'Underestimated and the numbers to prove people wrong': How Team USA upset the favourites at Worlds

Brandon McNulty crossed the finish line alone in Montréal. But behind him, Team USA had spent the day making sure he would not have to win the world championship on his own.

There were teammates to launch attacks, teammates to cover the response and teammates still finding their way back into contention when the race seemed to have exhausted everyone. For sports director Michael Creed, the plan had been simple enough: "Numbers, numbers, numbers."

McNulty's victory delivered the United States its first elite men's road world title since 1993. It was an upset for the favourites, but Creed was careful about what that said about his team. Asked whether the Americans had been underdogs, he rejected the description.

"I don't think we were the underdog. I think we were about on par," he said.

Underestimated, though? That drew an unequivocal yes.

"But that's fine," Creed said. "That's a privileged place to be. There's no better zone to be than underestimated and have the fitness to prove people wrong."

Team USA had come to Montréal with one of the strongest teams it had fielded in decades.

It lined up with three protected leaders – WorldTour riders McNulty, Quinn Simmons and Matteo Jorgenson – and five experienced domestiques also all from the top tier of the sport: Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Artem Shmidt (Netcompany INEOS), Larry Warbasse (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Riley Sheehan (NSN Cycling).

"We all know that we're very capable riders and capable of winning on any given day. If we do everything perfect, we have a good shot at a medal," McNulty had said before the race.

Creed had paired that talent with a strategy built around keeping enough of them in contention to give the team options deep into the race.

In the team meeting, Creed had given them a specific target: always account for more than 10 per cent of the lead group.

"We're going to win by numbers," he said.

That ambition depended on something no sports director can guarantee.

"You don't expect everyone to have good legs on the same day, and everyone had great legs [today]," Creed said. "I'm sure if it came back, Matteo could've won."

In the press conference with the rainbow jersey and gold medal draped over his neck and shoulders, McNulty recounted how the team's numbers led to the winning move.

Simmons had been out front first, allowing McNulty and Jorgenson to play off his presence ahead. When the race came back together, McNulty took his opportunity.

"When it came together, I chose the moment to go," he said. "I know they were both just closing every move behind, and making sure the group is constantly starting and stopping, which favours a rider ahead."

That was the value of having several potential winners. With McNulty up the road, Jorgenson and Simmons could follow attacks without helping the chase. Every acceleration their rivals made risked bringing another strong American closer to the front.

And even deep into the finale, the U.S. numbers kept replenishing. Creed could scarcely believe it when Quinn Simmons returned on the last lap.

"How the hell did he come back?"

It was another American body in a race where each one mattered. As Creed described it, the climbs left riders too exhausted to commit fully to the chase. The effort required to bring McNulty closer also made it harder to finish the job.

"They go so hard on the climbs that everyone's gassed and no one can commit," he said.

Still, in the team car, Creed's nerves were anything but settled.

"That was a rollercoaster in the van," Creed said.

McNulty's smooth style made him difficult to read, but the speed felt wrong. The gap eventually fell to just 10 seconds. What had looked like a winning margin was suddenly almost gone.

McNulty was living the same uncertainty from the other side of the windscreen. Familiarity with the circuit had given him confidence in how to race it, but also an uncomfortable knowledge of how much road remained after the final corner.

"I knew they were coming close, and then the gap would grow, and then I know how long the last 500 meters are," he said.

He only accepted that he would win with 50 metres remaining. Around an hour later, at the press conference, he was still struggling to believe it.

"I didn't really think the jersey was something that could genuinely happen," he said. "It was my dream, my big hope."

For Riley Sheehan, that commitment had roots far beyond a national-team meeting.

"We've all raced with each other since juniors. We all know each other so well," he said. "We've all put everything into it, and it's incredible to have a guy like Brandon win. I couldn't be more happy."

They spent most of the season riding for different trade teams. Here, their familiarity helped turn a group of individual talents into a team willing to work for whichever rider could deliver the jersey.

McNulty described a connection that extended to the people behind the team. He had entered the USA Cycling programme at 15 or 16 and grown up around staff who were still involved. He and Simmons had won junior world titles, but the elite men's road race remained the prize everyone wanted.

"It's super special to do it with people that I've known since I was really a kid," McNulty said.

Sheehan's assignment was to support the trio of leaders, help set up Simmons' initial move and stay useful for as long as his legs allowed.

Sheehan has initially been left out of the team selection – an omission that had not passed quietly. He took to social media and spoke to our sister site, Cyclingnews, that he was disappointed and confused, as he believed he "could have been a really vital asset" to the American team. When Neilson Powless withdrew due to illness, Sheehan got his call-up after all.

When asked about this turn of events, Sheehan said a world championship in North America felt almost like a home race, and the course was one he wanted to race.

"I saw that we have a winning team," he said. "I wanted to be a part of this, and I know I can make a dent in it and support the guys."

His conviction was rewarded with a teammate in the rainbow jersey and all three protected leaders in the top 10: McNulty first, Simmons fourth and Jorgenson eighth.

For McNulty, those results proved that team's strategy had worked.

"If I go solo and there are two guys that are that strong, they're going to mark moves, and it's going to make it work," he said. "Really incredible from all three of us and the whole team, all eight of us."

For Creed, being underestimated had offered a freedom he knew would be harder to find after a performance like this.

"It's such an amazing position because everything is so much harder afterwards," he said.

The next time this group lines up together, its rivals will have a reason to count the American jerseys as carefully as Creed did.