Sep Vanmarcke finished eighth in Belgium’s E3 Harelbeke on Friday. Team LottoNL-Jumbo’s Belgian front man was in the right place most of the time, during the final 80 kilometres of the race, but wasn’t able to follow Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) and the winner of the race, Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) when they escaped from the leading group.

The final began already at 80 kilometres out on the climb of the Taaienberg. “I said to the team that we had to be in front at that point and that happened,” Vanmarcke said. “I want to thank my team-mates for that. Since that moment, the race was on fire, but I didn’t have to do too much during it. Etixx - Quick Step was with four riders in front and Team Sky with three. When Timo Roosen bridged to us, we took our part in front, but after the Oude Kwaremont it changed again.”

Sprint

Vanmarcke wasn’t able to follow Sagan and Kwiatkowski when they attacked 30 kilometres out. “They were the strongest riders today,” he continued. “I wanted to do a good sprint in the end so I decided to ride the slipstream of Etixx’s Matteo Trentin. He wasn’t able to find enough space to deliver his sprint, so I was too far back.”

Right place

Sports Director Nico Verhoeven saw an impressive Sep Vanmarcke today. “He was in the right place when he had to be,” Verhoeven added. “That’s his good work, but the team’s as well. Besides that, Timo did a great job when he was with Sep, but we were counting on Bram Tankink and Tom Leezer as well at that point. Sep did what he had to do eventually. He couldn’t do anything more than wait for the sprint.”