Sick Sep Vanmarcke still has to give up: “He is in the poor street”

Vanmarcke already had to give up the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and then went to Tenerife for a training camp. There too he was felled by illness for a while and the problems now persist. It is highly doubtful whether Vanmarcke will start in Milan-Sanremo on Saturday. In Nokere Koerse he is replaced by the Frenchman Rudy Barbier.

“I just received a call from Sep. He does not feel sufficiently fit and has to cancel for Nokere Koerse. He suffered the same fate for the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. He became ill before the start of the Belgian opening classic and had to forfeit. on an internship to Tenerife where he resumed training on El Teide. He also became ill there, had to go to a lower hotel for a while, but was able to finish his internship. Now he has relapsed,” said sports director Eric Van Lancker.

Vanmarcke is also on the Milan-Sanremo entry list. “No decision has been made about that race yet. Sep is really in a bad way. Racing sick is not an option, certainly not in Milan-Sanremo, where about 300 kilometers have to be driven. We will continue to follow him. We hope that things are quickly going in the right direction with Sep. I did call up Rudy Barbier for Nokere Koerse. He comes over in haste and recently rode Paris-Nice. I certainly wanted to start here with seven riders, hence,” Eric Van Lancker reports.