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It was season win number eight for Brandon McNulty on Thursday, as well as yet another race leader’s jersey.
The US national TT champion put his solo strength to fine use, winning a rain-lashed third stage of the Cro Race in Croatia and taking over at the top.
He had started the day 44th overall, 12 seconds behind race leader Giovanni Lonardi (Team Polti Kometa) but blitzed that advantage with a dominant display.
“Today was a good day, I felt good,” the UAE Team Emirates rider said. “It was a confusing day with the GC and whatnot, but I found myself in a move off the front and the gap held.
“I tried to stay for the GC time and then just kept going for the stage and kept the gap. It’s nice, it is a good day.”
The stage was chopped by 64.5km due to strong winds, with the start being moved. That left 89.5km to be covered, and McNulty made his move with 41km remaining. He initially was joined by Ineos Grenadiers rider Kim Heiduk but dropped the German and drove onwards.
The group behind chased hard but McNulty’s strength saw him reach the line 36 seconds clear.
Teammate Igor Arrieta took the bunch sprint for second, marking a fine one-two for the squad.
Because of the tough conditions, the time for the general classification was taken at the entrance of the finish circuit, 11.5 km from the line.
The Arizonan is now 30 seconds clear of Lonardi in the general classification. Three stages remain, with Friday’s leg including a hors categorie climb cresting 55km from the line, plus a 2km ramp up to the finish.
The following two stages should be more straightforward.
“I’m really happy with the race and hopefully we can defend the lead until the end,” he said.
A season of successes
McNulty has taken 15 wins during his career and with eight of those coming this season, 2024 is his best year yet.
He got things underway in February with victory on stage four of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. Like Thursday, that win saw him take over the race lead. He successfully defended it the following day to win the second, and biggest, stage race of his pro career.
He won the time trial at the UAE Tour in February and the GP Miguel Indurain in March. McNulty then took a trio of time trial victories at the Tour de Romandie, the US national championships and on the opening day of the Vuelta a España.
His success Thursday is the 77th season success for UAE Team Emirates. It is by far the most successful in the peloton, with the next best being Lidl-Trek and Soudal Quick-Step.
They are on 42 and 33 wins respectively.
UAE Team Emirates is well clear at the top of the UCI world rankings with 3,4855.6 points. Visma-Lease a Bike has 19,877.
Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and world championship winner Tadej Pogačar is responsible for a substantial chunk of those points.
McNulty’s fine end of season form could add even more to the team’s haul in the days and weeks ahead.
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