Visma keep Brennan waiting over 2027 Tour de France home start after stunning five win Vuelta

The 21-year-old has openly targeted a place at next year’s Tour, which begins on home soil with an opening stage from Edinburgh to Carlisle. More specifically, Brennan has already spoken about trying to turn that opportunity into the first yellow jersey of the race.

After his extraordinary Vuelta a España, that ambition suddenly looks considerably more realistic.

Brennan left Spain with five stage victories from his first Grand Tour, taking his professional win tally to 24 and establishing himself as one of the most prolific young riders in the peloton.

But while his performances have strengthened his case for a Tour debut, Visma are stopping short of making any commitments for 2027.

“First of all, I think it is really nice to hear how ambitious he is,” sports director Marc Reef told De Telegraaf when asked about Brennan’s Tour plans.

“But we will only look at the scenarios for next year after the end of this season. Then we will determine our goals for each individual Grand Tour and see which riders fit those goals. Matthew will certainly be in our thoughts.”

For now, that leaves Brennan waiting.

Brennan had his eye on the 2027 Tour Grand Départ long before his breakthrough in Spain.

“I already said it to the team two years ago, when I heard about the UK start,” he said during the Vuelta.

“For myself, I’d really like to be there on the start line and to have guys like Wout and Christophe there also. If we can do the same thing as we did here, we can really try to replicate that into a yellow jersey on day one.”

Brennan had just claimed his fourth Vuelta victory at the time and would add a fifth before Granada, turning what once looked like an ambitious Tour request into a serious selection question for Visma.

“That he manages to win five times is really sensational,” Reef said. “We knew what he had in him, but of course he took an enormous step in his development here.”

The complication is not Brennan’s level, but how he fits into a Tour team still centred around Jonas Vingegaard’s general classification ambitions.

Giving Brennan the best possible chance of taking yellow on the opening stage could also require support from riders such as Van Aert and Laporte, both of whom would otherwise have important roles around Vingegaard.

The Vuelta showed Visma can successfully combine different ambitions, but the Tour inevitably comes with different priorities.

For now, Reef is making no promises.

“We will only look at the scenarios for next year after the end of this season,” he said. “Then we will determine our goals for each individual Grand Tour and see which riders fit those goals. Matthew will certainly be in our thoughts.”

Five Vuelta wins have ensured Brennan will be part of that conversation.