The 100th edition of the Tour of Flanders turned out to be the return at the highest level in the Spring classics for Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNL-Jumbo). The 27-year-old Belgian rider became the next big Belgian thing for the Spring classics ever since his win at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in 2012. He performed at the highest level in 2013 and 2014 with a second place in the 2013 Paris-Roubaix and a third place in the 2014 Tour of Flanders.
Last year the logical next step didn’t follow and doubts came. This year he bounced back with a second place in Gent-Wevelgem and a good performance at the E3 Harelbeke. On Sunday he cracked the podium in Flanders once again, finishing third behind the untouchable world champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) and a strong Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo).
It’s clear that Vanmarcke will gain a lot of confidence to perform at his best in Paris-Roubaix next week. The man needs no motivation as he announced this week that he was getting married in August and is expecting a baby in September.
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“I never had better legs at the start of the race," he said. "Two years ago my legs were feeling better deep into the finale though."
Together with Sagan he approached the final climb of the day at 15 kilometres from the finish, enjoying a bonus of 15 seconds over an unleashed Fabian Cancellara. While Sagan kept a steady rhythm up the Paterberg there were problems for Vanmarcke. He nearly parked his bike on the short, steep cobbled climb.
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