Matthew Brennan wins Vuelta stage two in Manosque as Tadej Pogačar retains red jersey

Brennan sprints to victory in Manosque

British rider Matthew Brennan claimed his first career Grand Tour stage victory on Sunday, winning stage two of the Vuelta a España on an uphill drag into Manosque. Riding for Visma-Lease a Bike in his Grand Tour debut, the rider sprinted clear of the peloton after a route originating in Monaco and running across southern France. Brennan opened his sprint alongside Tour de France points classification winner Mads Pedersen before pulling away to cross the finish line by a margin of 20 metres. Spanish rider Pau Miquel of Bahrain Victorious finished in second place, while race leader Tadej Pogačar crossed the line in third. Sources gave the stage distance as between 202 kilometres and 214.3 kilometres (133.1 miles), with the winning time registered at 4 hours, 47 minutes and 47 seconds. The stage win followed Brennan's tenth-place finish in Saturday's opening nine-kilometre time trial, allowing him to take the white jersey awarded to the race's best young rider from compatriot Josh Tarling.

We started with the ambition of getting Wout the red jersey, we had that plan, but I was always going to be in the background to do the sprint if he sat up. And that's exactly what happened. Christophe (Laporte) did a great job of guiding me and I'm glad I can finish it off.

Breakaways and late attacks on the road from Monaco

The stage departed Monaco and traversed the terrain of Provence, where Ethan Hayter of Soudal QuickStep launched an early challenge. Hayter, who missed winning Saturday's opening time trial by 0.09 seconds to Pogačar, attacked and claimed six bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint. That intermediate result briefly placed Hayter into the virtual race lead on the road. Visma-Lease a Bike controlled the pace in the main bunch to neutralize the escape and catch the four-rider breakaway group before the finish. With under two kilometres remaining, Van Aert attacked to pursue the stage win and the overall red jersey, drawing an immediate response from Pogačar. The pair stayed clear until the peloton caught them with 800 metres remaining, setting up the reduced bunch sprint.

Because of his age it's a surprise, but because of what he's shown already, it's normal. He's shown it now on one of the biggest stages.

General classification and Pyrenean summit finish

Pogačar defended his overall lead by finishing with the same time as Brennan, retaining the red jersey heading into the high mountains. The Slovenian, who is seeking to become the ninth rider to win all three Grand Tours, holds a nine-second advantage over Van Aert in the general classification. Brennan moved into third place overall, ten seconds behind Pogačar and one second behind his Belgian teammate. Switzerland's Stefan Küng finished in 29th place in the front group, rising from twelfth after the opening time trial into sixth place overall at 18 seconds back. The race shifts to the Pyrenees on Monday for stage three, which concludes the French section of the route. Stage three features the Vuelta's first summit finish, ending with a 10-kilometre climb to the Font-Romeu ski resort.