In the circumstances, it was a third-place finish that felt like a victory. As if to underline the fact, Sep Vanmarcke (Israel Premier Tech) punched the air in celebration when he crossed the finish line at the end of a rain-soaked Gent-Wevelgem. He has had better results in this part of the world, but few as reassuring.
Almost two minutes had passed since Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte had rolled home arm in arm, but the Jumbo-Visma pair had already reduced this edition of Gent-Wevelgem to a strictly inhouse affair when they forged clear on the Kemmelberg with 55km remaining.
Vanmarcke and the men left trailing behind them soon resigned themselves to a contest for the remaining podium place, with the unwieldy chasing group repeatedly splitting and reforming on the long run-in to Wevelgem.
From the moment the race passed beneath the towers and spires of Ypres, scarcely visible on a day when West Flanders was draped in wintry cloud, Vanmarcke was constantly trying to force an opening. He ultimately jumped on Frederik Frison’s determined move approaching the finish, and he then had the strength fend off the Lotto-Dstny man and the Danish pair of Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates) to take third.
“The two guys in front were already long gone and I never thought about those two. I was just focusing on getting a good result for me and the team,” Vanmarcke told Cyclingnews in the mixed zone afterwards. “In the end, I saw that the sprinters got tired, and everybody started to gamble. In the last 15-20k, I felt like I had to keep on attacking and following groups because at one point it would split.
“When Frison went, I went with him immediately. Pedersen came back, but he had to spend a lot of energy to catch us, which was perfect. He launched the sprint from faraway, but I could use him as a lead-out and take third place for myself.”
As a neo-professional, Vanmarcke first highlighted his potential as a Classics rider by placing second behind Bernhard Eisel in this very race, and he would again take second in 2016, beaten only by Peter Sagan. By that point, Vanmarcke appeared on the cusp of a Monument breakthrough, with near misses at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, but the grandest prizes have seemed to inch further from his reach in recent seasons. Sunday’s performance offered some welcome reassurance for the 34-year-old.
“The whole season I’ve been feeling well and racing on a high level but just…
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