Five in one Vuelta, at 21
Matthew Brennan won again in Sevilla a few hours ago. Fifth stage of this Vuelta a Espana, first Grand Tour of his career, and the sprinters still have not found an answer.
The Visma | Lease a Bike rider covered the 185km from Dos Hermanas in 4:07:15. Jordi Meeus took second, Magnus Cort third after a strong Uno-X lead-out. Alessandro Romele finished fourth, Steffen De Schuyteneer fifth and Axel Laurance sixth, all on the winner’s time.
A day earlier at La Rabida, Brennan had become the first rider since Fernando Gaviria at the 2017 Giro d’Italia to win four stages on a Grand Tour debut. That record lasted about twenty-four hours.
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Van Aert did the driving
Enzo Paleni and Sinuhe Fernandez went clear almost from the flag and stayed out for most of the afternoon. Fernandez took the intermediate sprint at San Jose de La Rinconada and the maximum 20 points, then faded. Paleni dropped him with 13km left and rode alone until three kilometres from the line.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe tried to break the race in the crosswinds with 50km to go. A split opened on the exposed roads, the general classification teams pushed their leaders forward, and the peloton came back together within a few kilometres.
The finish belonged to Visma. Wout van Aert closed down the late attacks on the twisting roads into the city, then delivered Brennan onto Cort’s wheel with a kilometre to run. Van Aert finished second in Sevilla in 2024 after launching too early. This time he talked Brennan through the corners beforehand and let the 21-year-old do the sprinting.
Mas holds on, Roglic waits for Jerez
Nothing moved at the top of the general classification. Enric Mas stayed alert when the wind split the race and came home safely in the main group, keeping 2:06 over Felix Gall. Primoz Roglic sits third at 2:10, Richard Carapaz fourth at 4:24 and Oscar Onley fifth at 5:44.
Thursday brings the individual time trial in Jerez, and that is where Roglic has to take time back before the Vuelta returns to the mountains. Brennan’s work on the flat looks close to done. Five wins in Manosque, Roquetes, Lorca, La Rabida and now Sevilla, plus Van Aert’s stages in Loja and Cordoba, give Visma seven victories from seventeen days of racing.
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