Tadej Pogačar isn't the only UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider putting on a show at the Tour de Suisse, where UAE has won three of four stages so far. The five-star favorite for the upcoming Tour de France has two of those wins himself and stage-hunting expert Jhonatan Narváez has the other, although UAE will surely be just as happy with how everyone else on the squad has ridden this week.
Brandon McNulty, Tim Wellens, and Nils Politt are all expected to join Pogačar at next month's Tour, and this week's Alpine appetizer has shown them to be in fine form as the task of backing Pogačar for an even bigger objective looms.
For McNulty in particular, that fine form was not a given. The 28-year-old American spent two months away from racing after he pulled out of the Itzulia Basque Country in April.
"All spring was rocky, and then I ended up having a virus. I found out after Basque Country," McNulty told Escape Collective from Switzerland this week. "From there, three weeks off, and then from May 2 or 3 I was able to start riding, and then just training full for the Tour, and I've trained the well, and came back well, so I'm back in shape."
Indeed, he has made that clear in four days of Tour de Suisse racing so far. On the very first stage in Switzerland, McNulty's pace-setting at the front on an uncategorized climb shelled the field in classic UAE mountain leadout style, setting Pogačar up to solo clear for a stage win that would put him more than two minutes ahead of the nearest rival in the race. Further support efforts through the ensuing stages and a top 10 finish in the stage 4 time trial – won by Pogačar with a total of three other UAE riders in the top 10 – confirmed that McNulty and the other members of the Tour de France supporting cast are ready for July.
Pogačar's singular dominance may lead some to wonder how important his team really is, but as McNulty points out, taking on three weeks of high-stress racing alone would be a challenge even for the world's best rider.
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