Matthew Brennan Blasts to Stage 2 Victory as Pogačar Keeps La Roja
Matthew Brennan needed only two days of his first Vuelta a España to become a Grand Tour stage winner.
The 21-year-old Visma–Lease a Bike rider produced a devastating sprint in Manosque to win Stage 2 ahead of Pau Miquel and race leader Tadej Pogačar after 214.3 kilometres of racing from Monaco.
But the result tells only part of the story.
The final kilometres became a tactical battle between Visma and Pogačar after Wout van Aert attacked with around two kilometres remaining.
Pogačar immediately responded.
With Van Aert sitting only seconds behind him in the general classification, the Slovenian could not afford to allow the Belgian to disappear up the road. The pair briefly opened a gap before the reduced peloton brought the move back.
That set the stage for Brennan.
As Van Aert was caught, his Visma teammate launched his sprint and quickly opened a decisive advantage. Pau Miquel took an impressive second place, while Pogačar still had enough left to finish third and collect four bonus seconds.
Mads Pedersen finished fourth.
For Brennan, it was a remarkable introduction to Grand Tour racing: his first Grand Tour, his first genuine sprint opportunity and immediately his first stage victory.
Pogačar remains in control of the red jersey.
After winning the opening Monaco time trial by just 0.09 seconds over Ethan Hayter, he now leads Van Aert by nine seconds. Brennan has moved into third overall at ten seconds.
The race changes character dramatically on Monday.
Stage 3 climbs from Gruissan towards Font-Romeu in the French Pyrenees, where the Vuelta's first sustained mountain test will provide a much clearer indication of the form of the general-classification contenders.
Stage 2 result
Matthew Brennan — Visma–Lease a Bike — 4:47:47 Pau Miquel — Bahrain Victorious — same time Tadej Pogačar — UAE Team Emirates-XRG — same time Mads Pedersen — Lidl-Trek — same time Hugo Hofstetter — NSN Cycling Team — same time
GC after Stage 2
Tadej Pogačar — 4:58:40 Wout van Aert — +0:09 Matthew Brennan — +0:10 Léo Bisiaux — +0:12 Finn Fisher-Black — +0:14