Matthew Brennan ruled out of Milan-San Remo with illness

Matthew Brennan will not race Milan-San Remo this Saturday due to illness, his Visma-Lease a Bike team said on Friday.

The 20-year-old was set to make his debut in the Italian Monument after a breakthrough 2025, in which he won 14 times in his first season as a pro.

Brennan will be replaced by Victor Campenaerts in Visma-Lease a Bike's seven-man team for the race.

A statement from Visma-Lease a Bike, shared on social media, read: "Unfortunately, Matthew has fallen ill and is not fit enough to start in Milano-Sanremo tomorrow. Victor will replace him."

The Dutch team's full line-up for the race is: Wout van Aert, Christophe Laporte, Victor Campenaerts, Edoardo Affini, Owain Doull, Timo Kielich and Matteo Jorgenson.

The team is expected to ride for Van Aert, who won the Monument in 2020.

Brennan was considered by many to be an outside contender for victory. Earlier this month, he won his first Belgian Classic in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, "and hopefully not the last," he said afterwards.

Saturday's Milan-San Remo will take the riders 298km from Pavia to San Remo on Italy's Ligurian coast. Among the favourites for victory are the defending champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5).

Brennan is not the only contender who has had to pull out through illness. Lidl-Trek's Jonathan Milan will also skip the race after becoming unwell after Tirreno-Adriatico.

Likewise, the women's race will be without Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), who has come down with a virus.

Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) withdrew from Visma-Lease a Bike's women's race squad on Friday afternoon after receiving news that her father's health is "critical", the team said. She has since returned home to the Netherlands.

Brennan's next race is expected to be In Flanders Fields - From Middelkerke to Wevelgem, previously named Gent-Wevelgem, on 29 March. He will then finish his Classics block next month with the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, before building up to his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a España in August.

"I hope to reach the same level as last season, and ideally push even higher," the Briton said when he announced his calendar at the start of the year.

"I hope to make my mark more and more in the bigger races, where I can hopefully play a meaningful role."