*Scoll down if you’re all about the power numbers. But first, a little background on McNulty and Rally UHC Cycling…
Brandon McNulty’s performance at the 2019 Tour of Oman was something special – for him, his team, and American cycling, his 9th place Overall is huge. The US has had very few high-level results in the last decade of pro cycling. Yes, Tejay van Garderen placed Top-5 at the Tour de France, Andrew Talansky won the Criterium du Dauphine, and Taylor Phinney nearly medaled at the 2012 London Olympics, twice.
(In women’s pro cycling, however, the same cannot be said. American women are killing it, across all disciplines too – Mountain Bike World Champion Kate Courtney, Cyclocross Legend Katie Compton, and road phenoms such as Coryn Rivera, Ruth Winder, and Megan Guarnier, just to name a few…)
But in a land of 325 million people, there are only 15 American riders racing in the Pro Tour, the top-level of professional cycling. Americans tend to dominate other sports such as football, basketball, and swimming (i.e. most of the Summer Olympic events), but why not cycling? It’s a complex answer, with multiple factors, but I believe the biggest reason is the culture; cycling is not one of the ‘big four’. We all played (or at least tried to play) football, baseball, basketball, and soccer as kids. Even if we were terrible, we were five years old and could barely stand up – let alone accurately kick a giant ball – but soccer was always part of our gym class.
Cycling is weird. Carbon road bikes are meant for old, rich guys. Fixed-gears are meant for awkward hipsters with lenseless glasses and three-quarter length jeans. And beach cruisers with baskets are meant for anyone that doesn’t care about looking cool.
It took me until 17 to finally get on a road bike and start serious training and racing. Only then did I discover the US National-team pool, filled with talented Juniors and U23s from all over the country. I wanted to be a part of that group, mostly because racing on the National team gets you a trip to Europe and lifelong connections to the top American cycling teams. But after a few years of racing, I realized I wasn’t going to Europe (yet), and so I went to college instead.
But riders like Brandon McNulty are part of the system – in fact, they’re the whole reason the US National team exists. We need to send our best, most-talented riders to Europe when they’re young, race them hard (hopefully not in to burnout), and show them what it takes to be a professional cyclist. The past few years have shown that Brandon is certainly capable of being a top-level professional – he has the power, the talent, the skill, and the mindset to suffer and succeed at the top level of the sport.
Enough of my blabbering – these are the mind-melting numbers that McNulty produced to place 9th Overall at the 2019 Tour of Oman, highlighted by a searing 20-minute effort up the hors categorie Green Mountain climb on Stage 5:
Stage 1 – 145 km
90 miles with less than 900 feet of climbing. In other words: flat as a pancake. A sprinter’s stage.
Average Power: 194 W (Weighted Average: 236W)
*According to multiple sources (I Googled it), McNulty weighs approx. 68 kg
Think you could keep up with the pros? Well, it’s not as easy as you think? In the middle of the stage – likely due to a section of nasty crosswinds, McNulty averaged 366 W for 7 minutes, including 1:44 at 487 W. While not earth-shattering, it’s quite the effort to put in in the middle of a flat, sprinter’s stage.
The run-in to the final sprint gets hectic as well, with McNulty putting out 307 W for the last 10 minutes of the stage, including 400 W for the last 3:12, and over 440 W for the last 2 minutes.
So with an average power of 194 W, it was just an easy day, right? Not so much.
Result: 53rd (s.t.)
s.t. = same time as peloton
Stage 2 – 163 km
Average Power: 185 W (Weighted Average: 263W)
A lot hillier for Stage 2, with a total of over 5,000 feet of climbing. The Cat 2 Climb of Bousher Alamrat was the first real test for the climbers and GC men – the 2.24-mile averages over 10%, putting most riders into the red despite being over 50km from the finish. For this section, McNulty averaged 402 W for 11:57, big numbers by anyone’s standard. But wait until you see what’s coming up on Stage 4…
A couple of shorter, shallower climbs closer to the finish kept the pressure on – with McNulty putting out 356 W for 6:15 over Hamriya Hill – but nothing compared to the Al Jissah Climb, a 1.59-mile two-parter averaging 8%, and blowing up what remained of the field. McNulty averaged 454 W for 5:49 to make it over the climb in the front group, including over 500 W for the last two minutes. Coming into the reduced bunch kick, McNulty puts out 400 W again for the last two minutes, finishing within the reduced peloton of 37 riders.
