Sean Quinn (EF Education-Easypost) claimed victory at the elite men's road race at the USA Cycling Road National Championships in Charleston, West Virginia, just beating Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) over the line in the tightest of finishes.
Neilson Powless (EF Education-Easypost) came third from the lead group of three after having made McNulty repeatedly chase his attacks on the run toward the line as his teammate, Quinn, sat in the wheel and readied for a sprint.
“Brandon was so so strong just bringing us back time and time again and then around the last climb I was starting to think realistically he looks pretty tired, I really think I can win a sprint," said McNulty in the post race interview broadcast on FloSports. "So Neilson just attacked him, like, I don’t know 10 times, and I left it a little bit late in the bike throw, I probably should have gone a little earlier ...”
Quinn will thrilled to win a national title after landing on the podium or close to it as a junior and under-23.
"I spent a lot of years in the juniors [trying]. This was my big target, and it never worked out. So it feels pretty good to be able to wear the jersey," Quinn told Cyclingnews.
EF Education-EasyPost came into the race with only two riders and had McNulty firmly in their crosshairs after the UAE Team Emirates rider dominated the time trial on Wednesday.
"Basically, our plan from the start of the day was to isolate Brandon with just the two of us and take turns. Neilson must have attacked 50 times, and I went a couple of times, but yeah, at the end I could back my sprint.
"I left it a little late. All of a sudden, it was 100 metres to go, and [McNulty] almost got me, but luckily, I've had some work on my bike throw in the past. I'm really happy to do this one for the team and for all my friends."
McNulty, already guaranteed a berth in Team USA for the Paris Olympics, showed his versatility with a tactically astute race.
"I did everything," McNulty said. "I was cramping a lot in the last hour. I had a little bit left.
"[The time trial] was the target for this week and the year, especially. So this was kind of just a bonus."
Powless, out with a knee injury in March, only returned to racing at Eschborn-Frankfurt at the beginning of the month but showed he is back on top form with relentless series of moves throughout the race.
"We couldn't really pick Sean or I. We knew we needed both of us playing our shot at the win if we were going to beat Brandon," Powless said.
As we got closer to the finish when we were all together over the top of the climb. When Brandon pulled me back after the final climb, I think we all knew that Sean was going to have the stronger sprint out of the two of us. So I tried to just use every bullet I had left to try to weaken Brandon's legs for the sprint.
"I kind of did a faux sprint in the very end, trying to get Brandon to open it up early. But luckily Sean had good legs in the end, and he was able to take it home. I think this was best best-case scenario. We're super proud."
How it unfolded
Temperatures soared for the elite men's road race in Charleston, West Virginia, with 133 riders toeing the line for the hilly 212-kilometre National Championship, 10 laps of a 21.2km course.
Two significant climbs, the first on Bridge Road early and Wertz Road midway through, provided launching pads for multiple attacks.
The first attacks came on the opening lap, with Scott McGill (Project Echelon) and Brennan Wertz (Mosaic Cycling) sparking a move. Cole Kessler (Lidl-Trek Future Racing), Anthony Hilligoss (Kelly Benefits Strategies) and Noah Granigan (Miami Blazers) bridged across on the second lap with Lucas Bourgoyne (Austin Outlaws) and Luke Arens (Kelly Benefits Strategies) later scrambling across.
A major split came in the peloton on the first climb of the third lap, with WorldTour riders Quinn, Powless and McNulty shattering the chasing group.
The breakaway also started to come apart on lap 3, with Robin Carpenter (L39ION of Los Angeles) attacking as the breakaway came back and going clear with McGill. The remnants of the earlier break were brought back into the field, which was down to just 40 riders.
At the start of lap 4, Colby Simmons (Visma-Lease a Bike under-23), Gabriel Shipley (Aevolo) and Sam Boardman (Project Echelon) attacked from the peloton to try to close the 30 second gap to the two leaders, and just managed to catch them on the second climb right as Powless bridged across.
Soon, Vermeulen, Stephen Bassett (Project Echelon), under-23 champion Gavin Hlady and Granigan emerged from the peloton in pursuit of the Powless group, and headed into lap 5 six seconds behind the leaders and 2:10 ahead of the bunch behind.
On the first climb, McNulty attacked from the chase with Quinn latching onto his wheel. Kyle Murphy (L39ION) and Kieran Haug (CS Velo) powered up to them to join in pursuit of the 10 leaders.
The three leading groups came together on the Wertz Road climb with McNulty providing a powerful engine. A dozen riders – Haug, Carpenter, McNulty, Vermeulen, Hlady, Simmons, Quinn, McGill, Bassett, Murphy, Granigan and Powless – came through the line with five laps still to go and 2:30 on the chasing bunch.
The gap to the peloton just kept going out, sitting at 6:32 at the start of three laps to go. Granigan attacked on the finishing stretch but boomeranged when the leaders hit the Bridge Road climb.
Powless, Quinn, McNulty, McGill and Hlady split from the rest of the group on the ascent, with the Aevolo rider losing touch on the Wertz Road climb, leaving four leaders coming into two laps to go.
Powless attacked on the technical descent and when McNulty sailed away to join him, Quinn opened a gap, forcing McGill to burn some of his few remaining matches close them down. It was a sign of what was to come on the final laps.
Powless made a move on the descent from the Bridge Road climb on the penultimate lap, forcing McNulty to work to close the gap, which he did before the next climb.
The four riders came through with 34 seconds on Hlady and Vermeulen, and three chasers at 2:12, Carpenter, Haug and Simmons.
Quinn attacked on the Bridge Road climb and appeared to put McNulty into difficulty but it was McGill who lost contact in the pursuit of the EF Education-EasyPost rider. It was a pattern that continued with McNulty reeling the moves in again and again to make it a sprint decider.
Results
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