Matthew Brennan is unbeaten in bunch sprints at his first Grand Tour. Two chances, two wins.

On Wednesday’s 173.4km run from Falset to Roquetes, Wout van Aert took over inside the final kilometre for Visma-Lease a Bike, stringing out the reduced bunch and delivering his 21-year-old team-mate straight to the sprint. Christophe Laporte guided Brennan through the last corner and settled for seventh at the line.

Brennan beat Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost) to make it two stage wins from two bunch sprints. Stage 2 fell to him on debut. Stage 5 followed on Wednesday.

Van Aert takes over inside the last kilometre

Van Aert could have raced for himself. He stayed on the front for Brennan instead.

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“When you have Matt in a group like that, it’s the best card to play, and I don’t even need to see the replay to see how he finished that one off,” Van Aert told TNT Sports.

Asked whether setting up Brennan compares to winning a stage himself, Van Aert offered a three-word verdict.

“It comes close.”

Brennan, speaking after the stage, said the plan had come off cleanly.

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“We had the two boys pulling on the front until the final few kilometres. Then Wout and Chris are the best guys you can have in that situation,” he said.

Brennan also had a wobble inside the last corner.

“I lost my wheel a bit. The paint was a bit slippery, but thankfully I stayed safe,” he told NBC Sports.

Bartolo gravel awaits on Thursday

Tadej Pogačar kept the red leader’s jersey. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider stayed near the front through a nervous run-in and his 3 minutes 21 seconds advantage over Primož Roglič went untouched.

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“We had it under control with the team so I’m really happy about today,” Pogačar said. “You never know what happened in the back and it’s always more nervous in the back, so we took the front and we did a really good job.”

Stage 6 is the race’s first gravel stage, 177.4km from Alcossebre to Castelló on Thursday, with roughly 3.5km of gravel near the summit of the category-1 Puerto de El Bartolo, whose slopes average 11% and reach 16-20% in places.

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