20-year old Matthew Brennan is one of Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s shining diamonds and in 2025 he turned pro and immediately began battling with the big guns. A dozen pro wins, including several at World Tour level at the age of 19 is not for everyone, and American Matteo Jorgenson believes he is racing with a one of a kind talent.”He’s so impressive. It’s insane. He’s the definition of a wonderkid. I honestly think it’s Matthew Brennan. For me, his versatility is the part that makes him so impressive,” Jorgenson said to Domestique. Brennan turned pro this year after a stint in the Dutch team’s development ranks, and almost took his first pro win directly on his first race day at the Tour Down Under where he was only outsprinted by Sam Weslford. But upon returning to Europe he began winning left and right, and at the Volta a Catalunya he took the cycling world by storm on the opening stage, leading out and then outsprinting none other than Kaden Groves in a brutal uphill sprint in Sant Feliu de Guíxols – whilst chasing down Tibor del Grosso.

“The win in Catalunya that he had, I’ve actually never seen a win like that in my life,” Jorgenson admits. “I remember sitting there watching the race, like mouth agape, live. It probably took me three days to get over how impressed I was by that win”. But he won again, and then once again at the Tour de Romandie, and amongst other wins in 2025 were a triumph at the Tour de Pologne and even his first GC win at the Tour of Norway where he finished all four stages in the Top2.

“He has this insane kick that he’ll win out of almost any [situation]. If he can just get over a few climbs and be sprinting out of a group of less than a hundred or less, it’s like almost a guaranteed win a lot of times”. He’s also won at the Deutschland Tour and Tour of Britain late in the year, revealing capacity to be at a high-level all-year round, and even earning leadouts from Wout van Aert in Germany.

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Matthew Brennan’s stage win on the opening day of the 2025 Volta a Catalunya took many by surprise. @Sirotti

However, his versatility means that a leadout is not mandatory for him to be able to perform, as said by Jorgenson who knows him closely. “He often doesn’t even need a lead-out. I remember watching Roubaix; he was positioning himself almost the whole race, and he was inside the Alpecin train with Van der Poel. I remember just being impressed with how much he can throw his weight around.”

The future is bright for the Briton and Jorgenson, who is also staying with Visma at least until 2027, has no doubts that he will be one of the world’s very best in a short amount of time. “He’s shockingly talented, and I just hope the team can retain him as a rider because I would love to be teammates with him for a long time.”