Brennan takes Vuelta stage 16 for fourth win

Matthew Brennan sprinted to victory in the 16th stage of the Vuelta a Espana on Tuesday to claim his fourth stage win of the race. Visma Lease-a-bike's British rider Brennan, given a superb lead-out by teammate Wout Van Aert, crossed the line ahead of Bryan Coquard and Vito Braet in Palos de la Frontera, in the south-west of Spain. Team Movistar's Spanish rider Enric Mas maintained his 2min 6sec general classification lead on Felix Gall, with Primoz Roglic a further four seconds behind. "It's unbelievable, four victories here and the plan was for one," said Brennan. Tuesday's 16th stage, running 181.1km from Cortegana, was expected to be another chance for the sprinters and so it proved, on another hot late summer day. A five-man breakaway got up the road early on but with 100km remaining the peloton started to reel them in. Van Aert lead out for Brennan, who cruised to a comfortable victory, with nobody coming close to finding a way past him. Belgian rider Van Aert has won two stages himself, bringing Visma's total to six in this edition of the Vuelta. On Wednesday a flat stage 17 takes riders 185 kilometres from Dos Hermanas to Seville, offering another sprint finale.