Result: 33rd (0:03 – time loss to winner, Lutsenko)
Stage 3 – 198 km
Average Power: 216 W (Weighted Average: 293W)
A serious day in the saddle, with almost 7,000 feet of climbing over five hours of racing. The stage started off with the Climb of Bousher Alamrat (again), this time at a *slightly lesser pace – McNulty averaged 387 W for 12:33 to make it over the climb in the peloton.
Fun fact: Ty Magner, McNulty’s Rally Cycling teammate, hit 65.3 mph (105 kph!) descending Bousher Alamrat.
The stage finished atop the Cat 3 Quriyat – 1.75 miles averaging 7% – which the riders climbing twice in total. The first time up with still 30 miles to go, McNulty averaged a mammoth 474 W for 6:21. Interestingly, this would be the better effort of his two. Up the final climb, McNulty averaged 465 W for 6:06. The second time up his power is much more ‘spiky’, with multiple surges up above 550 W, down to 250-300 W, and then back again. Despite putting out less power, he went 15 seconds faster the second time up. But crucial to the overall picture, this is where McNulty would lose his first small chunk of time on GC.
Result: 15th (0:19 – time loss to winner, Lutsenko)
Stage 4 – 141 km
Average Power: 223 W (Weighted Average: 306W)
The race for the early break made this the hardest opening sequence of this year’s Tour of Oman. In the first seven miles, McNulty put out two huge efforts – 465 W for 3:43 and 467 W for 2:18 – just to stay in the peloton. Less than eight miles later, he put out another impressive effort of 422 W for 3:12 before the peloton finally sat up, letting the break take a carefully-controlled lead.
The serious climbing started halfway through the stage, with three big efforts coming in the space of less than 50 minutes. The first was up the backside of Amerat, which McNulty climbed in a time of 7:57 at 395 W. The next was Bousher Alamrat (again – I guess there aren’t many great road options in Oman), climbed in 11:22 at 429 W. And again up the backside of Amerat, but this time much faster, McNulty climbed it in a time of 6:49 at 457 W.
In the final kick to the line, McNulty averaged 500 W for the last 2:27, with the last minute at 571 W.
Result: 31st (s.t.)
Stage 5 – 169 km
Average Power: 210 W (Weighted Average: 277W)
A long, mostly flat day, leading into the true test for the GC men: Green Mountain – 3.5 miles averaging over 10%, snaking along a highway and fully exposed to the desert sun, it’s a brute of a climb. In a post-race interview with Cyclingnews, McNulty said that the group went so hard up the early pitches of the climb, he was completely dropped. But using his teammate, Rob Britton, as a pacer, he clawed his way back near the front, passing groups of tens of riders who had blown up in the first few kilometers of the climb. You can see it in his power data – repeated spikes over 700 W in the first few minutes of the climb (McNulty averaged 500 W for the first minute, in fact), enough to blow the legs off even the best riders in the world.
So what power did McNulty do to finish 14th, up among the strongest riders in the world? 431 W for 20:22. Keep in mind that this is after riding for 3.5 hours at 200 W, and on the fifth day of racing – this is not your normal 20-minute power test. McNulty seemed to pace the climb perfectly, his power graph showing a near-horizontal line around 430 W all the way to the finish.
Result: 14th (0:51 – time loss to winner, Lutsenko)
Stage 6 – 169 km
*Unfortunately, no file exists for this stage (yet), but I can tell you that it was a flat, mostly easy sprint stage. However, it wasn’t without drama. McNulty was involved in a crash 50km from the finish, and chaos ensued. A number of riders abandoned the race due to injury, and GC riders such as McNulty were stuck off the back, chasing like mad to get back to the peloton and avoid losing time.
But McNulty wasn’t alone; his entire Rally-UHC team ‘rallied’ around him (sorry), and paced him back to the peloton. Needless to say, he made it, and McNulty finished safely in the field to wrap up his 9th Overall, a career-best result for both McNulty and his team.
Result: 24th (s.t.) Final GC position: 9th (1:43 down on winner, Lutsenko)
***
Data gathered from McNulty’s Strava page here