Brennan culminates Visma’s masterstroke in the Vuelta a España

Two thousand meters is a world and more if it is uphill and if done at a sprint after 212 kilometers of pedaling. But in the second stage of the Vuelta, it was the world of Visma and no one else, who, with a shell game, double bet on yellow, resolved it in a big way. “It’s a tough finish, with ramps. It will be for strong men, I like it,” Van Aert concluded from Montecarlo. But the man was not that strong, blurred by Pogacar, who took his wheel, finally absorbed by the peloton. But just at that moment Mathew Brennan attacked and no one could follow his trail, not even the supersonic Pedersen, perhaps a bit Pau Miquel (second), yellow power. A victory to savor and Pogacar again in red, who, as in the previous day, snatched the maillot from Hayter by a hair, by hundredths.

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Montecarlo dawned under a scorching sun and, somewhat strangely, without a hint of wind. A haven of peace where the sea cradled the sumptuous yachts of the port, still without much hustle and bustle in the streets because the local shops of the best brands were beginning to raise their shutters. There, where the F1 track ends, the second stage began under the watchful eye of Prince Albert; there, where the curious did approach, attracted by the snake of coaches and powerful bicycles, a sentence had already been installed among the staffs of the different teams after another exhibition by Pogacar, who won the opening time trial by nine hundredths. “We haven’t started and the end is already known,” protested a Burgos mechanic with a laugh. “We start strong, huh?” added a Tudor trainer. “If Pogacar intends to win 12 stages, we’re screwed,” concluded another director of a modest team, aware that for them any victory is worth a fortune. But the reality of the peloton is not that of UAE, which has Pogacar, a Martian on two wheels.

It is not known what Tadej has in his head — “to win,” they hint from UAE, not as pedantry but as a natural objective — but the stage to Manosque was not on his duty. Or so it was intuited. But it mattered little to the group of four riders who wanted to make the heroic play, a breakaway from start to finish, a break from beginning to end. Or, at least, as far as it would go. The riders were Diego Uriarte (Kern Pharma), Bouwman (Jayco), Sinuhé Fernández (Burgos) and Ethan Hayter (Soudal), whose attempt was not trivial, as he knew that a bonus in the intermediate sprint would be enough to put on the maillot, the one Pogacar had snatched from him. And he fulfilled it. Six seconds that seemed like gold. To his misfortune, they only seemed so because Pogacar responded and he exhausted himself at the end.

The stage went from the Côte d’Azur to Manosque, a city of Upper Provence preserved among vineyards and olive groves, also among secondary roads where the tree canopies form tunnels on the road, Pantone of greens that turned towards yellow and orange, as if they were in a hurry to reach autumn. But those who really had urgencies were the Visma riders, who had the strategy very clear.

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Before that, the race said goodbye to Sergio Chumil, Guatemalan from Burgos, due to a crash; misfortune, the fall, which Uijtdebroeks (Movistar) also suffered. And when the last two kilometers arrived, it was time for the yellow exhibition. Also in red, as Pogacar finished third; four seconds that were enough for him to remain leader. More than gold, platinum.

General Classification

posrider	Team	Time
1 Matthew Brennan	TVL	4h:47:47
2 Pau Miquel	TBV	+00:00
3 Tadej Pogacar	UAD	+00:00
4 Mads Pedersen	LTK	+00:00
5 Hugo Hofstetter	NSN	+00:00
6 Tobias Johannessen	UXM	+00:00
7 Finn Fisher-Black	RBH	+00:00
8 Axel Laurance	IGD	+00:00
9 Oscar Onley	IGD	+00:00
10 Orluis Aular	MOV	+00:00

posrider	Team	Time
1 Tadej Pogacar	UAD	4h:58:40
2 Wout van Aert	TVL	+00:09
3 Matthew Brennan	TVL	+00:10
4 Léo Bisiaux	DCD	+00:12
5 Finn Fisher-Black	RBH	+00:14
6 Stefan Küng	TUD	+00:18
7 Jay Vine	UAD	+00:18
8 Mads Pedersen	LTK	+00:20
9 Primoz Roglic	RBH	+00:26
10 Jordan Labrosse	DCD	+00:27

See full classification