'I did the easy part' - Brennan credits Visma teammates in textbook Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne triumph

It was a textbook performance from the Dutch team, particularly in the final kilometres, where Christophe Laporte delivered his team leader in a prime position to sprint. Brennan modestly downplayed his own performance and instead chose to shine a light on his teammates in his post-race interview

“I had basically the whole team until the last two kilometers and then they were all just one after another doing their turns, and in the end, Christophe [Laporte] did an amazing pull towards the finish, and I did the easy part. I just did 100 metres, and I can't thank them enough,” said Brennan.

24 hours ago, there was concern around the British rider after he had suffered what the Dutch team had described as a “heavy crash” in the run-in to the Muur van Geraardsbergen at Omloop Nieuwsblad.

Brennan admitted that there was an element of the crash playing on his mind during Sunday’s race, but his teammates helped him through, and he was ultimately able to prevail. He described how his Italian teammate Pietro Mattio sacrificed himself in a rare instance where the British rider was caught out of position earlier in the race.

“All day I was kind of just a little bit nervous after yesterday's crash. I would say I hit the floor pretty hard,” explained Brennan. “And yeah, unfortunately, I was caught out, but I had a great guy, Pietro Matteo, who really burned all his bullets to bring me back and then from there, I think it was on the Kruisberg I was able to move forward and get in the move with all the guys.”

“And yeah, we just went full gas. We really wanted to make it hard, and we knew we were in the best situation possible then. And, yeah, we took the initiative, and I'm so happy that it paid off,” said Brennan.

In the process, Brennan became just the second male British rider to become the winner of Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, following in the footsteps of Mark Cavendish, who sprinted to victory in 2012 and 2015. The 20-year-old described how it was an honour to join the Manx Missile, having raced Kuurne as a junior multiple times previously.

“I've ridden this race twice as a junior, and we've always stood at the finish line and watched all the pros at the time come through and do their race,” said Brennan. “So to be in that situation now where I can finally say I can put my hands up in the air and I've actually won the pro race, it's fantastic.”

With victory at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne now under his belt, his first Flemish Classic and victory on Belgian soil, Brennan was asked if he is dreaming about winning races such as In Flanders Fields - From Middelkerke to Wevelgem (Gent-Wevelgem).

"Yeah, first one. Hopefully more to come, that's the ambition anyway,” said Brennan. “I mean, Flanders, Roubaix, all these races, they're all super iconic. One day, I would love to put my hands up in the air in one of them. It might take a while, but we’ll give it our best shot.”