Jorgenson was shocked by how talented Visma youngster is: "He's the definition of a wonderkid"

Debuting at the highest level as Matthew Brennan did this year is by no means for everyone. The twenty-year-old Brit from Visma | Lease a Bike showed incredible things and won no less than twelve times, four of which at WorldTour level. Teammate Matteo Jorgenson is also impressed. Deeply impressed, even.

"He's so impressive. It's insane. He's the definition of a wonderkid," Jorgenson stated in conversation with Domestique. So when the American is asked about who he thinks is the biggest talent in the peloton, he doesn't have to think long. "I honestly think it's Matthew Brennan. For me, his versatility is the part that makes him so impressive."

We soon saw that versatility. The young Brit possesses a very fast sprint, but has shown that he is much more than a sprinter. His second win, for example, in the opening stage of the Tour of Catalonia, Brennan had to survive a lot to finally catch Tibor Del Grosso just in time on the uphill finish.

It was a crazy finale, which also left Jorgenson stunned. "The win in Catalunya that he had, I've actually never seen a win like that in my life. I remember sitting there watching the race, like mouth agape, live. It probably took me three days to get over how impressed I was by that win."

So his versatility also allows Brennan to try in multiple ways, Jorgenson observes. "He has this insane kick that he'll win out of almost any [situation]. If he can just get over a few climbs and be sprinting out of a group of less than a hundred or less, it's like almost a guaranteed win a lot of times."

What may seem less important for winning, but is also at least as important as his sprint, is positioning. "He often doesn't even need a lead-out. I remember watching Roubaix; he was positioning himself almost the whole race, and he was inside the Alpecin train with Van der Poel. I remember just being impressed with how much he can throw his weight around."

One might almost say: what can't Brennan do? Okay, following Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar uphill may not be in the cards, but Jorgenson is deeply impressed nonetheless. "He's shockingly talented, and I just hope the team can retain him as a rider because I would love to be teammates with him for a long time," the American hopes for a longer stay for the Brit.

Jorgeson was also asked about founding Modern Adventure Pro Cycling, a new American ProTeam founded by the Hincapie brothers. "I am happy to see it. I think it's awesome that there is still interest in road racing in the US," he said.

Indeed, that was not always the case. "I feel a sense of despair for the idea of road cycling in the US. The way that we have almost no professional racing, no more Tour of California or Utah or Colorado for me is a huge shame. Having teams like Modern Adventure cycling is exciting because I think at least it's like a pathway for the guys now that are junior U23 to make it professional."