Brennan rises to emphatic maiden Vuelta victory on stage 2

Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike) emphatically powered to his first Grand Tour stage win on stage 2 of the Vuelta a España in Manosque ahead of Pau Miquel (Bahrain-Victorious) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

After the opening time trial in Monaco saw Pogačar lay down an early marker and establish some early differences in the GC, stage 2’s 202.1km undulating stage to Manosque featured an uphill rise to the finish and played host to an intriguing battle for the red jersey. 

Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step), who missed out on red by 0.09 seconds on Saturday, worked his way into a four-man breakaway as the Briton aimed to take the race lead. He claimed six bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint with 35km remaining to move into the virtual lead before rejoining the peloton. 

The stage would be decided in a bunch sprint in Manosque, with gradients rising up to 5% in the closing kilometres. Inside the final 10km, the pace picked up significantly as did the fight for position, with plenty of road furniture and pinch points to contend with. Hayter was notably further back in the peloton. 

With two kilometres remaining, Van Aert launched a surprise attack, as Pogačar jumped across to the Belgian’s wheel alongside Alessandro Romele (XDS Astana). 

The trio were caught inside the flamme rouge, as Visma led out the finish. Meeus launched his sprint first, with Brennan and Pedersen on the wheel. 

However, Brennan proved too strong and opened a gap to take his first Grand Tour stage win, in his first ever road stage at a three-week race. 

Hayter was caught out in a group behind the head of the race, meaning Pogačar remains in the red jersey.

After the dramatic finale to the opening stage, an interesting subplot for the second stage surrounded Hayter and whether the Briton could overturn his 0.09-second deficit over Pogačar.

Hayter ultimately infiltrated his way into the four-man breakaway, alongside Koen Bouwman (Jayco AlUla), Sinuhé Fernández (Burgos Burpellet BH) and Diego Urriate (Equipo Kern Pharma). 

The quartet’s advantage stabilised around the two-minute mark, as the peloton settled into their own tempo. 

There was an early setback for Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar), who suffered a crash around the 60km mark. The Belgian was able to remount and continue the race. 

With 100km remaining, the breakaway’s advantage was under a minute as Steven Kruijswijk (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Jacopo Mosca (Lidl-Trek) set the tempo in the bunch, signalling the ambitions of the two respective teams. 

Bouwman was first to drop from the breakaway with 57km remaining, before Hayter ditched his Spanish companions with just under 50km to go. 

Just a few kilometres earlier, with 51km remaining, there was a crash involving Sergio Samitier, Frederik Wandahl (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Sergio Geovani Chumil (Burgos Burpellet BH), with the latter forced to abandon. 

Hayter claimed six bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint with 35km remaining, moving the Briton into the virtual lead. Behind, it was Van Aert who finished second.

Through the intermediate sprint, Pogačar briefly pressed the pace at the front of the peloton, and Hayter, who this time was just a handful of seconds ahead, eased up and was swept up by the bunch ahead of the final 30km.

A tense lull fell over the bunch over the next 15km, before the teams formed in unison and the pace began to increase ahead of the final in Manosque.