MATT BRENNAN WINS VUELTA STAGE TWO AS POGACAR HOLDS RED JERSEY

Matt Brennan claimed his first Grand Tour stage victory on Sunday at the Vuelta a España, sprinting to victory in the second stage after a 214km ride from Monaco to Manosque in France. Pau Miquel finished second, with overall race favourite Tadej Pogacar in third. Pogacar retained the leader's red jersey, holding a nine-second advantage over Wout van Aert ahead of Monday's third stage. Brennan, riding his first Grand Tour with Visma-Lease a Bike, said he saw an opening in the final kilometres and capitalised on it.

Ethan Hayter, the British rider who lost Saturday's opening time trial to Pogacar by 0.09 seconds, formed part of an early four-man breakaway and won the intermediate sprint for six bonus seconds, positioning himself to potentially take the overall lead. However, as the race approached the finish in Manosque, Hayter found himself poorly positioned in the stretched-out peloton. Van Aert and Pogacar made a move with approximately 1.5 kilometres remaining, but the peloton caught them, leaving Brennan in a position to take the stage. Hayter finished 31 seconds behind Pogacar. Brennan, who joined Visma-Lease a Bike's World Tour squad in 2025, said: "We thought there was a nice opportunity to attack in the final. I was super happy to finish it off."

One source lists Brennan's age as 21, whilst another identifies him as 20. Pogacar, a five-time Tour de France winner, is the overwhelming favourite to win the Vuelta and complete a Grand Tour hat-trick. Monday's third stage takes the riders 174 kilometres from Gruissan to Font-Romeu for the race's first high-altitude finish near the Spanish border.