Sept 2 (Reuters) - Briton Matthew Brennan prevailed in a chaotic sprint for the finish line in stage 11 of the Vuelta a Espana on Wednesday, as the 21-year-old Visma-Lease a Bike rider claimed his third stage win in his maiden Grand Tour.
Brennan, who also won the second and fourth stages, beat Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) and Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in a photo finish in Lorca.
Red jersey holder Enric Mas (Movistar) retained his overall lead, remaining a minute and 18 seconds ahead of four-times winner Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) as nearly the entire peloton crossed the finish line together after the 153.8-km ride from Cartagena.
Points classification leader Wout van Aert expertly led teammate Brennan to the front after the final turn and he overtook Coquard and crossed the finish line with his hand raised in victory.
"We took the initiativeagain today... it was fantastic work in the last 10 km to keep us in the right place," said Brennan, who won Britain's National Under-23 Championships last year.
"I'm with a team full of massive champions... I'm thankful that they go full gas for me."
UAE TeamEmirates-XRG, whose leaderTadej Pogacar withdrew from the race after acrash in stage eight, could have lost another rider when Kevin Vermaerke went down in a crash with Hamish McKenzie (Jayco AlUla).
AmericanVermaerke got back up, however, and carried on as the peloton shut down all the early attacks, reaching speeds of nearly 46 km per hour going into the last 10 kilometres of the mostly flat stage.
Thepeloton was together amid a frantic battle to stay ahead in the final kilometre, but the Visma-Lease a Bike riders successfully collaborated to set up Brennan's dash to the finish line.
The race returns to the mountains on Thursday with a 166.6-km ride from Vera to Calar Alto.
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
