Britain's Matt Brennan claimed victory in the second stage of the Vuelta a España on Sunday, emerging from a bunch sprint in Manosque, France, while overall favourite Tadej Pogacar retained the leader's red jersey. The 20-year-old, riding in his first Grand Tour, finished ahead of Pau Miquel and Pogacar after a demanding 214.3km stage that included over 3,000 metres of climbing.
A first Grand Tour stage win for Brennan
Brennan, who joined the Dutch Visma-Lease a Bike team's World Tour squad in 2025, expressed his delight after the finish. "Hopefully it's not the last one," he said of his first stage win at this level. "We thought there was a nice opportunity to attack," he added. "I was super-happy to finish it off."
The stage began in Monaco and wound through the French countryside before concluding in Manosque. Brennan's team had planned for Wout van Aert to challenge for the red jersey, with Brennan as a backup option for the sprint. "We started off with the ambition of Wout trying to get in the red jersey today," Brennan explained. "We had that plan and then I was always going to be in the background for the sprint in case that didn't work … and that's exactly what happened."
Hayter's breakaway and bonus seconds
Ethan Hayter, who narrowly lost to Pogacar in Saturday's opening individual time trial, was part of a four-man breakaway that led for much of the stage. The peloton kept the group within reach, and Hayter stayed ahead to win the intermediate sprint, collecting six bonus seconds. That briefly gave him a chance to take the red jersey, but he could not stay with the UAE Emirates rider on the slight uphill finish, and Pogacar held on to the lead.
Wout van Aert made a move with under two kilometres to go, followed by Pogacar, but the peloton caught them, allowing Brennan to capitalise. Hayter was dropped and finished 31 seconds behind Pogacar, who also picked up four bonus seconds for his third place.
Pogacar's Grand Tour ambitions
Pogacar, a five-time Tour de France winner, remains the overwhelming favourite to win the Vuelta and complete a Grand Tour career hat-trick. Only a major upset would prevent him from finishing in Granada on 13 September as the ninth rider to achieve that feat and just the fourth to complete a Tour-Vuelta double in the same season.
Monday's third stage takes riders 174km from Gruissan to Font-Romeu for the race's first high-altitude finish. Pogacar will start with a nine-second lead over Van Aert in the general classification, with Brennan in third.
