British sprinter Matthew Brennan won his first ever grand tour stage at his first attempt on the second day of racing at the Vuelta a España.
The Visma-Lease a Bike sprinter is riding his first ever grand tour at the Spanish race.
Brennan was ideally placed in the final in Manosque after other teams were forced to chase his team-mate Wout van Aert who had attacked on a short climb 1.8km from the line.
Latest Videos FromCycling Weekly
However, with race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates XRG) in third place on the day Brennan’s win was not enough to bag him the points jersey.
Speaking at the finish Brennan said: “We started off with the ambition of Wout trying to get in the red jersey today. We said there’s a nice opportunity to attack in the final and Wout was keen to do that.
“I was always going to be in the background to do the sprint in case the guys [out front] sat up and that’s exactly what happened. The guys sat up in the front and Christophe [Laporte] was able to guide me through all the hecticness of that.”
Asked how he felt about his first win in a grand tour he said: “Hopefully it’s not the last one, it’s nice. The boys worked all day really well and gave it 100%. They believed in both of us so we could achieve something successful today.”
More to follow…
Explore More
