Matthew Brennan ruled out of Milan-Sanremo due to illness
Victor Campenaerts has been added to the Visma | Lease a Bike roster to replace the Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne winner. Wout van Aert will lead the line for Visma, while Matteo Jorgenson features after a strong start to the campaign.
Matthew Brennan has been ruled out of Milan-Sanremo due to illness. His Visma | Lease a Bike team announced his withdrawal on Friday morning, and the Briton will be replaced in the line-up by Victor Campenaerts.
Winner of Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne three weeks ago, Brennan was something of a dark horse for what would have been his Milan-Sanremo debut. The 20-year-old hinted at his ability in the Monuments with a strong showing at Paris-Roubaix in his neo-pro season, when he also sprinted to twelve victories.
Brennan had not raced since his victory in Kuurne, opting against Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico. The next race on his programme is Gent-Wevelgem on March 29.
Visma’s Milan-Sanremo challenge will be led by Wout van Aert, who scored his lone Monument victory to date when he won the pandemic-delayed edition of 2020. Van Aert warmed up for La Primavera by racing at Tirreno-Adriatico last week, breaking his recent trend of preparing for the Classics with an altitude camp in March.
Van Aert is joined in the Visma line-up by Matteo Jorgenson, who impressed in taking second at Tirreno-Adriatico, and Christope Laporte, winner of a stage at the Ruta del Sol last month.
Defending champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) lines up in Pavia on Saturday as the favourite, while the gruppo is braced for another onslaught from Tadej Pogacar and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad on the Cipressa.
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