Britain's Matthew Brennan has taken clinical advantage of a high-powered Visma-Lease a Bike lead-out to win stage five of the Vuelta a Espana, his second victory in his maiden grand tour.
The young rider was given a red carpet ride into the final 50 metres by first Belgian great Wout van Aert and then Christophe Laporte and he finished comfortably ahead of Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe rider Jordi Meeus.
Race leader Tadej Pogacar cruised home safely in the pack, having seized total control with his mountain masterclass in Andorra on the previous stage.
While Pogacar looks in a league of his own in the battle for the red jersey, sprinter Brennan, 21, has underlined his credentials as one of the best young riders in the peloton.
He held off Pogacar in a sprint at the end of the second stage and showed his power again at the end of the 173km route from Falcet to Roquetes after easily dealing with the main climb towards the end of the stage.
"When you have Matthew there in a group like that, it's the best card to play and I didn't even need to see the replay to see how he finished that one off," Van Aert said after congratulating his young team mate.
"It was spot on today. Wout and Christophe are the best guys in the world for this type of thing and they supported me all the way into the final," responded Brennan.
Kaden Groves, Australia's best sprinting hope on the stage, was dropped before the climax.
Jay Vine led with 30km to go before Visma moved to the front en masse. The Queenslander finished with the main peloton and remains tenth overall, the only Australian in the general classification top 40.
While he is four minutes 11 seconds behind UAE Emirates teammate Pogacar Vine is only 50 seconds behind second-placed Primoz Roglic (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe).
Pogacar will look to inflict more pain on his rivals on Thursday with a medium mountain day from Alcossebre to Castellon de la Plana on the Mediterranean
Australian Associated Press
