Brennan continues Visma clean sweep at Tour of Britain
The third stage of Tour of Britain saw another win for the Dutch team, but not with the same rider
Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike) continued the Dutch team’s clean sweep of the 2025 Lloyds Tour of Britain, sprinting to victory on stage 3 in Ampthill.
The 20-year-old was led out by current race leader Olav Kooij, who claimed the first two stages, and in the end, Brennan had plenty of time to celebrate.
Alberto Dainese (Tudor) and Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) rounded out the stage podium.
For Brennan, this victory marks the 12th of 2025 in what has been one of the most impressive neo-pro seasons in recent times.
In the process, Brennan becomes the youngest stage winner in Tour of Britain history at 20 years and 29 days old, surpassing Paul Magnier who set the record twelve months ago.
How it unfolded
In rainy conditions, a four-man breakaway formed featuring Ben Chilton (Great Britain), Robin Froidevaux (Tudor), Casper Pedersen (Soudal-QuickStep), and Mats Wenzel (Equipo Kern Pharma).
The quartet cooperated well, but were kept on a tight leash by Visma | Lease a Bike, who were looking to set up a third consecutive stage win in this year’s edition.
Wenzel won the first intermediate sprint at Northill, before Chilston claimed the first KOM sprint at Hillfoot.
Events were mirrored at the second intermediate sprint, as Wenzel was first through the line once more, before the Luxembourg rider also claimed the second and final KOM sprint at Hillfoot ahead of Chilton, leaving Chilton as the virtual leader of the mountains classification, one point ahead of Wenzel
With 12km remaining, a group of 10 riders rolled off the front of the peloton with Remco Evenepoel firmly apart of the move, and forcing the initiative, which saw the breakaway swept up.
The remainder managed to close the split before things got out of hand, much to the frustration of Evenepoel with a lack of cooperation in the short-lived escapee group.
Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) launched an attack on the rolling terrain with 8km remaining, but nothing came of the move.
In the final couple of kilometres, Lotto and Tudor looked well positioned with their leadouts, before it became apparent in the final kilometre that the race leader, Olav Kooij, would reverse the favour and lead out his British teammate, Matthew Brennan.
In the end, Brennan launched his sprint in the final few hundred metres and cruised to his first Tour of Britain stage win.
