Matthew Brennan takes second Vuelta sprint victory on stage five in Roquetes
On 26 August 2026 in Roquetes at the Vuelta a España, Matthew Brennan sprinted to his second stage victory of the race, winning stage five. The 21-year-old Visma-Lease a Bike rider sealed the 173.4km finish after a bunch sprint to conclude the route from Falset.
Visma-Lease a Bike controlled the closing kilometres, with Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte delivering a lead-out for their young teammate. Brennan, making his Grand Tour debut, had now converted both of his sprint opportunities in this edition of the race. The stage unfolded entirely on Spanish roads and featured crosswinds that influenced the peloton’s tempo.
Jordi Meeus (Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe) finished second on the day and Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education–EasyPost) was third. Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Team Emirates XRG) retained his overall lead, holding a 3min 21sec advantage in the general classification.
An early five-rider break formed after Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility) attacked solo and was joined by Walter Calzoni (Pinarello Q36.5), Stefan Küng (Tudor), Mattia Gaffuri (Picnic PostNL) and Diego Uriarte (Equipo Kern Pharm). Küng later fell back to the peloton, reducing the escapees to four, and the group was reeled in by the main field with roughly 100km remaining.
Lidl-Trek raised the pace on a blowy day to close down the breakaway as crosswinds prompted concern about potential splits. At the intermediate sprint in Tivenys after 114.7km, Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) took maximum points. Hayter had been narrowly denied victory on stage one by Pogacar and had looked in danger of being dropped during the earlier windy sections.
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), who might have been expected to contest the bunch sprint, was dropped on the category-three Puerto de Paüls climb. Visma-Lease a Bike dominated the final phases of the stage to position Brennan for the sprint.
Brennan said: "It’s better than a normal day job, it’s fantastic. Second one in the bag, first Grand Tour … I’m just very thankful to finish it off again, and I think the boys are quite relieved." He added: "It [the team performance] was pretty spot on. We had the two boys pulling on the front until the final few kilometres. Then Wout and Chris are the best guys you can have in that situation … glad we could finish with the arms in the air."
Van Aert told TNT Sports: "When you have Matt in a group like that, it’s the best card to play, and I don’t even need to see the replay to see how he finished that one off." Asked if it feels just as good to see Brennan win as when he wins a race himself, Van Aert smiled and said: "It comes close."
Thursday’s stage six covers 177.5km from Alcossebre to Castelló and is described as a medium mountain stage featuring 3,080m of climbing.