Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Matthew Brennan has added a fifth stage victory to his impressive break-out tally at la Vuelta a Espana by winning another bunch sprint.
The 21-year-old British rider has been unstoppable in sprints and on Wednesday’s 185km 17th stage from Dos Hermanas to Sevilla became the first rider to post five stage wins in his Grand Tour debut since Fons De Wolf at the 1979 Vuelta.
Brennan was the fastest in the finale and raised his right hand with five fingers out as he crossed ahead of Jordi Meeus and Magnus Cort to become the youngest rider ever to achieve a nap hand of stage successes in a single Grand Tour.
It proved another tremendous day for the Visma-Lease a bike team, as they took their tally of stage wins in the race to seven, with Brennan’s five victories added to Wout van Aert’s two underlining their dominance in the Vuelta’s flat and rolling stages.
Enzo Paleni, Sinuhe Fernandez and Fredrik Dversnes attacked shortly after the start of the stage, although Dversnes quickly dropped back. Paleni and Fernandez pressed on and built a lead of more than five minutes around the halfway mark.
Visma, driven for long spells by Steven Kruijswijk, kept the breakaway within reach, with Cofidis also contributing as they worked for Bryan Coquard.
A brief acceleration by Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe split the bunch inside the final 50km but the peloton soon regrouped.
Paleni and Fernandez still held a lead of 1:50 with 25 kilometres remaining before Fernandez took the intermediate sprint at San Jose de la Rinconada.
Paleni then attacked alone with 15km left, but his lead shrank rapidly and he was caught inside the final three kilometres.
UAE, INEOS and Uno-X all tried to shape the run-in, but Brennan timed his effort best to seal another emphatic win.
Overall leader Enric Mas finished safely in the bunch to retain the red jersey for a ninth successive stage, leading Felix Gall by two minutes and six seconds and Primoz Roglic by 2:10.
The leading Australian in the race remains Netcompany INEOS’s Jack Haig, who’s previously been a podium finisher in the race, but he’s more than an hour and three minutes down in 26th place.
