Tour of Britain: Matthew Brennan wins sprint finish on stage three as Geraint Thomas off the pace

Matthew Brennan powered to victory in a sprint finish on stage three of the Tour of Britain to become the youngest stage winner in the event’s history.

The 20-year-old British rider benefited from a leadout from his Visma-Lease a Bike team-mate and race leader Olav Kooij, coming through to cross the line first in a frantic finale on the 122.8km route from Milton Keynes to Ampthill.

Italy’s Alberto Dainese and Portugal’s Rui Oliveira finished second and third, with Dutch rider Kooij crossing in ninth.

Brennan’s win lifts him to second in the general classification, now 10 seconds behind Kooij.

It was his 12th win of the season – Brennan’s first as a professional rider.

“This season has been pretty incredible so far,” Brennan told ITV4.

“It was really chaotic into the last few kilometres. There were a lot of people trying to get to the front. We bided our time a little bit. We had the guys working all day and, in the end, we moved up in the last two kilometres.

“[I] took an opportunity, I followed Olav’s wheel and that was great. He finished it off brilliantly.”

Friday’s route will take the riders through Warwickshire, from Atherstone to a hilltop finish at Burton Dassett Country Park.

Brennan added: “I think there are going to be fireworks tomorrow. Potentially, the GC is going to have a little bit of a shake-up. It’s something to look forward to and we’ll see what happens.”

Belgian star Remco Evenepoel finished safely in the peloton, but Britain’s Geraint Thomas came home one minute and 29 seconds down on the day as he brings down the curtain this week on a glittering career in his last professional road race.