Setback for Visma | Lease a Bike in Sanremo: ill Matthew Brennan pulls out

Brennan started the season in excellent fashion. He won a stage at the Tour Down Under, before finishing second in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. It then looked as though things had gone badly wrong in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, where he crashed hard and was forced to abandon. Still, he was able to start Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne the following day, where he stormed to an emphatic victory.

Since then, we have not seen the young Brit in race action. He had been preparing for the first Monument of the season away from competition, where he was due to start for the first time. With his blistering sprint and climbing legs that are above average for a fast finisher, he was immediately on the list of dangerous outsiders should it still come down to a sprint on the Via Roma.

But on Friday, Visma | Lease a Bike came with bad news. The rider from Darlington has fallen ill and will have to miss Milan-Sanremo. It is a significant blow for the Killer Bees, who will now have to pin their hopes elsewhere. Victor Campenaerts will replace Brennan: the Belgian recently rode Paris-Nice in support of overall winner Jonas Vingegaard.

With Brennan’s absence, Visma | Lease a Bike will have to reshuffle. Despite his withdrawal, they still have enough contenders up their sleeve. Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte have already shown they are in good form and should be able to go deep into the race. If the race turns into a tougher contest, they also still have Matteo Jorgenson to rely on.