Back when he was at his first club, Stockton Wheelers, Matthew Brennan earned the nickname “The Binman” because the finish line for the club’s training rides was often marked by a wheelie bin, and he crossed it first so frequently.
The stakes have got a little higher since then – and the finish lines a little more salubrious. On Wednesday, the 21-year-old Darlington-born rider sprinted to his fifth victory of this year’s Vuelta a España. This time the finish line was located in front of the historic Maestranza bullring along the Guadalquivir river in Seville. A long way from wheelie bins.
It doesn’t seem to matter where the finish lines are right now, Brennan just keeps on winning. And the records keep tumbling.
Last week Brennan, who rides for Dutch heavyweights Visma-Lease a Bike, became the first grand-tour debutant since world champion Tadej Pogacar at the Vuelta in 2019 to claim three stages of his first three-week race. On Tuesday, he became the first grand-tour debutant to win four stages since Fernando Gaviria at the Giro d’Italia in 2017.
Five for Brennan! 🔥
Matthew Brennan delivers his FIFTH stage win at La Vuelta! 👏 pic.twitter.com/h2C77tjSyy
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) September 9, 2026
With this, his fifth victory, Brennan broke a number of outright records. The youngest rider to ever win five grand tour stages. The youngest rider to win back-to-back Vuelta stages. The first rider since Eddy Planckaert in 1982 to win five stages on his Vuelta debut. The first rider to win five stage wins in his maiden grand tour since Fons De Wolf at the Vuelta in 1979.
Brennan is also now the first sprinter to win five stages in the same grand tour since Marcel Kittel in 2017, and the first British rider to do so since Mark Cavendish at the 2013 Giro d’Italia.
“He’s phenomenal,” said ex-pro Adam Blythe on TNT Sports afterwards. “There’s no other way to put it. I’m so excited for what’s to come in the years ahead. What he has done here is completely remarkable. I don’t want to get carried away because there are a lot more sprinters in the peloton [who are not here at the Vuelta], and a lot more lead-out men. But he is dominant. We keep hearing he might get tired but the lad looks like he is getting stronger.”
Blythe is not wrong there. It helps that Brennan has Wout van Aert pulling for him at this race. The Belgian is one of the strongest riders in the world in his own right; winner of countless classics and Monuments and cyclo-cross world championships. Van Aert, 31, has also won two stages of this year’s Vuelta himself. Brennan called him “the best lead-out man in the world” earlier this week.
Van Aert has acted as “domestique de luxe” for Brennan on many stages this year, sacrificing his own chances to help his young team-mate. Last week, the Belgian won the mountain points on the day’s big climb before casually dropping Brennan off with 175 metres to go of the stage to Lorca.
On Tuesday, he pulled Brennan out of the front of the bunch before sending him on his way to the finish line in La Rábida, Huelva, where temperatures exceeded 37 degrees Celsius.
Brennan is unstoppable 🤯
A textbook lead-out from Wout van Aert delivered Matthew Brennan perfectly to the line as he claimed his fourth victory at La Vuelta on Stage 16 💨 pic.twitter.com/kubjORozzQ
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) September 8, 2026
On Wednesday, the sprint was a little less straightforward, Van Aert dropping Brennan off earlier, on to the wheel of Magnus Cort, before he fully opened up with around 150 metres to go. Brennan ended up beating Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) by a metre or two, with Cort (Uno-X Mobility) third.
He said afterwards that it helped that Van Aert had finished second in a sprint in Seville a couple of years ago.
“We discussed it in the morning, the bits where he went wrong,” Brennan said on TV post-race. “We didn’t want to repeat that today, we wanted to make sure that we crossed the line first. He was there by my side the whole way, which was fantastic to see, and I’m very thankful for his support.
“Today was the day we knew we could make history and we committed full, full. We did everything in our power to make the best of the opportunity. Seven victories is the most we [Visma] have ever won in a grand tour and to be a part of that is really special.”
And five himself? “It’s crazy. We’re not even on Stage 21 yet. It’s incredible. I feel like I just do the easy part. The guys work so hard all day and they’re always here to support me and I’m forever grateful for that.”
Thursday’s time trial will offer some other riders a chance, as attention turns back to the general classification. Spain’s Enric Mas (Movistar) still leads overall, by 2min 06sec to Felix Gall (Decathlon). Britain’s Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) lies fifth, 5:44 off the pace, with Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) also ahead of him.
Brennan may get another chance in this race. He may not. But the Binman has already left his mark on La Vuelta and on cycling in general, helping Visma to their record grand tour haul of seven stage wins. He spoke on Tuesday of his desire to wear the famous maillot jaune after the opening stage of next year’s Tour de France, which begins in Edinburgh.
“A UK start next year, I already said it to the team two years ago when I heard about it, that I’d really like to be there on the start line,” he said. “And to have guys like Wout and Christophe [Laporte] there also, if we do the same [as we do] here, we can really try to copy what we do and replicate that into a yellow jersey on day one.”
As Blythe pointed out, to do that he will have to beat the best in the world. But he looks more than ready to make that step. “I’m delighted for him,” Blythe said. “He’s shown his potential. I’m excited about seeing how he goes next year against – respectfully – the big boys.”
