It was supposed to be the dream send-off. If you asked anybody before the race, almost all of them would have picked Fabian Cancellara to win his final Tour of Flanders. The Swiss rider was the odds-on favourite to take out the title after a determined start to the season and two strong performances last weekend.
Had he won, it would have been a record-breaking fourth victory, but it wasn’t to be. Despite his best efforts, he was unable to close the gap to a lone Peter Sagan and had to settle for second place. Having saluted the crowd as he came across the line, he struggled to fight back the disappointment of not claiming victory in his last ever appearance at De Ronde.
“Second is not first and first is not history. I didn’t win,” he told Sporza before stepping onto the podium. “Second is still a big thing. I was quite emotional this morning and still am now. After so many tries to be second is not bad but I was aiming for history. Peter showed that he managed everything well and he was the deserved winner. I collaborated well with Sep [Vanmarcke] and we tried to come as close as possible but I’m not superman.
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“I missed this one second, which maybe I can be disappointed about, but it is how it is, and thank you Flanders.”
That one second was the moment that Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) broke clear on the flat road between the Taaienberg and the Kruisberg. Only Sagan was able to follow the former world champion initially as Stijn Devolder chased furiously to try and bring them back. Vanmarcke would join the duo and they disappeared up the road, linking up with a group of escapees. Devolder managed the gap but, in the end, it was down to Cancellara if he wanted to bring them back.
"That was the moment: you either go immediately or you choose to wait," said Trek-Segafredo directeur sportif Dirk Demol, "and Fabian chose to wait. Stijn gave the best of himself [in the chase], but it was not possible to close."
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