Matthew Brennan makes history with third World Tour win before turning 20

Matthew Brennan continued his sensational start to the 2025 season with a commanding sprint victory on Stage 1 of the Tour de Romandie, marking his third triumph at World Tour level. The 19-year-old Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider proved to be in a league of his own in the uphill finish in Fribourg, delivering a performance that underlined why he’s already being talked about as one of the sport’s brightest young stars.

Despite the punchy terrain leading into the final kilometre, no major attacks materialised on the last climb. Instead, the stage was decided in a reduced sprint, where Brennan was the first to launch, and no one could come close to matching his power. Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Artem Schmidt rounded out the podium, but it was the young Brit who stole the spotlight with a dominant display.

According to Velo Statistics, Brennan has now etched his name into the record books as the rider with the most top-tier victories in a single season before the age of 20, an achievement made even more remarkable by the fact that we’re still only in early May.

The only rider who comes close in the history books is Henri Cornet, who famously won the 1904 Tour de France just shy of his 20th birthday. At 19 years and 355 days old, Cornet remains the youngest-ever winner of the Tour, a record that still stands to this day.

Brennan’s win in Romandie marks the biggest success of his career so far, placing him firmly in the spotlight as one of the breakout talents of the year. While Cornet’s career would ultimately be cut short by health problems and the outbreak of World War I (he last raced the Tour in 1912 before retiring from professional cycling to work in the cycle trade) his legacy endures, including a street named in his honour in the town of Prunay-le-Gillon.

Brennan, by contrast, is only just getting started.