The Japan Times - Vuelta debutant Brennan claims fifth victory on stage 17

The 21-year-old Grand Tour debutant crossed the finish line ahead of Jordi Meeus and Magnus Cort Nielsen.

General classification leader Enric Mas moved one step closer to claiming a first Grand Tour victory as he maintained his 2min 6sec lead on Felix Gall, with four-time Vuelta winner Primoz Roglic a further four seconds behind.

The stage was set up for the bunch sprint finale, without a single climb on the long, flat, 185 kilometre ride from Dos Hermanas to the Andalusian capital.

Sinuhe Fernandez and Enzo Paleni formed a two-man break early on, whipping up a gap of more than four minutes on the peloton, who were moving at a leisurely pace on another hot day with temperatures over 30C.

The gap extended to over five minutes around the halfway point, with Visma then working hard to reduce it.

Groupama FDJ-United rider Paleni dropped Fernandez but was absorbed by the peloton with just three kilometres remaining after a monumental effort.

Young star Brennan came around Danish rider Cort to claim the sprint victory, holding off Belgium's Meeus who crossed the line second.

As with his other stage victories, the Briton raised his hand to the air, this time with all of his fingers up to represent his five victories.

Brennan's victory puts him in a small bracket of riders, including Tadej Pogacar -- who was overwhelming favourite to win this year's Vuelta before he suffered a season-ending injury in a crash in stage eight -- to claim five or more stages at a single Grand Tour.

On Thursday, riders take on a 32.1km individual time-trial from El Puerto de Santa Maria to Jerez de la Frontera in stage 18, which is one of the last chances for Mas's general classification contenders to cut down the gap on the Spaniard.

H.Takahashi--JT