Francesco Planckaert has not had his contract renewed by MrBookmaker.com, which will become Unibet.com next year. "Officially, I don't know anything yet," he said in HLN upon reading the news in the Belgian press. "But it doesn't surprise me. On a purely sporting level, I can't show any results, but on the other hand, I know that I haven't been given a real chance. I've always had the feeling that they wanted to belittle me. I only got along with Lucien Van Impe, but he can't do anything. Van der Schueren decides everything. But I'm not concerned. There are still Belgian teams that want me."
But MrBookmaker's team manager Hilaire Van der Schueren is having none of it. "If we let him ride a race, he should first try to show up. It's always something: either his car has broken down, or he's forgotten it, or he's got a gig [he sings]. I'm not wasting my time and energy on him anymore."
