Sep Vanmarcke

No_Ta_Doctor

Sep Vanmarcke has retired, due to some dodgy heart issues.

https://israelpremiertech.com/sep-vanmarcke-retires-from-professional-cycling/

He was so often close to winning a monument, but always cheated by mechanicals. I'm not sure components could cope with the power he put through them

TheBigBean

Wish he'd won P-R in 2016.

ddraver

Jesus...

Puts his epic pain face into context when you realize he was ripping his heart apart!

Just seems wrong that he hasn't got a monument trophy from somewhere. It always seemed like he would eventually pull it together on the day.

redvision

Real shame. He was always enjoyable to watch and a rider easy to root for.

Seem to be more and more of these heart issues, not just cycling but generally in pro sport. Is that down to better and closer screening or pushing the body too hard?

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Would pro athletes be routinely scanned for issues like myocarditis, that covid infections and sometimes even the vaccines appeared to cause, or only if the athlete complained of heart trouble?

andyp

N0bodyOfTheGoat said:

Would pro athletes be routinely scanned for issues like myocarditis, that covid infections and sometimes even the vaccines appeared to cause, or only if the athlete complained of heart trouble?

I think it depends on your nationality to some extent, as a lot of countries insist on regular heart scans as a prerequisite to being given a professional license.

I don't know if teams do the same, but one would imagine that some of the higher budget teams do this kind of check as a matter of course.

rick_chasey

Yeah, at least his career hasn't really been cut short.

Heart attacks are one of the biggest causes of deaths in races so it's definitely important they get scanned for this stuff.

davidof

andyp said:

I think it depends on your nationality to some extent, as a lot of countries insist on regular heart scans as a prerequisite to being given a professional license.

I have a heart scan scheduled for August just to get a med certificate just to do a few fun events. After hearing about Vanmarcke I'm not looking forward to the results for my old ticker.

I bet a lot of people who've done sport to a reasonably high level - racing, lots of training volume etc. have heart issues whether they know about them or not.

jimmythecuckoo

Sep has always been a hero of mine.

To lose Golden Greg and him at once is galling.

Sep was always the one who came so close without getting that monument.

When I rode Flanders I was super careful not to hit that gap in the road on the run in to the Paterberg that took him down and out on one of his better runs.

rick_chasey

Just spotted him on my holiday. Didn’t have the quick enough reactions to say hello and didn’t want to chase him down the street.

Still looks as thin as his pro days.

ddraver

Is he one of those pros that looks huge on the telly compared to the other riders but in real life looks like a hobbit..?

rick_chasey

He looked pretty tall tbh. Very thin though.

Pross

rick_chasey said:

Just spotted him on my holiday. Didn’t have the quick enough reactions to say hello and didn’t want to chase him down the street.

Still looks as thin as his pro days.

Are we still talking about Sep? He only retired a few weeks ago, even I don’t put on weight that fast!

shirley_basso

Pross said:

rick_chasey said:

Just spotted him on my holiday. Didn’t have the quick enough reactions to say hello and didn’t want to chase him down the street.

Still looks as thin as his pro days.

Are we still talking about Sep? He only retired a few weeks ago, even I don’t put on weight that fast!

That lack of commitment is while you'll never be a pro

webboo

rick_chasey said:

He looked pretty tall tbh. Very thin though.

Doesn’t everyone look pretty tall to you😉