{"id":2125782,"date":"2026-09-02T15:32:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T12:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2125782"},"modified":"2026-09-02T15:32:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T12:32:46","slug":"vuelta-a-espana-stage-11-matthew-brennan-is-making-bunch-sprints-look-easy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2125782","title":{"rendered":"Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a Stage 11: Matthew Brennan Is Making Bunch Sprints Look Easy"},"content":{"rendered":"
Updated September 2, 2026 10:24AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Matthew Brennan didn\u2019t miss Wednesday on stage 11 at the\u00a0Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a.<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old super-sprinter blasted to the third win of his debut grand tour after his teammate Wout van Aert executed a perfect leadout.<\/p>\n
The victory is a rapid turnaround for Visma-Lease a Bike, which was left empty-handed on Tuesday\u2019s sprint stage after it worked all day for Van Aert.<\/p>\n
Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) finished second in Wednesday\u2019s sprint, a length behind Brennan. Jordi Meeus (Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe) was third in the mass kick.<\/p>\n
Race-leader Enric Mas (Movistar) and his GC rivals all finished safely in the peloton.<\/p>\n
There were no time gaps or moves on the classification, leaving Mas 1:18 over next-best Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d (Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe).<\/p>\n
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Brennan justifies Visma\u2019s faith<\/h2>\nBrennan and Van Aert: The deadliest duo in the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a?<\/span> (Photo: Alexander Hassenstein\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Brennan\u2019s victory Wednesday was the 22nd of his young career, and the third of his very first grand tour.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the finish, Brennan thanked his teammates on Visma-Lease a Bike for trusting him to deliver.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo win a third stage, it\u2019s massive,\u201d Brennan said. \u201cI\u2019m with a team full of massive champions \u2013 you\u2019ve got guys who\u2019ve been on podiums in grand tours [i.e., Kuss]<\/em> and won big classics [i.e. Van Aert, Laporte<\/em>].<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact they go for me each time is a massive opportunity,\u201d Brennan said. \u201cI\u2019m really thankful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Visma-Lease a Bike showed all day it was putting its faith in Brennan.<\/p>\n
In a reverse of stage 10 on Tuesday, Van Aert played superdomestique by shutting down attacks over the final climb and towing the young Brit out of a dog-leg bend 400 meters from the finish.<\/p>\n
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There are plenty more hilly sprint stages lined up through the back-half of the Vuelta.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be surprised if some combination of the Brennan-Van Aert double punch is victorious again before the race is done \u2013 much to the frustration of their rivals.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy form and my legs are very good, but it is difficult to compete against a team like that,\u201d said Red Bull sprinter Meeus, who finished third.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to beat this lead-out. I can\u2019t do more than pedal at my peak power,\u201d Meeus said. \u201cThose guys are also five or 10kg lighter, which makes it easier for them to get up to speed after that corner. It was a tough final.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Mads Pedersen calls it quits<\/h2>\n
The Vuelta lost a big name \u2013 and Visma lost a key rival \u2013 at the start of the stage.<\/p>\n
Mads Pedersen quit the Vuelta before Wednesday\u2019s stage having looked far from his best since day 1.<\/p>\n
Lidl-Trek wrote on social media Pedersen cut his losses before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n
The Danish star is one of the outside favorites for the Montr\u00e9al road worlds in less than four weeks\u2019 time.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter battling illness over the past few days, Mads will now focus on making a full recovery before turning his attention to his remaining targets this season,\u201d Lidl-Trek wrote.<\/p>\n
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Late attacks can\u2019t stop the sprint<\/h2>\n
Wednesday\u2019s sweltering hot stage into Lorca was the \u201ceasiest\u201d of the race since the stage 1 team time trial.<\/p>\n
Just one climb interrupted an otherwise pan-flat stage across Murcia.<\/p>\n
Topping out around 33km from the line before a fast-rolling downhill, the 8km ascent of Alto de Aledo was the obvious launchpad for teams wanting to disrupt the anticipated bunch sprint.<\/p>\n
The stage saw a number of splits and a 2-up attack by U.S. veteran Larry Warbasse (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) before the bunch came together ahead of the climb.<\/p>\n
The anticipated aggression was duly delivered by Pinarello Q36.5 on the Cat. 3 ascent.<\/p>\n
Eddie Dunbar piled on at the head of the peloton with Van Aert in his wheel, but the Irishman didn\u2019t cause much damage ahead of the summit.<\/p>\n
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Visma-Lease a Bike put the collective hammer down on the following descent to ensure a sprint for Van Aert or Brennan.<\/p>\n
Uno-X Mobility also chipped in for Magnus Cort, who\u2019s been beefing at national selectors for leaving him out of Denmark\u2019s team for road worlds.<\/p>\n
Pinarello-Q36.5 \u2014 a team without a noted sprinter \u2014 also kept pulling to prevent attacks off the front.<\/p>\n
Visma-Lease a Bike and then Uno-X Mobility took control through the technical city center final marked by sweeping roundabouts and athe tight dog-leg turn inside the final 500m.<\/p>\n
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Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a stage 11 results<\/h2>\n\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Jim Cotton<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated September 2, 2026 10:24AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2293187753-scaled.jpg”] Jim Cotton Updated September 2, 2026 10:24AM Matthew Brennan didn\u2019t miss Wednesday on stage 11 at the\u00a0Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a. The 21-year-old super-sprinter blasted to the third win of his debut grand tour after his teammate Wout van Aert executed a perfect leadout. The victory is a rapid turnaround for Visma-Lease a Bike, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2125782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2125782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2125782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2125782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2125782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Brennan](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2293187603.jpg?width=2048&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")