Visma\u2013Lease a Bike is grateful. The team doesn\u2019t have a viable GC contender \u2013 though former Vuelta winner Sepp Kuss may have been saving himself for a late-stage win \u2013 but they still have Wout van Aert and Matthew Brennan, who are the Lords of the Vuelta Sprint Finishes.<\/p>\n
Brennan makes it four<\/p>\n
Though Tuesday\u2019s stage 16 had lots of ups and downs, geographically speaking, none of them was worth categorising, so it was always going to end in a bunch sprint, especially with Visma making sure the five-rider breakaway never had much of a lead. The group, which again included the tireless Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates\u2013XRG), never had a gap of more than 2:45 and was caught 23.5 kmfrom the finish line.<\/p>\n
After that, it was just a matter of 23 km before van Aert surged out of the pack with Brennan on his wheel, dropped him off in front of his sprint rivals and watched his 21-year-old teammate register his fourth stage win in his first Grand Tour. It was also Visma\u2019s sixth stage win of this Vuelta, van Aert having won the other two the previous week. Byran Coquard (Cofidis), who is the winner of the only bunch sprint not won by Brennan, finished second while Vito Braet (Lotto Intermarch\u00e9) was third. For good measure, van Aert came in sixth.<\/p>\n
With next year\u2019s Tour de France opening with three stages in the UK, Brennan is hoping that his success in the Vuelta will convince the team\u2019s staff to let him ride in that race. \u201cA UK start next year \u2013 I already said it to the team two years ago when I heard about it \u2013 \u00a0that I\u2019d really like to be there on the start line,\u201dhe said after the stage. \u201cAnd to have guys like Wout and Christophe [Laporte] there also, if we do the same [as we\u2019re doing] here, we can really try to copy what we do and replicate that into a yellow jersey on day one.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was rightly proud of his and the team\u2019s performance. \u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable. Four victories here; the plan was for one,\u201d he said. \u201cAs a team, we\u2019ve won six. I think. I can\u2019t count, we\u2019ve won so many. The stages that we\u2019ve gone for, we\u2019ve really committed to the plan that we had. You\u2019ve seen the boys all day today; they\u2019ve been pushing so much wind, and to finish it off like that, Wout bringing me across the line, basically in a perfect place in such a chaotic final, it was perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked whether van Aert was the best lead-out man in the world, he said, \u201cYeah, I don\u2019t really think [anyone] can compete. It was a real shame that we lost Christophe, but it\u2019s still unbelievable what we can do when we\u2019re a man down in these type of situations.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the post-race press conference, he elaborated<\/a> on his dreams for next year\u2019s Tour, the first two stages of which seem to be ideal for sprint finishes. \u201cI\u2019ve seen the first and also the second stage, and the third is quite hard, but there are definitely opportunities to do something within my strengths,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI would really like to be on the starting line. I also understand that the best squad has to go with the ambitions the team has, but I think that for the moment, with being successful as a team, we can probably use myself in different ways to help Jonas [Vingegaard] bring out his strengths even more and play the cards.\u201d<\/p>\n And stage 17 makes five<\/p>\n Wednesday\u2019s stage 17 was another very hot day, with a two-rider breakaway that was never going to make it to the finish line without being caught, though its lead stretched to about 5:30. But Enzo Paleni (Groupama\u2013FDJ United) and Sinuh\u00e9 Fern\u00e1ndez (Burgos Burpellet BH) apparently like riding in front, as they\u2019ve been active in other breakaways, and may be looking to catch a big team\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n In any case, same old, same old. Visma and Cofidis mostly drove the peloton\u2019s chase for their respective sprinters, Coquard and Brennan. Eventually, Paleni took off on his own, but when Visma\u2019s Bruno Armirail took the front of the chase, the gap withered away. Eventually Paleni was caught 3 km from the line by a peloton led by five Uno-X riders, including their sprinter, Magnus Cort.<\/p>\n This time van Aert deposited Brennan in third spot, just behind Cort, and the 21-year-old fast man did the rest, winning the sprint by more than a bike length over a late-rushing Jordi Meeus (Red Bull\u2013BORA\u2013hansgrohe) and Cort. That victory made Brennan the youngest rider ever to win five Grand Tour stages. Visma\u2019s seven stage wins are the most the team has recorded in a Grand Tour, beating the six wins at the 2022 Tour de France and the 2026 Giro d\u2019Italia, and give the team 14 Grand Tour stage wins for the year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is unbelievably special,\u201d Brennan said about the team\u2019s stage-win haul. \u201cWe have so many big names that have come through the team and tried to achieve the same thing that we have. We\u2019ve come to this race, and we set out with a plan, and that was to win some stages, but it was never really in anyone\u2019s mind to try and break this record or anything. We sat down yesterday and said, \u2018OK, we need to do something here; we need to break this record.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Asked about his personal performance, he said, \u201cMaybe in a few weeks on\u2026 I will start to look back on it and think,\u00a0phwoar, that was pretty impressive. I think it\u2019s a really good stepping stone for next year\u2019s ambition and also gives me a lot of confidence to be with all these good guys. It\u2019s an unbelievable situation to be in.\u201d<\/p>\n But to put the performance in perspective, Brennan has benefited from the fact that most of the sport\u2019s top sprinters \u2013 such as Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin\u2013Premier Tech), Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) \u2013 didn\u2019t come to the Vuelta. This shouldn\u2019t detract from his achievement, but his real test would come at next year\u2019s Tour de France, if he is chosen to ride in it \u2013 which seems likely now.<\/p>\n