Matthew Brennan and his Visma–Lease a Bike teammates finally nailed their timing at the Tour Down Under, and not a moment too soon. The win came on the final stage, which unfolded over eight laps around the tough, undulating circuit concluding on the Stirling Climb.
In a chaotic stage that included a crash caused by kangaroos jumping onto the road, Brennan relied on his teammates and riders from other squads to navigate the final uphill kilometre. When Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) moved between Brennan and his teammate, the 20-year-old smartly used the former world champion as an impromptu leadout, placing himself perfectly for the final run-in to the line.
“We knew that we couldn’t do a proper lead-out, so I just followed one or two of the guys all the way through, and they all did their little bit. And then, we got to the finish, and Anton [Schiffer] did a really good turn, and then that left it to Per [Strand Hagenes] to finish it off. So I think everyone timed it really well today, and I’m very happy that I can finish it off,” Brennan told reporters after the podium ceremony.
In the previous three stages won by sprinters, either the team’s timing or positioning misfired. That left the Brit with a second place on stage 1, 12th on stage 3 and 16th on stage 4.
The team sat down with directeur sportif Jasper Mørkøv to analyse the previous finishes, looking at what they “were doing wrong.”
“We watched back all the finishes that we’ve done recently, and to be honest, it was frustrating, but also it’s part of the process,” Brennan said.
“For me, I found it also very unusual to come straight back into racing [and] be as aggressive as you should be in the peloton… A lot of these guys from here have also been racing Nationals, so they’re kind of used to the flow a bit more and sometimes it just takes a little bit of time to get back into the rhythm of it.”
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