"The goal of trying to win one race" - How Visma's British talent surprised himself and the world with breakthrough 2025

Team Visma | Lease a Bike have in their roster a diamond in the rough. He is British, he is a sprinter, and he can potentially be more than just a fast man in the bunch finishes. Matthew Brennan could be the team's future star, taking into consideration just how much he has impressed and won in his neo-pro year with the team.

“We came into the start of the season with the goal of trying to win one race, essentially," Brennan said in words to CyclingWeekly. "Then it spiraled a bit quicker and a bit more than we thought it would.” Brennan's talent wasn't unknown, but it was fast tracked as he was given a pro contract earlier this year and although he first mostly continued racing with the under-23 team, in March it became clear that he had the legs to do much more than that. At the Tour Down Under right in January he came close to winning the first stage, and in March he won three French one-day races in a row - in a hilly race, bunch sprint and cobbled classic respectively.

At only 19 years of age, many could still think he was too young to be put in a leading position in such a team. But after Jonas Vingegaard was injured during a crash in Paris-Nice, Brennan was given the Dane's spot at the Volta a Catalunya. “Bearing in mind I’d never heard of this race before. I was like ‘right ok, yeah, whatever.’ But I wasn’t too convinced. It was good that I listened to them.”

The rest is history, has he won the opening stage in front of Alpecin-Deceuninck duo Kaden Groves and Tibor del Grosso, and then another stage later in the week. Brennan would also win at the Tour de Romandie, Rund um Köln (beating Biniam Girmay), Tour of Norway, Tour de Pologne, Tour of Britain and even the Deutschland Tour where he had leadouts from none other than Wout van Aert himself.

He also had other strong performances such as a second place at the British national championships, and most notably Paris-Roubaix, where he struggled with the distance, but was well within the best after the Trouée d'Arenberg where the race split permanently. His potential as a classics rider, and the climbs, makes him a big threat beyond the sprints where he has already confirmed himself as one of the best in the world.