"I launched my sprint about a hundred meters too early" - Brennan the strongest in Australia, but mistimes final sprint

Team Visma | Lease a Bike set Matthew Brennan up strongly for success at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and then the young Briton proceeded to do the perfect race. However, the timing in his final sprint was off, and it saw him get beaten by Tobias Lund Andresen once again.

Like deja vu of stage 1 at the Tour Down Under, only then it was Brennan who had bad positioning and couldn't go through the Dane. This time around he began sprinting too early and that is what led to his defeat.

Throughout the race Visma positioned him well, including into the final ascent of Challambra Crescent where the key split of the race would happen. Brennan was there, surviving the climbs, and then directly responding to close the gap to the attack of Santiago Buitrago and Luke Lamperti.

"The team made sure I was in a good position throughout the entire race. I was always excellently positioned when entering the Challambra Crescent, which was always a key point on the local circuit," he said in a press release.

"In the finale, I had the legs to respond to the accelerations every time," he explained. Brennan was not shy of hitting the wind when in front, but the race developed in a way that the entire group would be heading towards a sprint. This suited him.

He jumped on the wheel of Luke Plapp who attacked inside the final kilometer, but this then proved to be a problem as Plapp didn't do a proper leadout, but instead peeled off the front early on with around 300 meters to go.

"Unfortunately, I launched my sprint about a hundred meters too early. That was a misjudgement," Brennan admits. He commited straight away to the sprint, but had Tobias Lund Andresen in the wheel, who was capable of moving past him in the final meters.

Brennan nevertheless ends his time in Australia with a stage win at the Tour Down Under's final stage, and will now travel back to Europe where he will race at the Omloop het Nieuwsblad next - where he could be a contender for victory once again.