Matthew Brennan (Visma–Lease a Bike) secured back-to-back victories to kick-start the final week of La Vuelta, ruling the sprint in Seville (stage 17) a day after his win in La Rabida. At just 21, the ‘Binman’ becomes the first rider since Eddy Planckaert to win five stages on his La Vuelta debut. As for a rider with five stage wins in his maiden Grand Tour participation, he turns the history books back to 1979, when Fons De Wolf did it in La Vuelta. This time, Brennan got the better of Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility), two of the most consistent sprinters of La Vuelta 26, in the wake of the British rising star. Thursday’s ITT will put a very different set of riders in the limelight, with powerhouses battling for the stage win and GC contenders testing their strength ahead of the two final mountain showdowns.
Is stage 17 the final chance for the sprinters? Some still eye a potential opportunity in Granada, on the final day of La Vuelta 26. To earn a sprint there, they would need to survive the climb of the Alhambra, while today’s stage is more straightforward: 185 kilometres of racing on flat roads between Dos Hermanas and Seville, with barely 1,000 metres of elevation gain.
2 attackers against Visma-Lease a Bike
Three attackers rapidly set off from the bunch: Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ United), Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility) and Sinuhé Fernandez (Burgos Burpellet BH). The three of them can be looked at as usual suspects for the breakaway on such terrain, but Dversnes rapidly drops back to the peloton while Paleni and Fernandez continue their effort at the front of the race.
The gap grows to 4’30’’ at km 18 before starting to shrink. Visma-Lease a Bike are the first team to react. A seventh stage win for the Dutch team would match UAE–Emirates–XRG’s 2025 performance (a feat not seen since 1994 at the time). Their British prodigy, Matthew Brennan, is chasing his fifth stage win in his debut Grand Tour - an achievement last recorded in 1979, when Fons de Wolf did it at La Vuelta.
The pace drops before the tension increases
With Bryan Coquard taking over the pace-setting in the bunch, the gap stabilises between three and three and a half minutes, but the pace drops in the peloton halfway through the stage. Paleni and Fernandez enter the final 90 kilometres with a lead of 5’10’’. Steven Kruijswijk (Visma-Lease a Bike) returns to the front of the bunch and the gap steadily decreases again.
The tension increases when Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe push the pace into the final 50 kilometres. The peloton momentarily splits, but calm rapidly returns. Visma-Lease a Bike and Cofidis return to the front positions.
Cort opens the sprint, Brennan caps it off
After a long day through the wind, Fernandez is spent and Paleni goes solo with 20 kilometres to go. The French attacker gives his all to resist, but he’s eventually caught with 3 km to go.
Uno-X Mobility take the reins of the peloton for Magnus Cort. The Danish winner of six La Vuelta stages takes another podium but he can’t resist Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike), a history-maker with a fifth stage win in his La Vuelta debut, and Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who take the first two positions ahead of Cort.
