Brandon McNulty solos to his first-ever WorldTour win on stage 5 of Paris-Nice

By Rosa Betancourt March 11, 2022 25 mins read 430 Views

Brandon McNulty solos to his first-ever WorldTour win on stage 5 of Paris-Nice

Brandon McNulty claimed (UAE Team Emirates) his first ever WorldTour stage win on Thursday, making the most of a day in the breakaway at Paris-Nice. The 23-year-old American crossed the stage 5 finish line nearly two minutes ahead of runner-up Franck Bonnamour after going solo with a little less than 40 km to go, salvaging his race after a crash derailed his GC ambitions.

“This is my first World Tour victory and the circumstances make it really special,” McNulty said. “I had a crash in the echelons, and the GC was off, but I managed to recover and to take the victory todays is incredible.”

McNulty noted that he had considered leaving the race after the crash; staying in the mix obviously paid off.

He joined a sizable break that went clear on the Col de la Croix de Chauboret, and the peloton gave the escapees some breathing room off the front on the day’s up-and-down terrain. With just under 40 km to go and a healthy gap between the break and the pack, McNulty made his move on the Cat 1 Col de la Mure, surging away from the rest of the escapees to quickly build a big advantage.

He would hold on all the way to the line to take a convincing win. Bonnamour arrived at the line until 1:58 back with another American, Movistar’s Matteo Jorgensen, taking third on the stage.

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After his win, McNulty pointed out that he had some familiarity with the day’s challenges.

“I realized this morning these were the same roads where I won the Faun-Ardèche Classic two weeks ago. The plan was to go in the breakaway, and I thought I was going to make it or die,” McNulty said. “I had great legs all day so I could make it. I kind of hoped to go solo when I attacked with 39 km to go. The course was either climbing or descending, and I wanted to go all out on the climbs and take less risks on the downhills, so it was better to go solo.”

That decision led to McNulty’s first victory in a WorldTour race and his third win so far in what has been an impressive early-season campaign, with McNulty taking one-day wins at the Trofeo Calvia and the Faun-Ardèche Classic and GC runner-up honors at the Volta ao Algarve. He will look to continue his strong run of form as ever-bigger goals loom, with the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España in his plans for later this season.

As for Paris-Nice, Thursday’s stage 5 saw the leader’s jersey change hands from one Jumbo-Visma rider to another as Wout van Aert dropped off the pace early, putting Primož Roglič into the yellow jersey. The 33-year-old Slovenian has a 39-second advantage to Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco) with Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) a further two seconds back in third heading into Friday’s stage 6.

Paris - Nice (2.UWT) Saint-Just-Saint-Rambert → Saint-Sauveur-de-Montagut

Full results

MCNULTY Brandon UAE Team Emirates