"When you celebrate a double victory and then cross the finish line together with the world champion, that's very special," said a delighted McNulty in the winner's interview, adding: "This is probably one of the most defining moments of my career so far." For the 27-year-old, it was the 19th success of his career and the first in a one-day race at WorldTour level.
McNulty's third win of the season after the time trial and the overall victory in the Tour of Poland was the 85th of the year for the UAE team. In doing so, the team equalled the previous record set by Columbia - HTC in 2009, when André Greipel and Mark Cavendish, among others, lined up victory after victory. It is very likely that UAE will go one better in the rest of the season and set a new record.
After all, the team is consciously working towards this goal. "We came close last year. That's why it was a goal for this season and now we've set the record. It's super cool that I was able to do that. But now, of course, we want to extend it even further." In Montreal, the dominant UAE team, for whom Adam Yates also finished fifth, had the opportunity to choose who would win the race.
"Four laps before the end, Tadej asked me if I wanted to try a solo. I said I could give it a go. That's why I attacked on the third-to-last lap. After that, there were four of us and then he attacked. I followed him a little later. He waited for me and was nice enough to let me win in the end. He decided that and I'm really grateful. It was a very nice day."
| Rnk. | Riders | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | UAE Team Emirates - XRG | 05:14:04 |
| 2 | UAE Team Emirates - XRG | +00:00:00 |
| 3 | Lidl - Trek | +00:01:03 |
| 4 | EF Education - EasyPost | +00:01:45 |
| 5 | UAE Team Emirates - XRG | +00:01:49 |
| 6 | Intermarché - Wanty | +00:02:00 |
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The 209 kilometres on the Montreal circuit were once again a deciding race. The field became smaller with almost every lap. Only 55 riders finished the race. The first attacks came right at the start. The first seven breakaways around the two Dutch riders Frank van den Broek (Team Picnic PostNL) and Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal Quick-Step) were joined by nine other pros 120 kilometres before the finish. Marius Mayrhofer (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) and the Red Bull duo Jan Tratnik and Laurence Pithie were among the chasers.
The chances of success were slim, however, as UAE kept the breakaway's gap small. The group gradually disintegrated until the last remnants were back in the peloton with 69 kilometres to go. The already small peloton continued for a few laps until McNulty went on the offensive with 37 kilometres to go. Simmons went with him, and shortly afterwards Pogacar and Louis Barré (Intermarché - Wanty) also caught up.
McNulty took on the lion's share of the leading work and built up a lead of over a minute on around 20 pursuers. With 24 kilometres to go, Pogacar then attacked. While Simmons gave chase and was unable to follow Barré, McNulty saved his strength in the slipstream of his compatriot to attack again seven kilometres later. When it was clear that he had shaken off Simmons, Pogacar waited for his team-mate - the gap had not yet been too big.
The duo rode the final kilometres of the day together until Pogacar, who rode ahead of McNulty in the wind for most of the finale, decided that his faithful helper should take the win.