McNulty 3rd in Giro time trial, shoots up to 4th in overall standings

Brandon McNulty put in one of the best performances of his young career on stage 14 of the Giro d’Italia (Conegliano – Valdobbiadene), blazing home into 3rd place and moving up to 4th overall in the General Classiication.

McNulty, a specialist against the clock, completed the undulating 34.1km individual time trial course with an average speed of 46.7kmph, 1’09’’ slower than the time of the winner of the day, World time-trial champion Filippo Ganna (Ineos-Grenadiers).

With seven stages remaining, McNulty now lies just 12’’ off the podium, a remarkable feat in what is the first Grand Tour for the 22 year old.

McNulty: “Warming up beforehand my legs felt really bad so I didn’t know how I would go. Then at the first split I wasn’t far off Ganna so I knew I was on a good day and just went as a hard as I could. Matxin told me last night that he thought I could move into 5th, I thought that if I did a really good day I could get 4th.
For the rest of the race I think I stand a good chance on the climbs and then there’s one last TT in Milan so it’s another good opportunity for me. Everyday is a surprise to me because I’ve never done a race this long but so far I keep getting better so it it’s good.”

Stage 15 goes from Base Aerea Rivolto to Piancavallo (185k) with the final climb of 14.3km at 7.8%.

Stage 14 results

Filippo Ganna (Ineos-Grenadiers) 42:40
Rohan Dennis (Ineos-Grenadiers) +26’’
Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) +1’09’’

 
General classification after the 14th stage

1. Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep) 54:28:09
2. Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) +56’’
3. Pello Bilbao (Bahrain McLaren) + 2’11″
4. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) + 2’23“