Matt Brennan wins Vuelta stage two on Grand Tour debut
Great Britain's Matt Brennan sprinted to victory in the second stage of the Vuelta a Espana on Sunday, taking the stage that ran 214km from Monaco to Manosque, while Tadej Pogacar retained the red leader's jersey.
The 21-year-old Brennan claimed his first Grand Tour stage win on his debut; he joined Team Visma-Lease a Bike's world tour squad in 2025 and pounced in the final kilometres to secure the victory.
The finish initially looked set to be contested by Brennan's team-mate Wout van Aert and Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar, but Van Aert was caught in the closing kilometres and Pogacar chose to conserve energy, opening the opportunity for Brennan. Brennan said: "We started off with the ambition of Wout trying to get in the red jersey today," and added, "We had that plan and then I was always going to be in the background for the sprint in case that plan [didn't work] ... and that's exactly what happened. "Hopefully it's not the last one, but it's nice."
Pau Miquel Delgado of Bahrain Victorious finished second and Pogacar, racing for UAE Team Emirates, crossed the line third. The official stage winner's time for James Brennan was 4 hours, 47mins 47secs, with Delgado and Pogacar recorded as the same time. Mads Pedersen (Den/Lidl-Trek), Hugo Hofstetter (Fra/NSN Cycling Team), Tobias Johannessen (Nor/Uno-X Mobility), Finn Fisher-Black (NZ/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Axel Laurance (Fra/Netcompany Ineos Cycling Team), Oscar Onley (GB/Netcompany Ineos Cycling Team) and Orluis Alberto Aular sanabria (Ven/Movistar Team) were all given the same time.
After stage two the general classification remained headed by Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) on 4 hours 58mins 40secs, with Wout van Aert (Bel/Team Visma-Lease a Bike) +9secs and James Brennan (GB/Team Visma-Lease a Bike) +10secs. Leo Bisiaux (Fra/Decathlon-CMA CGM) sat +12secs, Finn Fisher-Black (NZ/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +14secs, Stefan Kung (Sui/Tudor Pro Cycling Team) +18secs, Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) same time, Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +26secs and Jordan Labrosse (Fra/Decathlon-CMA CGM) +27secs.
Britain's Ethan Hayter, who was pipped in the opening stage time trial by Pogacar, joined a small early break and won the final intermediate sprint to collect six bonus seconds but then fell back, finishing 31 seconds down and placing 13th in the general classification. After finishing third in the opening stage just eight days after his brother Finlay lost his life in a crash, Britain's Josh Tarling came 125th on stage two.
Pogacar will start Monday's third stage with a nine-second advantage over Van Aert, and the race continues into the French Pyrenees with a mountain finish in Font Romeu near the Spanish border.