McNulty smashes Vuelta time trial to take leaders jersey

American takes huge result in Lisbon, Ulissi 2nd in Poland

Brandon McNulty put in the ride of his life to secure a narrow victory in the stage 1 time trial from Lisbon to Oeiras at the Vuelta España.

The American cyclist expertly navigated the parcours ahead of second place Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) by just two seconds. The podium was rounded out by Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) who went off last.

McNulty was the second-to-last rider to start which meant he had his teammates and also his rivals’ times for reference.

At the 7km mark, Van Aert was slightly ahead of Vacek, with McNulty trailing by two seconds. However, in the final stretch, McNulty displayed his strength, powering home with a blistering average speed of 57.197 kph to claim victory.

It will be the first time the American will don the leader’s jersey of a Grand Tour.

McNulty: “I don’t know if I expected to win but I knew if something crazy happened, then I could win – so I guess something crazy happened, I was hoping for something good today, but this is hard to believe for me.

I just had super good legs. I’ve been feeling really good in training. I really went for the Olympics, and I’ve had good legs since then. I knew I could do something good, but I didn’t expect to win.”

Stage results & GC

1.Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) 12:35

2.Mathias Vacek (Lidl Trek) +2”

3.Wout Van Aert (Visma LAB) s.t

The finale of stage 6 of the Tour of Poland ended in a copy of each summit finish this week with Diego Ulissi narrowly missing victory behind Thibaut Nys (Lidl-Trek) who took his third victory of the week. The Italian veteran has showed great form, and it was on display again on the hilly transfer from Wadowice to Bukovina Resort(183.2km). The stage podium was rounded out by Oscar Onley (DSM Firmenich).

Ulissi: “We tried to win the stage win Tim by attacking early to throw in an element of surprise and we stayed behind for the sprint. In the end it all came back together, and we were faced with Thibau Nys who is simply in excellent form and has been impossible to beat this week. My condition is good and I’m happy with the week’s racing.”

Ulissi sits in 2nd place on GC just 13” behind race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma LAB) heading into the final flat stage from Wieliczka to Kraków (142.1km).

Stage 6 results

1.Thibaut Nys (Lidl-Trek) 4:26:06

2.Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) s.t

3.Oscar Onley (DSM Firmenich) s.t

GC after stage 6

1.Jonas Vingegaard (UAE Team Emirates) 22:21:14

2.Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) +13”

3.Wilco Kelderman (Visma LAB) +20”