Photo finish in Catalonia: Vernon beats Brennan at the finish, Visma | Lease a Bike rider remains leader

There will be considerable discussion about stage one at the start of the second stage of the Tour of Catalonia. In very wet conditions, the peloton had to descend to Saint Feliu de Guixols, where Tibor Del Grosso of Alpecin-Deceuninck controlled his bicycle by far the best. The Dutch rider built up a significant lead and seemed set to take his first professional victory as the last three kilometers began, especially since his teammates behind him had stopped pedaling.

However, Matthew Brennan of Visma | Lease a Bike had other ideas. With Kaden Groves on his wheel, the Brit accelerated towards Del Grosso and passed the Dutch rider in the final few meters. Brennan left an everlasting impression with his victory.

Read on below the video!

On day two of the Tour of Catalonia, we started without Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) and Lidl-Trek team leader Tao Geoghegan Hart, who suffered from stomach problems. The 180-kilometer stage was mainly flat, although there were two climbs in the middle of the race. Danny van der Tuuk (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Diego Urarte (Equupo Kern Pharma), and Callum Johnston (Caja Rural) were not intimidated and began to pick up the pace.

Alpecin-Deceuninck and Visma | Lease a Bike took the lead in the large group, so the men were caught up on the climb just before we descended towards the last sixty kilometers. Because there was wind in Catalonia, there was also a potential danger of echelons forming here. We also saw teams like Jayco AlUla sitting at the front to protect their leader from the wind.

This had its effect because a group was dropped at the back before the intermediate sprint, where Juan Ayuso (UAE) gained three seconds. Picnic PostNL, Cofidis, and Bahrain Victorious missed the move and had to do everything they could to get things back on track. They succeeded, and the peloton regained its composure.

Towards the final phase, the peloton filled the Catalan roads, where the weather conditions were much better than on Monday. Steven Kruijswijk and Wilco Kelderman (34), who was celebrating his birthday, maintained a high pace for 19-year-old Brennan, who was thus kept up front in the large group. In the last ten kilometers, the other sprint teams, as did the GC teams, also moved to the front.

In the last three kilometers, Brennan moved to the wheel of his main competitor, Groves, while Primoz Roglic saw his Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe team take the lead. After a rotation by Geraint Thomas, Tibor Del Grosso took over with great force, while behind them was a fight for Groves' wheel. With 500 meters to go, Edward Planckaert took over for Groves, who started his sprint with tremendous force. Brennan was boxed in and had to go to the other side, but Vernon had enough speed to take the victory.