Superb Brennan sprints to stage win in Tour de Romandie and takes lead in classification (+VIDEO)
Matthew Brennan convincingly won the first stage of the Tour de Romandie. The 19-year-old Brit of Team Visma | Lease a Bike proved to be the fastest of the peloton and took his sixth win of the season. Due to the bonification seconds gained, Brennan will start tomorrow in the yellow leader's jersey.
"It's very special to win here. We came here with the goal of winning a stage, so to have already succeeded makes me and everyone involved with the team very happy," the winner stammered afterwards. "Once we survived the last climb, I knew there was a chance we could sprint for the win. The guys did a great job and made sure I stayed out of trouble all day. I'm incredibly grateful to them."
In the first stage-in-line, the riders had to cover lots of altimeters. Team Visma | Lease a Bike had its sights set on a bunch sprint and helped ensure that the breakaway-riders were caught at 25 kilometers from the finish line. In the final kilometer, Brennan positioned himself at the front and sprinted convincingly to victory. "It was a chaotic sprint. I had to constantly fight to keep the good wheel and towards the end I was even a little more in front than I would have liked. I stayed calm and luckily was able to finish it off."
"Things are going really well so far."
With the win in Romandie, Brennan brought his season total to six. The talented Brit already took two stage wins in the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and was the strongest in Le Tour des 100 Communes, GP de la Ville de Lillers and GP de Denain. For Team Visma | Lease a Bike, it was the twelfth win of the calendar year. "Things are going really well so far. It would be nice if we can get another stage win this week. I'm looking forward to the next few days and hope to be able to support Jørgen as best I can in the mountains."