“This is incredible”, Brennan said after the nail-biting finale. “It was really close. I did think I had it, but there was still a bit of doubt. It was a high-speed sprint.”

For most of the day, the stage unfolded quietly, but the action picked up near the finish. With six kilometers to go, Wout van Aert grabbed a handful of bonus seconds, moving himself up to fourth in the overall standings, just one spot behind his teammate Brennan.

With shutting down any potential late attacks by winning that final intermediate sprint, Van Aert paved the way for Brennan. The 20-year-old fought his way forward, secured an excellent position, and launched his sprint. His late surge proved just enough to edge Milan on the line. Including victories with the Team Visma | Lease a Bike Development squad, this was already Brennan’s twelfth win of the season. It also delivered the Dutch team’s 28th triumph of the year, a tally that rose to 29 later in the day with Olav Kooij’s sprint win at the Renewi Tour.

Brennan was eager to reflect further on his achievement. “A few weeks ago I was sitting on the couch watching the Tour de France. You see world-class sprinters like Jonathan Milan fighting it out there. For me, it was a great benchmark to go up against him here at the Deutschland Tour. Beating a sprinter of his calibre gives me a lot of confidence. There are still some big stages to come over the next few days, but it’s nice to have a win in the bag already.”

Van Aert, who neutralized the peloton with his effort in the last intermediate sprint, was impressed with his young teammate. “Matthew is only twenty years old, but he races and talks as if he’s been doing this for years. He didn’t seem to suffer much at all after such an intense effort. With this win, one of our key objectives for the race has already been achieved”, Van Aert concluded.