"The Tour is a completely different story" - Will Matthew Brennan convince Visma to make Tour de France debut in 2027?
Cycling
The 2026 Vuelta a España has seen the confirmation that Matthew Brennan is not just a sprinter, but also a rider who can handle a Grand Tour very well until its pointy end. With four victories achieved already, will the Briton actually be able to convince Team Visma | Lease a Bike to make his Tour de France debut next year?
The British Grand Depart is a big reason for it, and the confident Brennan put it out there after taking his fourth win at the Vuelta, where he appears unmatched in the sprints - as well as having the form for the hilly stages.
“Two years ago, I heard about the start in Great Britain. Back then, I said to the team: it would be amazing to be at the start there, preferably with Wout [Van Aert] and Christophe [Laporte] there. It would be fantastic to take the yellow jersey on the opening day there.”
Visma has, this year, put Jonas Vingegaard racing the Giro-Tour combination; and has put more emphasis on the monuments. Hence, spreading the priorities around, and shedding the pressure away from the Tour de France.
With the sprinters able to take the yellow jersey in 2027, and with both Van Aert and Laporte as regulars in the Tour lineup, Brennan could find himself in a lineup that shares duties between supporting Jonas Vingegaard - who is more distant from aiming for overall victory than before - and Brennan's sprinting ambitions.
Knetemann questions Brennan's ability for Tour de France sprints
"I’m quite curious. He is genuinely the fastest man in a bunch sprint here, but if you put him in the Tour, I wonder if he could come out on top there too," Roxanne Knetemann said in the Het Wiel podcast.
"Against the truly fastest men in the peloton, and it feels strange to say this, I think he lacks the necessary speed. I think he’s more in the mold of Arnaud De Lie; a bit like Van Aert’s style."
At the Vuelta, the Briton has lacked the competition that he would face in other Grand Tours or top-level stage-races, however his string of results and consistency, at age 21, proves he is as complete of a rider as the Dutch team could hope for.
"If you look at his results as a junior, he certainly posted performances that would make you want to scout him, but there had to be more to it to justify signing him. Results tell you something, of course, but not the whole story. When you see how he has developed compared to the guys he used to race against—they are nowhere near that level yet."
Matthew Brennan is looking to make his Tour de France debut in Great Britain
Matthew Brennan wants what Olav Kooij didn't get
In the past however, Olav Kooij had the same ambition. At the time, for years, the Dutchman didn't get the opportunity to race the Tour de France due to the team's GC ambitions. This summer he finally made his debut with Decathlon, winning the very first sprint of the race.
"I’m curious to see if they’ll do things differently this time. This Vuelta is straightforward: all eyes are on stage wins. But the Tour is a completely different story. The last Tour really drove home the point that they have absolutely no intention of giving up the fight against Pogacar with Vingegaard".
Read also
That is quite possible to change after the team's splitting of objectives and Vingegaard's recent withdrawal, signaling that a victory against Tadej Pogacar at the Tour is very unlikely, and potentially not a goal worth sacrificing the entire team for.
Split ambitions between GC and sprinting have proven successful amongst several teams this year such as Lidl-Trek with Mads Pedersen, Mattias Skjelmose and Juan Ayuso; and of course Decathlon with Paul Seixas and Olav Kooij himself.
But Knetemann is convinced that Brennan will not get that opportunity either. "If Visma were interested in that sort of thing, they’d be taking Dutch riders to the Tour as well. The sporting side comes first; if they want to win the Tour again, the fact that it starts in England doesn't matter. So they won’t do it—really, they won’t.'
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
claps 1visitors 1
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling for
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment