Super Sep! 🥉 What an incredible finish from Sep to round out the podium! He played his cards right in the finale to sprint to third place 👏 So well deserved! — 🇧🇪 #GW23
Sep Vanmarcke: "I made the right choices and followed the right people, so I'm very happy with my third place"
CyclingSunday, 26 March 2023 at 19:00
Sep Vanmarcke is a veteran of the classics. Having had his duels with Tom Boonen, Fabian Cancellara and Peter Sagan, he is one of the riders who knows the roads of Flandres best. This afternoon he's put it to good use, bouncing back with a very strong third place at Gent-Wevelgem which saw him on the final podium.
“It was a tough day, it was very cold from the start. It rained all day, although the amounts were not too bad. It didn't get dry for a moment, so we just kept getting wet. Everyone was very cold," the veteran said in a post-race interview with Eurosport. . "You have to try to stay positive. If you think about how cold you are, you are lost. I kept my focus on the race. From the hill zone it wasn't that difficult anymore, because you already got hot from racing. I am also someone who prefers warm weather conditions, which not everyone expects. They often see me as Flandrien."
Vanmarcke was part of a long list of outsiders for the race. Not a sprinter, his chances relied on an offensive race, and the tough weather conditions played into his hands. Although he suffered in the rain and cold day, he stayed in touch with the peloton over the explosive climbs of the Kemmelberg which split the peloton quite a bit, and then was very active following the climbs where the chasing group further split as riders looked to still be within a shot of victory.
Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte were gone, but a place on the podium was still available. Vanmarcke chose the right time to attack, as he moved clear from the chasing group alongside Frederik Frison and Mikkel Bjerg in the final kilometers. Out of the four riders that went into the sprint then, Vanmarcke was the strongest, and celebrated over the line. "I made the right choices and followed the right people, so I'm very happy with my third place," he adds.
Taking into consideration the riders that finished ahead of him, third place felt like a much-needed win for the 34-year old. He's commented on the decisive attack where Jumbo-Visma decided the race: "They were too strong. They soon had a minute, so then it was over for the win."
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