Tom Mustroph and Stefan Tabeling, dpa
With the ease of a seasoned professional, Marco Brenner stood at the dinner table with a bottle of sparkling wine and gave a speech to the whole team. The young German also mastered this part with flying colours, even though he doesn’t have much experience of it yet. After all, just a few hours earlier he had secured his first stage victory in a Grand Tour. The 24-year-old won the mountain finish at Sierra de la Pandera in the Vuelta – securing Germany’s first victory there since Lennard Kämna three years ago.
“You live for days like this. There aren’t many cyclists who win a stage in a major tour,” said Brenner, adding: “I’ve always known that, if everything comes together, I can achieve good results too.”
On the 14th stage, everything finally came together for the Augsburg-born rider. He was part of a large breakaway group; on the final climb, he made the most of his climbing ability and ultimately won the uphill sprint against the Colombian Santiago Buitrago.
A prodigy with teething problems
A victory that experts had predicted for him years ago. At the age of 18, he joined the World Tour and signed his first professional contract with DSM. He was regarded as the new prodigy, the new Jan Ullrich. Standing 1.81 metres tall and weighing 59 kilograms, he had the ideal physique. In the junior ranks, he had already won numerous championship titles in time trials and on the road. However, the move to the professional ranks may have come a little too early.
It was only when he joined the Tudor team in 2024, led by the former classics king Fabian Cancellara, that his career really took off. That same year, he won the German Championship in Bad Dürrheim, pulling away from a certain Florian Lipowitz on the final climb.
Serious crash at the 2025 Giro
However, Brenner, who now lives in Salzburg, suffered repeated setbacks. In 2025, he crashed heavily during the Giro d’Italia when he went over the crash barrier, sustaining a shoulder injury and a deep graze. The crash had taken its toll, mentally as well as physically.
Similarly, his Vuelta so far has been a rollercoaster ride. Having arrived with high hopes following his overall victory in the Tour of Poland, everything went wrong at first. “I had health problems in the first week, and then there was the crash as well,” Brenner told the German Press Agency. On the 12th stage, he tried his luck in a breakaway group. However, it was to no avail. “I just wasn’t good enough,” he said self-critically.
Tour debut next year?
So is this the big breakthrough? “I’m not the sort of person who says, ‘I’m going to win this or that race now.’ I’m just happy with how things are going at the moment. And now people know that, when everything falls into place, I can win big races too,” said Brenner. At the very least, he secured the first stage victory in the history of the fledgling Swiss team. That honour was actually intended for two-time world champion Julian Alaphilippe, but the Frenchman recently retired following a disappointing Tour.
All hopes are pinned on Brenner, who has extended his contract until 2030. Next year, he could finally make his debut in the Tour de France. “Marco is an excellent example of the hard work, trust in people and commitment that we put into everything we do. This year didn’t always go to plan. (...) One day you lose, the next you win,” said Cancellara.
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