MADRID, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Matthew Brennan won the fifth stage of the Vuelta a Espana on Wednesday, again underlining his status as the dominant sprinter in this year's race.
Brennan, riding his first Grand Tour at the age of 21, finished off excellent work from his Visma-Lease a Bike team, with Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte providing a perfect lead-out before Brennan accelerated in the final 150 meters to win clearly ahead of Jordi Meeus of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Vincenzo Albanese of EF Education-EasyPost.
The 173.3-kilometer stage headed south along Spain's east coast from Falset, Costa Daurada to Roquetes, Terres de l'Ebre, over gently rolling terrain, with the Alto de Pauls the main obstacle. It always looked likely to end in a sprint finish.
An early breakaway was reeled in with around 100 kilometers remaining, as the teams with sprinters were unwilling to let one of the few likely sprint opportunities in the coming days slip away.
Splits in the peloton caused by crosswinds were also closed down, while Visma-Lease a Bike kept the pace high in the closing kilometers to prevent any late individual attacks.
Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates-XRG retains his 3-minute, 21-second lead over Primoz Roglic of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe in the overall standings ahead of Thursday's 177.5-kilometer stage between Alcossebre and Castello. ■
