It has been exactly 10 years since a young Sepp Vanmarcke (opens in new tab) successfully outwitted Tom Bohnen and Juan Antonio Flecha in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (opens in new tab) to steal the Classic that year.

Both Bohnen and Flecha have long since retired, but Vanmarcke has steadily established himself as the standard bearer of the cobblestone classic, and last year he took his fourth top three finish in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

This time, the 33-year-old Israeli premier tech (open in new tab) rider admitted to Cycling News that his chances are limited at Ninove on Saturday.

"I hurt my left knee over the winter and it was pretty bad; I only did my first 30-minute ride on December 20," Vanmarcke revealed to Cycling News.

"I've had more setbacks than in other years, I've trained 50 days less, and I still need extra time."

On the plus side, Vanmarcke has found the recent Ruta del Sol to be an ideal way to work on his classical form, thanks to the hilly, mostly short stages.

"I'm very happy with how I'm doing in the race. But I haven't done any concrete work yet. So I will do my best in the Omloop, but I won't be in the best shape."

Still, one of the final attractions of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is that the race rarely goes according to script, as the racers are in shaky early-season form.

"You never know what's going to happen on opening weekend.

"Of course we do our best. But in the second half of the Classic, we want to go for the big races.

With that in mind, Vanmarcke is sticking to his preseason plan to cancel next week's Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice and to do "special training" at a high-altitude training camp on Mount Teide.

"It is true that racing gives you race strength, but it is the peloton that decides how to train," he insisted.

"Now it depends on how fit you are each day and you can decide for yourself.

Returning to the battle of the classics after a high-altitude training camp, Vanmarcke revealed the opening weekend's race schedule to Cycling News.

"Nokere, Milan - San Remo, and I'm already there. Fortunately, I know that with good training I won't have to do many races."

Unexpectedly fortunate for Vanmarcke is that Paris-Roubaix will be held one week after the Tour de Flanders in April. All of the Classics riders are scratching their heads at the prospect of riding a one-day race for seven days. For Vanmarcke, a longer Classic is not necessarily a bad thing.

"It's more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge; you can easily get through one week, but two weeks means you have to train for 14 days straight and stay focused. That's a little harder," he recalled.

"When you think about it, if that injury was never a good thing, the late build-up in April may have worked in our favor as a result."