Rising star Brennan backed by full team in Germany: "All the guys were extremely looking forward to racing with Matthew"

On Sunday, in addition to Brennan, a strong field of sprinters had traveled to Germany, including Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), Milan Menten (Lotto), Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Pavel Bittner (Picnic PostNL) and Amaury Capiot (Arkéa-B&B Hotels). The expected sprint materialized solidly in the streets of Cologne, where Brennan took his fifth win (seven if you count the two wins in 1.2 races) of the season.

"This is a real team victory," the top talent stated on the team website afterward. "We were here at the start as a development team, but if you see how the guys rode today, it could have been the WorldTour team. Everyone gave the full 110 percent and was eager to prove themselves today. The compliments are for the whole team. I'm glad I was able to finish it off."

Sport director Robert Wagner expressed admiration for 'his' Killer Bees afterward. "It's super special to win this race with the Development Team," the German said. "All the guys were extremely looking forward to racing with Matthew (he made the switch from the Development Team to the WorldTour team this season). Everyone was extremely motivated and committed to working for him. That was great to see."

The idea of Visma | Lease a Bike on Sunday was simple. "We had a clear strategy: go all in for Matthew. We took responsibility by controlling the course and left nothing to chance. Matthew always had at least two riders around him. Pietro and Will did an excellent job in the final and brought Matthew to the key point at 750 meters. We knew: if we can get him in a good position there, he has a great chance of winning. For him to finish like that is really class."