Matt Brennan of Great Britain claimed his maiden Grand Tour stage victory on Sunday at the Vuelta a Espana, winning the second leg of the race from Monaco to Manosque. The 21-year-old, competing in his first Grand Tour, demonstrated composure in the closing kilometres of the 214-kilometre route to secure the win ahead of Spain’s Pau Miquel Delgado and race favourite Tadej Pogacar.
Brennan, who joined Team Visma-Lease a Bike’s professional squad in 2025, executed a tactical masterclass with his teammates. The British rider remained patient in the background as his teammate Wout van Aert attempted to seize the leader’s red jersey, before capitalizing when the opportunity presented itself in the final sprint. Pogacar, the overall race favourite and Tour de France champion, chose to conserve energy and finished third, preserving his lead in the general classification.
Pogacar continues to command the standings with a nine-second advantage over van Aert following his dominant performance in Saturday’s opening time trial. Brennan moved into third place overall, ten seconds adrift of the Slovenian. Fellow British rider Ethan Hayter, who narrowly lost the opening stage time trial to Pogacar by just 0.09 seconds, finished outside the top ten after a difficult day on the roads through Provence.
The race heads into the French Pyrenees for Monday’s third stage, which features a mountain finish at Font Romeu near the Spanish border.
Originally reported by Sports.yahoo →
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