Double Volta a Catalunya stage winner Matthew Brennan pulls out of race to avoid overexertion, team reports

After taking two breakthrough stages at the Volta a Catalunya, 19-year-old fast man Matthew Brennan was a DNS on Saturday so as not to risk over-exertion, his team explained to Cyclingnews.

Brennan won stage 1 at San Feliu de Guixols, then took second on stage 2 while holding the lead and then after handling the toughest climbing in the Pyrenees, he came through again to win stage 5.

The Briton was in the lead of the points classification at the time he was pulled from the Volta, but his team argued that it was best not to overdo it in the final tough weekend of the Volta a Catalunya.

Sports director Frans Maassen was full of praise for the young Briton's global performance, telling Cyclingnews he had ridden well beyond his expectations.

"I was surprised, we had hoped he could win a stage, that was of course possible, but the way he did it [on stage 1] was exceptionally strong," Maassen said before stage 6.

"What he did was incredible, going on the wheel [of Alpecin-Deceuninck rider Tibor del Grosso] like that. It surprised us that the wins were so exceptional, he made such a big effort. He's 19 years old, so it's very, very impressive."

Coming through the mountain so well and then bouncing back to take stage 5 was also a remarkable achievement, Maassen said, with Brennan's program now reorganised to include the hillier Limberg Classic and then most likely the Tour de Romandie.

"We saw that his numbers were a lot better than last year so he already became a better rider, and for sure he'll improve even more. But to have this level already at 19, I'm very happy with that."

"He'll at least do Limberg, and then we'll see, but probably Romandie as well."

Given his young age and the considerably raised expectations, Maassen agreed that it was better not to put Brennan under too much pressure, too soon, which was partly why they had opted for Brennan to leave the race early.

"We thought it was the best that he could smell and touch the race a bit, get a lot of experience, and of course, he won two exceptional sprints. But this morning we wished him a nice weekend, and told him to go enjoy his two wins."

Brennan's performance was all the more impressive, given his presence in Catalunya had been anything but planned, too, being a last-minute decision by the team to replace Jonas Vingegaard.

The Dane had to pull out of Paris-Nice after crashing and suffering from a fractured finger and concussion. He was then a late withdrawal from the Volta a Catalunya start list, with Brennan getting the call-up to replace him just four days before the Volta began.

Regarding Vingegaard, Maassen told Cyclingnews there was still no news on when the Dane would return to racing. He did, however, confirm that the double Tour de France winner is now training again.