Visma-Lease a Bike were certainly riding at the men's Mapei Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race like a team with a race favourite in their midst. After all, Matthew Brennan had proven he was a fast finisher who could wrangle a climb when he took victory at the final stage of the Santos Tour Down Under.
The team worked to control the break and to pull the race back together through the climbs, while Brennan was impressive in his ability to hold firm on the finishing circuit through the four ascents of the short but steep Challambra Crescent. After the race exploded on the final run over that pivotal climb, he then ended up as the sole Visma-Lease a Bike rider in a lead group of around 20 that were charging toward the line.
He certainly wasn't the only sprinter, though he always was the rider to beat in a bunch scenario, but then he launched his sprint unexpectedly early and faded while Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM) came over the top.
"I mean, second place is never good enough for myself. I feel like I could have done one place better today, but for a mistake on my behalf," said Brennan.
"I thought the finish line was 100 meters closer. I thought it was 200 to to go but, when I read it, it was 300, so once you go, you just have to commit at that point."
"I felt like I had really good legs there, so I'm just going to get my eyes tested," the 20-year-old British rider said with a laugh, seeing the lighter side through the disappointment.
Still, the British rider who last year stepped into the WorldTour and immediately came second on his first stage of the Tour Down Under and then went on to accumulate around a dozen wins in his opening season. He has built on his Australian results in his second year and also on his reservoir of race experience.
"I'm here to learn," Brennan told reporters after the stage. "This year, I'm still on a path of development. Yes, I did really well last year, but yeah, like today, I made mistakes. Is that a problem? No, not really.
"I think that's just how it how it has to be, and sometimes that's a hard pill to swallow, but I think it's also a positive learning step."
Brennan has walked away from the 2026 Australian racing block with a runner-up spot plus a stage win at the Tour Down Under, as well as Sunday's podium placing in the notoriously unpredictable Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
"Starting off, I think we were not as cohesive as we are now, but I think, towards the end of the trip, we really started to work well together, and really knew how we could use each other to benefit ourselves and the team's position," said Brennan.
"So that was really positive. And I think the results have shown, towards the end, that as a team we are really quite strong together.
"I think this trip has been a really positive one and has given me a lot of confidence in my legs. I didn't come here particularly flying, but I think it's also a good indication of, if I can go back and push a little bit more at training camp and then turn to the Classics with maybe an extra couple of percent, then that's also a really nice position to be in."
