Brennan takes the Lorca sprint
Matthew Brennan won stage 11 of the Vuelta this afternoon. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider beat Bryan Coquard and Jordi Meeus after 153.8 kilometres between Cartagena and Lorca.
Visma took control inside the final kilometre. Wout van Aert delivered the lead-out, Brennan did the rest. Coquard, who won in Xeraco on stage eight, came up agonisingly short. Meeus made the day’s podium for the third time since this Vuelta began.
It was Brennan’s third stage win of this Vuelta. He had already raised his arms in Manosque on stage two, then again on stage nine.
Try it for $0.99.
A run nobody had managed since Pogacar
At 21, Brennan becomes the first rider to win three stages on his first Grand Tour since Tadej Pogacar, who won three times in the 2019 Vuelta. Among sprinters, you have to go back to Fernando Gaviria and the 2017 Giro to find a start like this.
The Dutch team had, though, come in off a setback. The day before, in Elche de la Sierra, the terrain blew the plan apart and robbed Brennan of his sprint. Visma-Lease a Bike and Cofidis then kept the race locked down from the opening kilometres on Wednesday.
The break never got away. Alessandro Covi, Domen Novak, Ethan Hayter and Sinuhe Fernandez had 1’45” on the clock by the 30-kilometre mark. The peloton reeled them in with 93 kilometres to go.
Van Aert has his eye on green, the mountains wait on Thursday
Hayter went again 75 kilometres from the finish with Larry Warbasse. The pair built a lead of about 30 seconds before sitting up at the foot of the Alto de Aledo, the day’s only categorised climb, 9.5 kilometres at 4.2%. Van Aert crested first, 24.9 kilometres from Lorca.
The Belgian is no longer hiding his points ambitions. He said again at the finish that he wants the green jersey, pointing out that the race is now only halfway through. The wind threatened all day on the roads of Murcia, but never managed to split the peloton.
Thursday changes everything. The riders will climb to Calar Alto for a summit finish. The sprinters can stand down.
Find the rest of our CYCLING news on the mathodds site and app!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply