Last year, Matthew Brennan burst onto the WorldTour scene when he clinched a second place on the first stage of the Tour Down Under, where with a powerful acceleration in Gumeracha he came close to unseating a celebrating Sam Welsford.
The British rider then went on to have a breakthrough season, winning 14 races including stage victories at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and Tour de Romandie and the overall at the Tour of Norway.
This year, the 20-year-old Visma-Lease a Bike rider came into the WorldTour opening stage race with a goal of snatching stage 1 to Tanunda, a clear chance for the sprinters in an edition which leans more heavily towards the climbers this time.
Brennan's team, along with Sam Welsford's Ineos Grenadiers, put in considerable effort to control the front of the peloton, keep the break in check and then ultimately reel them back in order to have a bunch sprint. It was all going to plan until the final kilometre where Brennan was not able to get a clear run to the finish line. He did, once again, produce another huge turn of speed, but he could not overcome Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM) who received a perfect leadout to claim the victory.
"I think we just ended up on the wrong side [of the road]. I think there was one little moment of hesitation from us," Brennan told reporters after the podium ceremony where he received the white best young rider’s jersey.
That moment meant Brennan had to settle for the runner-up spot, again.
"Seems to be a bit of a thing now. I think we came off that a little bit disappointed as a team, because we knew we could win it today," he said.
"But to be honest, I think with the new squad, new group of riders, new kind of way of working together, that we've actually done a really good job. There's a few things that we want to tweak, but throughout the whole day, they were always there, always helping, always protecting, doing what they needed to do. So the guys did a fantastic job."
The stage had quickly settled into a familiar pattern with a small break up the road, and Visma-Lease a Bike and Ineos Grenadiers taking turns at the front while other teams sat back.
"We did a lot of work, but can we be happy with what we did today?" Brennan asked and quickly replied, "I think we can."
"We're very aware of what we need to work on now and we're very confident that we can fix that. So hopefully, once we get another another chance, we can really show ourselves and hopefully finish off with a positive."
The next opportunity for the sprinters is likely to come on stage 3 if they can survive the mid-stage Wickham Hill climb, and ascent of Mount Barker.
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