Sep Vanmarcke placed sixth in Belgium’s Gent-Wevelgem classic today. In the severe circumstances, with wind and rain, he pulled off a heroic ride in the WorldTour race won by Italian Luca Paolini (Katusha).

LottoNL-Jumbo’s sports director, Jan Boven already predicted a battle of survivors earlier this week. The tough gusts blew the riders off the road, literally.

“When you look at the effort that Sep put in the race, it tells a lot about today,” sports director, Nico Verhoeven said. “He was totally exhausted after the finish. Only the strongest riders survived today. Sep was one of them, but unfortunately, he wasn’t the best in the end.

“We had a good day. We were in the front the whole time and Bram Tankink, Maarten Tjallingii and Tom Van Asbroeck were still able to support Sep when there were only 35 riders left in the front. They were strong.”

Six riders were in position to fight for the victory. Vanmarcke was one of them and until ten kilometres before the finish line, everything went as planned.

“But I actually didn’t have anything left at that point,” Vanmarcke said. “After about 185 kilometres, I tensed up. Summarising, it was a very heavy race. The wind, the rain and the cold zapped my power. I’m very disappointed in the end.

“It was pure willpower that I was able to return with the leaders several times, but at some point, I couldn’t do it anymore.”

“That’s a pity of course, but he really gave everything he had,” Verhoeven added. “You have to be a little bit satisfied about that. More than sixth place just wasn’t possible today.”