‘He destroyed my shoe’: Hofstetter furious with Brennan after Vuelta stage 16 sprint

Brennan went on to claim his fourth stage victory of this year’s Vuelta in La Rábida after another powerful lead out from Wout van Aert, but the finish was not without controversy for Hofstetter.

Speaking after the stage, the Frenchman said Brennan had moved across him while the sprinters were fighting for position.

“He rode into me and destroyed my cycling shoe with his wheel,” Hofstetter told Eurosport.

The 32-year-old said the contact forced him to unclip because he feared crashing, effectively bringing his sprint to an end before it had properly started.

“I unclipped because I was afraid of crashing, and after that it was over for me,” he said.

Hofstetter stressed that his frustration did not change his opinion of Brennan as a rider. The Visma youngster has been one of the outstanding performers of the race and has now collected four victories on his Grand Tour debut.

“I have a lot of respect for him. He is a very big rider,” Hofstetter said, before adding that strength in a sprint did not excuse what he considered an irregular movement.

Hofstetter also pointed to the television footage of the finale, arguing that the overhead images showed Brennan moving significantly from his original trajectory.

“He completely changed his line,” he said.

The NSN rider later posted a picture of his damaged shoe on Instagram and again addressed the incident, claiming Brennan had forced him away from the wheel of Bryan Coquard.

Coquard went on to finish second behind Brennan, with Vito Braet taking third. Hofstetter was no longer in contention by that point and eventually finished seventh.