After multiple wins, Brennan keeps dreaming: "I've made it a goal to win the Tour in 2027, and the team knows it"

The young talent has been getting a lot of media attention lately. He doesn’t mind it too much. “Some days, I really want to be left alone by the media, but most of the time I don’t have a problem with it. I like being social. It’s part of racing. Interviews also help me reflect on my own life and what I’ve already achieved. I’ve had some really great interviews with journalists who asked genuinely good questions.”

Brennan is often compared in the media to Wout van Aert and Mark Cavendish, but he doesn’t see himself that way. “If people make that comparison, I’m fine with it and I take it as a compliment. But it’s very clear that I’m nowhere near those two yet. I also think I’m just a different kind of rider. Cavendish didn’t win a stage with 3,000 meters of climbing. And Van Aert has a much bigger engine than I do.”

And his best day this season? The 19-year-old has only one answer: “The GP Denain. That day led to me getting more opportunities faster than expected. That makes it extra special. Did you know that was one of the first races where I ever took caffeine? Normally I don’t. I also didn’t really know how to use it tactically until recently. And honestly, I wasn’t that interested. But on the advice of our nutritionists, I tried a caffeine gel during Denain.”

That GP Denain win eventually earned him a spot in Paris–Roubaix, where he stayed up front for a long time. “When I passed Wout, I was just thinking about how I could best help the team. I felt good, so it was my job to take on more responsibility. I’ve already learned a lot from Wout, who really sets the standard for how to carry yourself as a professional cyclist.”

“On the morning of Paris–Roubaix, I knocked on his hotel room door,” Brennan said about his debut in the Hell of the North. “I asked him, ‘Wout, what should I expect over the next few hours?’ He went over the strategy again, gave me lots of valuable tips, and said he believed I could be there in the finale. That really helped calm my nerves.”

The young Brit’s ability to stay near the front is largely thanks to his background on the track. “As a junior, I raced about as much on the track as on the road. On the track, you can be as strong as you want, if you can’t position yourself, you’ll never be in contention. It’s all so fast. The skills I developed there help me a lot on the road.”

And Brennan hopes those skills will one day help him win his dream race. “My dream races? The Tour of Flanders and the Tour de France. Specifically the 2027 edition, which starts in the UK. I haven’t told the team they must select me, but I did say it’s one of my big goals. I want to work toward it, without putting too much pressure on myself. If I don’t make it, I’ll be okay with that too.”