Sep Vanmarcke reveals reason behind his sudden retirement: "If I keep riding, the tissue could grow and lead to heart failure in the future"
Cycling
Sad news came at the of last week when Israel - Premier Tech announced that their leader Sep Vanmarcke is forced to retire with immedaite effect. One of the best classics riders of his generation won Bretagne Classic, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, finished Paris-Roubaix 2nd and was 3rd at Ronde van Vlaanderen twice over the course of his long career as a pro.
At 34, the Belgian rider suffers from heart problems, discovered at the end of June following tests carried out after the Belgian Championship. Examinations that revealed the presence of scar tissue on his heart.
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"If I keep riding, the tissue could grow and lead to heart failure in the future. It's a terribly painful and abrupt decision, but there is no other option..." he explained in a message posted on Instagram.
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- To quote the article: riders from Arkéa - B&B Hotels and a few others seized the moment to launch an attack, increasing the pace as Pogacar was briefly off the bike. Not coolmij08-04-2025
- I don’t think it was a matter of easing up. I think it was a matter of attacking. And MVDP said his team would respect similar situations. Perhaps not on the penultimate climb, but I believe they would. To accelerate is a jerk move.mij08-04-2025
- change the cycling forever? relax, please.
maria2024202408-04-2025 - His basic attitude always has been (and we know age often reinforces inherent values), if I’m going down I’m going to try taking you with me.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I know it’s tradition and nice but to make the discussion more interesting, if an Arkea rider had driven up to tell Alpecin or UAE to ease off for Mozzato or Vauquelin having a P, would they have been as gentlemanly?Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- That’s probably about right although if they’d talked it over it would have been in all their interests to work together to chase Pog down because those 4 arriving at the finish in that scenario would have left all 4 with a chance of victory.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- Exactly, that easily makes for a minute at the front. You don’t see Pog cracking often either (less often than MVDP even) but when he does it’s lights out and over too. This is completely normal and to be expected, at the level of competitiveness all these guys are they only crack once they’ve pushed beyond their manageable limit and there’s no coming back from that. When your rival forces you into the red to keep or catch up, it’s over, in that respect, well done to WVA who seems to be world champion in staying just outside the red for as long as he can.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- If I remember well, Pidcock slowed, whether out of respect or strategically or just happy he could ease off a bit, only he knows. Your point?Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I believe Mathieu rather gets beaten by a stronger rider than one who raced smarter. That is why he wanted to team up with Pogacar to drop the JV riders and Mads who were not helping in the chase of the first group since they had a teammate up front.JoostMehrtens08-04-2025
- Just shows that LA is not truly repentant. JUSTICE was served. No winner, no second , no third on the podium for those 7 years. No real winners could be determined, ever. Lance got to keep most of his money , he really should can it . He is toxic to cycling.dave08-04-2025