Vuelta a Burgos, Matthew Brennan wins the opening stage on the Alto del Castillo

Matthew Brennan (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) takes the opening stage of the 2026 Vuelta a Burgos, prevailing in the uphill sprint on the Alto del Castillo. The Briton covered the 165 kilometres in 3:35:54, beating his teammate Ben Tulett, who finished second with the same time.The inaugural stage was enlivened by a four-man breakaway made up of Josh Burnett (Burgos Burpellet BH), Javier Ibáñez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Valentin Ferron (Cofidis) and Unai Aznar (Euskaltel-Euskadi), which went clear after 10 kilometres and was only caught in the finale, roughly 2 kilometres from the finish. In the final metres of the climb, Marc Brustenga (Equipo Kern Pharma) attempted an attack with 700-800 metres to go, but was reeled back in by the group charging at full speed.Ben Tulett then perfectly piloted his teammate Brennan over the final 200 metres, where the 20-year-old unleashed his sprint, dropping everyone and also claiming the first leader's jersey of the race. On the day's podium, behind the Visma duo, came Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), with Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon CMA CGM) fourth and Bjoern Koerdt (Team Picnic PostNL) fifth, all on the same time.General classification1. Matthew Brennan (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) — 3:35:442. Ben Tulett (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:043. Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:06The race continues tomorrow with a new stage.