"Was sitting on the couch watching the Tour"; Brennan beats Tour monster Milan and caps off a sprint day for Visma | LaB

“It’s amazing,” he said, beaming in the flash interview. Despite not having a lead-out, the young sprinter held his own impressively. “It was a really hectic finale, but the guys helped relieve a lot of the stress by keeping me in the right position. We were going for the intermediate sprints, and we lost each other a bit after that. But I had enough mental energy to navigate on my own. I’m just glad I could still go for it, being that close to Milan is something really special.”

For a while, it wasn’t clear who had actually crossed the line first in Herford. Even Brennan wasn’t sure, though he had a good feeling. “I knew it was close. It was super fast, and I threw my bike at the line. I thought I had just beaten him, but you never really know. I’m really happy with it.” Eventually, the photo finish confirmed his instincts: he had beaten the green jersey winner of the Tour de France.

Milan had only recently won two stages in the Tour de France, taking home the green jersey. So for Brennan, it’s still a bit surreal to have beaten one of the world’s top sprinters. “I was sitting on the couch watching the Tour, pretty much every day,” he laughed. “I saw them all putting out monster watts. To now race against them and measure myself against guys like that… it’s really cool, and exciting for the days to come.”

Brennan often says he’s not a pure sprinter, and that he normally performs better on tougher, more selective stages. But on Thursday, he proved himself wrong. The coming stages should suit him even better on paper, but he remains grounded and humble. “We’re here to see what we can do. There’s no pressure, we’re aiming as high as we can. We have a plan for every day, and if we execute it, that’s perfect.”