.
William Barta is an American professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Movistar Team.
João Pedro Gonçalves Almeida is a Portuguese professional cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam UAE Team Emirates.
Tadej Pogačar is a Slovenian professional cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam UAE Team Emirates. His victories include three Tours de France, the 2024 Giro d'Italia, and seven one-day Monuments, as well as the World Championship Road Race. Comfortable in time-trialing, one-day classic riding and grand-tour climbing, he has been compared to legendary all-round cyclists such as Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault as one of the sport's greatest. In 2024 he became only the third male cyclist, after Eddy Merckx in 1974 and Stephen Roche in 1987, to achieve the Triple Crown of Cycling, winning the Giro, the Tour, and the World Championships in the same year. He is the only rider in history who took the Triple Crown and two different monuments in the same year.
Ilan Van Wilder is a Belgian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Soudal–Quick-Step. He has completed all three of the Grand Tours.
Carlos Rodríguez Cano is a Spanish cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Ineos Grenadiers.
Ben Healy is an Irish professional cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam EF Education–EasyPost. A two time national champion, he was selected to compete in the road race at the 2020 UCI Road World Championships.
Juan Ayuso Pesquera is a Spanish road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam UAE Team Emirates.
Lennert Van Eetvelt is a Belgian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Lotto–Dstny.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
