Sep Vanmarcke held on to his chance of winning Paris-Nice stage four until the last 500 metres. Team LottoNL-Jumbo’s Belgian was part of a breakaway group of three riders on Thursday and almost profited. The bunch crushed their move, however, and Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) won the sprint.

It was the last chance of a bunch sprint in the French stage race, but the kilometres to Romans-sur-Isère weren’t completely flat. That gave Vanmarcke the courage to try.

“That was a strong move by Sep,” Sports Director Nico Verhoeven said. “If you don’t try, you never win. Sep had a chance.”

Vanmarcke was in a leading group with Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie) and Delio Fernandez (Marseille Provence) and held a 20-second advantage for a while. “It tells you how fast they were going in front when Katusha wasn’t able to close the gap. It could have been good enough today, so it’s a pity that Sep was only 500 metres too short.”

Training

“When I was bridging to Fernandez and Chavanel, I wasn’t counting on anything,” Vanmarcke said. “Fernandez didn’t do anything from the beginning, but Chavanel was very strong. I wanted good training for the classics, but when we had only five kilometres to go, Nico said that we had a chance to win. The peloton barely edged closer and I started to believe in our chances. I didn’t to give it all just for a second or third place, but for the win. We started to look at each other a little bit and lost our advantage quickly. It’s a positive thing that we stayed in front while Katusha was leading the chase. My condition is where I want it to be and I know that Chavanel is very strong, as well, now. I learned a lot today.”

The riders have to climb the Mont Ventoux during the fifth stage of Paris-Nice on Friday. They only climb to the Chalet Reynard, just above the snow line, and ride another 130 kilometres afterwards.

“I don’t think that the overall riders will go all-in on the Mont Ventoux,” Verhoeven added. “The pace will be high, though. It’s hard to predict the outcome of tomorrow’s race because the final part of it is flat. It’s our main target to stay in front with Wilco Kelderman. Besides that, we might make a move like Sep did today.”