The world champion you didn't expect comes from the United States and his name is Brandon McNulty. He wasn't on the list of favorites, he didn't seem like the rider to watch and perhaps that's exactly why he found the space to pull off the greatest feat of his career: a solo breakaway, legs emptied, doubt until the very last meter and then the rainbow jersey.

Behind him crossed the finish line Australian Michael Matthews and Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel. The United States dominated the race with 3 riders in the top ten: Simmons fourth, Jorgenson eighth and McNulty naturally on the highest step. A display of collective strength, prepared with clarity and transformed into an unexpected finale. At the finish line the entire Team USA celebrated McNulty and shouted loudly: "You're the world champion. You're the world champion".

McNulty struggled to find the words. "Honestly, I don't know. I don't know what went through my head. Really, I have no idea. I'm speechless. Until the last hundred meters I didn't even believe it. I was so tired, but... yes, I don't know. Really, I don't know".

The final straightaway, after a race conducted beyond the limit, seemed endless to him. "It must have been the longest stretch of my life. On Montreal's last climb I didn't even know what I was doing. I was in zone two, I was dying, but I kept pushing. I really don't know how it happened".

The victory bears McNulty's signature, but also that of a perfect American team. Matteo Jorgenson, Quinn Simmons and his other teammates protected the captain, followed every move and prevented the race from slipping away.

"We've been saying for weeks that we have a very strong team and that the feat was possible. I think we raced incredibly. We controlled every move, kept an eye on who was attacking. I'm really speechless".

Yet, at the start, even McNulty didn't really think he could wear the rainbow jersey. "We had talked about it. I had joked with my wife about it, but in the end I didn't really believe it. I knew something could happen, but it would have taken a miracle. And I think today miracles really do happen".

In Montreal the story is all Brandon McNulty's. The guy nobody was pointing to, the rider left free to invent his own race, the American who transformed a remote possibility into a certainty and now the rainbow jersey is his.