Brandon McNulty Won the World Title but Will Still Carry Bottles for Pogačar

Brandon McNulty might be carrying water bottles next season racing in the rainbow jersey, and he’s just fine with that.

Everything changed for McNulty when he won UCI road world championships Sunday in Montréal, but it won’t change his role of helping Tadej Pogačar.

“At the end of the day, Tadej’s still the best rider. So now it’ll be fun me riding the front of races for him in the jersey,” McNulty said after winning Sunday. “It will be really cool to race with him [Pogačar] for the first time.”

Back at his day job with UAE Emirates-XRG, the newly minted world champion knows he will still ride for the Slovenian superstar in his rainbow jersey season.

Whether everyone else can get used to seeing the rainbow jersey stuffed with water bottles is another matter.

Former pro Michael Rasmussen choked on his bidon at the prospect of a world champion returning to water bottle duty for UAE’s bigger names.

“It’s going to look incredibly uncool seeing him in the world championship jersey, sitting third-to-last in the UAE line-up with his pockets stuffed with water bottles, then peeling off just as the team’s two stars are about to race for the win,” he told Viaplay Sport News.

“If he’s lucky, he’ll be given a chance to see if he can win the Tour de Pologne in the world champion’s jersey. Otherwise, it’s going to be a bit bizarre.”

The scene of the world champion on domestique duties might be a shocker, but that shows just how deep UAE’s roster truly is.

Will the stripes change UAE’s pecking order?

McNulty and Team USA are still buzzing from Sunday’s historic ride to win America’s first elite men’s road world title in 33 years.

But the wheel quickly turns back to the pro team responsibilities.

McNulty’s world title keeps the rainbow jersey inside UAE after Pogačar’s victories in 2024 and 2025.

Everyone’s happy about that, especially team boss Mauro Gianetti, who was waiting at the line in Montréal to celebrate.

Wearing the prized tunic next season won’t reset the Arizonan’s place within the UAE’s hierarchy.

Pogačar is still the boss.

The world No. 1 missed Montréal after crashing out of the Vuelta a España and won’t race again this season. If he returns anywhere close to top Pogi-peak form in 2027, McNulty will again slot into the trusted helper role.

Yes, that means we might see the world champion pulling at the front or shuttling up water bottles.

McNulty is happy with the mixed role at UAE of helping Pogačar in the world’s biggest races and getting the occasional shot to win.

“I’ve been able to win some races in my career, but I’ve never been a superstar,” McNulty said Sunday. “It was more about having special moments to be part of races and be with Tadej winning monuments. I hope I made him proud.”

Even with the stripes, McNulty will also remain behind Isaac del Toro and João Almeida for grand tour leadership.

McNulty has yet to prove he can challenge for a grand tour podium, and his career best remains ninth overall in the 2025 Giro d’Italia, when he rode to support Del Toro’s second place.

UAE still hasn’t outlined how the title crown will impact his 2027 program, but Joxean Matxin Fernandez told Velo that McNulty’s remains invaluable among the team’s crowded roster.

“Brandon for me is a super, super rider and we believe a lot in him,” Matxin Fernandez told Velo during the Tour de France. “He is a super-class rider who combines the ability to climb and to time trial. For us he is both a super helper and a leader.”

McNulty might be back to helper duties, but he’s not a front-line rider who’s taking pulls on the flats or fetching water bottles all day.

He’s one of the peloton’s top “super domestiques” in the bunch, and UAE knows it.

Racing in the stripes

McNulty joins the club of talented outsiders like Alessandro Ballan, Rui Costa, and Michał Kwiatkowski, who beat more heavily favored rivals to win the world title.

McNulty’s victory Sunday was his first win in 2026 because he had the legs, Team USA nailed its tactics, and the riders behind him couldn’t organize a chase strong enough to bring him back.

He won’t have to wait long to find out how racing in rainbow feels.

“To start with the jersey will be special. Hopefully, I can show with decent legs,” McNulty said of this weekend in Italy.

His Italian schedule opens Saturday at the Giro dell’Emilia, followed by Coppa Agostoni, Tre Valli Varesine, Gran Piemonte, Il Lombardia, and Giro del Veneto, UAE officials confirmed to Velo.

Then there’s the specter of the “rainbow curse.”

Every men’s world champion since 2006 has won at least one race in the stripes — Pogačar won 23 this season — so McNulty is hoping for some luck.

“Maybe next week in Il Lombardia or maybe a stage in the Tour de France next year in the jersey,” he told Sporza on Sunday. “If I could do that I would be satisfied with my career.”

That jack-of-all-trades role has been central to McNulty’s seven-year career at UAE.

He can empty the tank for Pogačar, like he did with an epic pull at Milan-San Remo, and then go for wins when the calendar opens up.

The stripes could strengthen his case for more opportunities, but UAE’s 2027 calendars still need to be worked out at the winter camps.

How much more McNulty wants the leadership spotlight also depends on him.

In fact, he signed a contract extension through 2030 with UAE to keep doing just that rather than seek leadership chances at other teams.

After leaving Montréal with the rainbow jersey, he might get a few more days with the team riding for him, but everyone knows Pogačar comes first.