"My mum wasn’t happy, it was exam time": Matthew Brennan nearly missed Visma tests

Matthew Brennan is undeniably one of the main revelations of the past spring with four professional victories that catapulted him into the top echelon of sprinter guild. Suddenly he's no longer a promising development team rider, but rather a world-class talent. But the 19-year-old doesn't let that get in his head.

Asked about his dreams in the sport, he told TNT Sports: "Roubaix would be good to win, Sanremo would be good to win. Flanders... But also the Tour in 2027, I’ve got my eye on that one. British depart. I think starting Stage 2 in the yellow jersey would be cool."

Brennan took first step to becoming pro when he joined the Visma | Lease a Bike Development Team last year. It was a logical choice as the Dutch had just won all three Grand Tours in 2023. "At the time Visma were winning everything: the Tour, the Giro, the Vuelta. All the classics too," he said.

Brennan attracted a lot of attention at the 2023 Junior Track World Championships where he secured two gold medals, including (at the time) an Individual Pursuit junior world record.

"Then they said they wanted a call with me and to bring me to the service course. That was a really cool experience, although my mum wasn’t particularly happy because it was near my exam period and I had to take a Friday off. She was like, 'You’re not going!' And my dad was like, 'Go on, it’s the world’s best cycling team, let him have the day off.'"

That turned out to be a good decision - Brennan was immediately signed to the development team. And before long, he was already at the tests to be promoted to WorldTour. "We did some training and testing. I was putting out some pretty nice numbers, a good balance between sprint and aerobic," he said.

"The team were really surprised. Then I woke up after the camp to a call from my agent saying, 'Visma want to sign you to the WorldTour.' We sorted the deal and now we’re happy."

And those exams? "I did well. Mum was happy. There were a lot of late nights coming home from Belgium at 3am, then your mum’s waking you up at 8am to get you to school. It was very tough, but I wouldn’t have changed it."