ROQUETES, Spain (AP) — Matthew Brennan thrived in another sprint finish to win his second stage in this year’s Spanish Vuelta on Wednesday, with race favorite Tadej Pogačar safely maintaining his overall lead.

Brennan, the 21-year-old British rider of team Visma-Lease a Bike, pulled away in the final meters (yards) to secure the win in the fifth stage for his second victory in a Grand Tour race. He had already won the Vuelta’s second stage.

He became the youngest rider with multiple stage wins in Vuelta since Pogačar’s three stage wins in 2019.

“First Grand Tour, second one in the bag. And you could see throughout the day everyone just went full so I’m just very thankful to finish it off again,” Brennan said. “In the last corner, I lost my wheel a bit. The paint was a bit slippery, but thankfully I stayed safe.”

Defending Tour de France champion Pogačar, seeking a sweep of Grand Tour titles, stayed in the peloton to maintain his overall lead. He won the Vuelta’s first stage and had a dominant performance to win Tuesday’s fourth stage.

“We had it under control with the team so I’m really happy about today. You never know what happened in the back and it’s always more nervous in the back, so we took the front and we did a really good job,” Pogačar said.

He kept an overall lead of 3 minutes, 21 seconds over Primož Roglič, with Enric Mas a further 11 seconds behind in the general classification.

Pogačar, the Slovenian from UAE Team Emirates, made his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta in 2019 but had not returned to the race until this year.

He won the Tour de France for a third straight time and a record-tying fifth overall in July. His Giro d’Italia win in 2024 put him in position to become the ninth male rider to win all three Grand Tours.

After starting in Monaco and going through France and Andorra, the three-week race returned to Spain on Wednesday with riders facing a hilly route that started in Catalonia.

Thursday’s sixth-stage features a mid-mountain route that includes a dirt road on the final climb heading into Castellón.

The Vuelta finishes in the southern Spanish city of Granada on Sept. 13.

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