After his spectacular opening half of his first full season as a pro and a month's break, Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) made his return to racing at the Tour de Pologne, on Monday. But the 19-year-old insists that despite the fast rising expectations, with his first GC bid in a WorldTour race far from ruled out, his team are still letting him continue at his own - very successful - pace.
Brennan has so far had a breakthrough first season, with a capital 'B', with eight wins including three at WorldTour level, two stages in the Volta a Catalunya and one in the Tour of Romandie.
The Visma-Lease a Bike racer is not dismissing a GC bid at Pologne - his first at WorldTour level - as well as going for more stage victories, but as he told Cyclingnews before the race began, he is under no pressure from the team to perform.
"I'm just here to learn, if I don't do anything from here to the end of the season then it's not a problem," he said.
"It's also a learning process, so if it starts going well again then that's brilliant and if not, that's no stress, we just try and work the moment in process and see what I do."
The pressure on Visma collectively lowered notably after stage 1, in any case, as Olav Kooij claimed the opening victory and leader's jersey, with Brennan finishing 22nd and safely in the main pack.
"In the upcoming days, I'll go for a stage, and if I'm sitting OK on GC, then see what the GC ambitions are like and see how I feel," Brennan explained. "I'll just take it day by day, there's no pressure. I'm here to learn."
His form, he said, is good after a break and then a return to training. He's also familiar with some of the terrain the race will cover in south Poland, too, which is always a plus, thanks to doing the amateur Orlen Cup in the region.
"It was a really nice race. I thought the scenery was great. We dipped into Poland a bit, did a bit in Czech, also in Slovakia so it's a nice area all round."
Come what may, in any case, too, Brennan is already finding his feet in the squad as well, with an experienced Tour de Pologne sprinter like Kooij - who took his first-ever WorldTour win in the event back in 2022 - saying that the U23 British road champion will be the main focus for Visma whenever the terrain is too hard for him.
"I think it's the first time me and him have been racing together and he's been impressive already this season," Kooij told reporters after taking the fifth Pologne bunch sprint of his career.
"It was good to get to race together and you could see how he rides his bike that he sees and feels the race well."
After Kooij took the opening victory, Brennan could well be in with a chance of keeping the leader's jersey in Visma's hands on the demanding ascent to Karpacz on Tuesday.
Previous winners there include Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) in 2024 and Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) - who went on to take the event overall in 2023 - have shown the types of riders who can win there. So Brennan, who triumphed on a shorter but similarly punishing climb in the Tour of Norway this May, could well be in with a chance.
"Tomorrow [stage 2] we'll go for him [Brennan], it's not an easy finish, but he's showed he can handle a hard climb," Kooij said. "Every day I think we'll either fight for him or for me, and we'll see if we can get some more success."
