"Very frustrating to have another setback" - Sep Vanmarcke infected with Covid-19, once again misses out on racing

Sep Vanmarcke is no stranger to mishaps, however 2022 is being a bad year even for the Belgian's standards as he is once again pulled out of competition, due to a Covid-19 infection now.

After a resting period, Vanmarcke has been preparing for the second half of the season with a training camp in Spain ahead of the Tour of Norway, but he won't be present. "After an excellent series of training sessions and a good training camp in Spain, I was ready to finally get back into competition in the Tour of Norway. Until yesterday I submitted a positive PCR test. Unexpectedly, because I didn't feel/feel sick, but the second test showed the same result," he shared on Instagram. 

Vanmarcke has been forced to miss both Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Paris-Roubaix due to last-minute health issues, and could not take part at Tour des Flandres as Israel - Premier Tech did not have enough riders to start the race due to illnesses among the team. Besides all the races he's had to miss, he didn't manage to reach the expected level as his preparation was seriously hampered. He will now miss the Tour of Norway aswell because of a Covid-19 infection.

In a time where Israel - Premier Tech is in serious need of points, Vanmarcke's absence proves to be another blow to the ambitions of World Tour maintenance. “Very frustrating to have another setback in this 2022 full of obstacles," he said.

He will be eyeing the Belgian national championships during the coming month, and then prepare for the latter months of the year where he should have plenty opportunities in the classics. "They advised me not to train for at least a week. Hopefully after a week I will be negative again and I can start training again with a view to the Belgian competitions in June.”