Matthew Brennan secures Visma | Lease a Bike's first win of 2026 after impressive (occasional) lead-out

After the shortened queen stage on Saturday, the peloton took to the roads again around Stirling on Sunday. With temperatures around 35 °C — slightly cooler than the previous day’s 40 °C heat — it was another hot day in South Australia.

Pascal Eenkhoorn made an early move for Soudal Quick-Step, immediately attacking. Sprinter Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché) followed and eventually got clear, joined by Eenkhoorn’s teammate Fabio Van den Bossche and Bahrain Victorious’s Australian Robert Stannard.

Van den Bossche and Veistroffer couldn’t stay with Stannard, but their spot in the break was briefly taken by… Eenkhoorn, who rode back to the front with Luke Plapp. Meanwhile, in the peloton a bizarre moment unfolded when a kangaroo leapt into the group and caused a crash involving — among others — race leader Jay Vine.

The startled animal jumped away in panic, and a few riders abandoned — though it’s unclear whether those withdrawals were directly due to the incident. Once Vine had returned to the race, the focus shifted back to racing. The breakaway was gradually brought back, prompting some counter-attacks.

Javier Romo, Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda (Movistar), Gal Glivar (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) rode ahead, but they were eventually reeled in by work from Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Anton Schiffer (Visma) in the final kilometres.

After the German, Per Strand Hagenes took over the lead-out for Brennan, who reacted boldly to the launch from NSN rider Brady Gilmorde and expertly finished it off. Vine made it to the line without serious harm and crossed as the overall winner.