TakeVuelta3 hours ago
Matthew Brennan won stage 16 of the 2026 Vuelta a España, his fourth stage victory at his Grand Tour debut. No one had won more than three stages on debut since Tadej Pogačar did it at the 2019 Vuelta a España — Brennan just broke a record that stood for seven years, and he's still 21.
Wout van Aert delivered the lead-out again, launching 600 metres from the line in La Rábida, with Bryan Coquard and Vito Braet unable to close the gap. Earlier in the race, Brennan gave up his own sprint to set up a van Aert win instead, calling it "sweeter than a win." That trade-off is the point: Visma-Lease a Bike has a debutant capable of rewriting a seven-year-old record and he's still choosing to work for someone else's stage.
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