Vuelta España, Stage 2: Brennan takes a stunning victory

Matthew Brennan wins the second stage of the Vuelta España, from Monaco to Manosque (202 km).

In the early stages of the race, a four-man breakaway broke out, featuring Uriarte , Fernandez , Bouwman , and Hayter ; the British Soudal rider, the last to give up, was caught 34 km from the finish, but first managed to gain a precious six-second time bonus in the intermediate sprint ahead of Van Aert.

The group thus headed compactly towards the finish line on a very slight climb, without further attacks until 2 km to go, when Van Aert made a strong start, followed by Pogačar . The red jersey, however, made no changes, and the group rejoined with Laporte working for Brennan.

Fisher-Black launches the sprint from very far away and gives up, while Brennan starts with the right timing, crushes Pedersen and beats Miquel and Pogacar .

Pogacar retains the red jersey, while Gall, Almeida, Riccitello, Nordhagen and Uijtdebroeks finish in the group 18 seconds behind.

ORDER OF ARRIVAL

1 BRENNAN Matthew Team Visma | Lease a Bike 4:47:47

2 MIQUEL Pau Bahrain - Victorious ,,

3 POGAČAR Tadej

UAE Team Emirates - XRG ,,

4 PEDERSEN Mads Lidl - Trek ,,

5 HOFSTETTER Hugo NSN Cycling Team ,,

6 JOHANNESSEN Tobias Halland Uno-X Mobility ,,

7 FISHER-BLACK Finn Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe ,,

8 ONLEY Oscar Netcompany INEOS,,

9 LAURANCE Axel Netcompany INEOS ,,

10 AULAR Orluis Movistar Team ,,