In nearly the opposite scenario from when he left Phoenix, Brandon McNulty rode through persistent rain, nearly 90 percent humidity and wet roads in the men’s individual road cycling time trial on Saturday at the 2024 Paris Olympics. McNulty, a Phoenix native who attended Glendale Deer Valley High, finished fifth in the race.
Over the 20.1-mile course, McNulty finished in 37:16.60.
McNulty finished sixth in the road race at the Tokyo Olympics.
In Paris, he was the highest-placed American in the event. McNulty significantly improved his time trial finish in Tokyo, where he finished 24th.
Belgian Remco Evenepoel won the race in 36:12.16. McNulty’s teammate Magnus Sheffield crashed hard early in the race. It wasn’t shown when it happened on the broadcast, but Sheffield was seen with ripped shorts. The same thing happened to Sheffield in Tokyo.
Watching from his home north of Phoenix was Barney King, one of the first trainers who worked with McNulty when he was a teenager.
“The conditions weren’t the best, for sure, but conditions are conditions and they’re the same for everyone, so everyone has to work through it the best they can and do what they think is right,” King said. “In this particular case, it rained all day. It rained in the women’s race, it rained in the men’s race. There were a lot of women who crashed and there were men who crashed.
“All those white lines on the road get very slippery when they get wet. Finishing fifth is good. I don’t think there’s much difference he could have made considering all the circumstances were the same.”
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He was in contention with cyclists such as Evenepoel (world champion), the Italian Filippo Ganna (world champion) and the Belgian Wout van Aert (world champion).
“There’s no doubt in my mind that Brandon is in the upper echelon of these guys. A guy like Evenepoel — he’s a special rider,” King said. “I’m proud of him. I’m always proud of the effort he puts in. Effort is something you can control. Winning and losing, not so much.
“Sometimes you get lucky and win, sometimes you have great legs and win, and sometimes you do everything right and still don’t win. The only thing you can count on is effort.”
McNulty had a solid start to begin the time trial. He placed seventh at the first time check at 8.1 miles in 14:45.09, 13 seconds behind the leader, Evenepoel. At the first time check, McNulty averaged 33.1 miles per hour.
He then made a major breakthrough in the next segment of the race. McNulty moved into fifth place at the second time check at 13.6 miles in 25:30.05, closing the gap to the leaders. He averaged 32.1 miles per hour at the second time check.
That left the last stretch of the race, 6.5 miles, for McNulty to try to move into medal position. And initially, he succeeded.
McNulty crossed the finish line in third place in 37:16, and for a brief moment, he was on the virtual medal podium. But he was relegated to fifth place as the last cyclists came through. In the race, McNulty averaged 32.4 mph.
Coming into the 2024 Paris Olympics, McNulty had the longest gap between his final day of racing and the time trial at 69 days. The closest competitors were Denmark’s Mattias Skjelmose, Czech Republic’s Mathias Vace and Hungary’s Attila Valter at 34 days.
McNulty still has one more chance to win a medal in Paris. He has a week to recover for the road race, the event in which he competed for a gold medal in Tokyo three years ago.
The road race will take place on Saturday, August 3 at 2 a.m. MST. Cyclists will compete over 169.4 miles for a chance to win a medal. The route will cover iconic monuments and sites such as the Palace of Versailles, the Chevreuse Valley, the Bois de Vincennes, the Invalides and the Eiffel Tower.
In the road race, McNulty will be riding alongside Team USA teammates Matteo Jorgensen (who King also used to coach) and Sheffield. While the Olympic road race is different from professional cycling in that the riders don’t have their usual teammates to work with, the three will still be able to work with each other in Paris.
“I hope he stays healthy. The biggest fear for guys who go out and race in the rain is catching a virus,” said King, a former national and regional director of junior development for USA Cycling. “Sometimes a race before another race will give you better legs in the road race. I hope Magnus doesn’t get hurt and he can be at full speed. I hope Matteo can be effective after he does the Tour (de France).
“And then Brandon — you’ve got three really good riders on the American squad. With that in mind, all it takes is for one of them to make the right move, the right situation, or be able to let the other guys waste all their energy, and they can be fine. I’d give them a good chance to do well.”
Logan Stanley is a sports reporter for The Arizona Republic who focuses primarily on high school, ASU and Olympic sports. To suggest ideas for human interest stories and other news, contact Stanley at logan.stanley@gannett.com or 707-293-7650. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@LScribe.
This article originally appeared in the Arizona Republic: Phoenix’s Brandon McNulty 5th in Paris Olympics time trial
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