{"id":350160,"date":"2025-12-17T02:23:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T02:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/350160\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T02:23:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T02:23:09","slug":"van-der-poel-delivered-a-brutal-lesson-as-brennans-roubaix-education-began","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/350160\/","title":{"rendered":"Van der Poel delivered a brutal lesson as Brennan\u2019s Roubaix education began"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matthew Brennan didn\u2019t just survive his first Paris\u2013Roubaix \u2014 he learned exactly how unforgiving the race can be, courtesy of Mathieu van der Poel<\/a>. Brenann, who is one of the next big things in the pack\u2013has already made a name for himself with some outstanding results. But his first Paris-Roubaix was definitely an eye-opener.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Inside the Beehive<\/a>, Visma\u2013Lease a Bike\u2019s team podcast, the 20-year-old Brit reflected on a breakout debut season capped by a contract extension through 2029. Among the highlights was his first ride through the Hell of the North.<\/p>\n

In the thick of the battle<\/p>\n

Brennan found himself well positioned deep into the race, even at moments when team leader Wout van Aert was briefly distanced. Early on, Brennan chose his wheels carefully, opting to follow world champion Tadej Poga\u010dar rather than match Van der Poel\u2019s restless movement across the road.<\/p>\n

Watch Mathieu van der Poel Pull off an incredible save during training<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was jumping everywhere \u2014 curbs, wheels, following everything,\u201d Brennan said on the podcast. \u201cI just thought: I\u2019m not getting involved in that. He was way too agile for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

That calculation only delayed the inevitable.<\/p>\n

The watt bomb by MvdP<\/p>\n

After the Trou\u00e9e d\u2019Arenberg, in the Forest of Wallers, van der Poel launched one of his trademark accelerations. Brennan told himself the defending champion had to be tiring too. He was wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen he dropped the biggest watt bomb I\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d Brennan said. \u201cEverything just got left on the road. That\u2019s when I cracked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brennan would finish 44th, nearly nine minutes down, but described Roubaix as a defining step in his development. The brief, he said, was simple: gain experience, enjoy the chaos and help Van Aert if possible.<\/p>\n

If not? \u201cThen it still mattered,\u201d he said \u2014 because now he knows exactly what that level looks like.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Brennan started with the Visma Conti team. By 2025, he was already making a mark in the WorldTour. He won the overall at the Tour of Norway, a stage at the Tour of Deutschland, a win at Rund um K\u00f6ln\u2013outsprinting Biniam Grimay, no less. All told, the youngster already has 12 pro victories to his name\u2013not bad for a rookie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matthew Brennan didn\u2019t just survive his first Paris\u2013Roubaix \u2014 he learned exactly how unforgiving the race can be,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,13633,51216,58563,82,10761],"class_list":{"0":"post-350160","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","12":"tag-matthew-brennan","13":"tag-paris-roubaix","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-visma-lease-a-bike"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}