The joy of his comeback is short-lived. After Sep Vanmarcke broke his wrist in a gravel race at the end of April, he returned to racing in June, two months after his last race to date, Paris-Roubaix. But barely two weeks later he is out again - this time for good.
At the Belgian Championships, the 34-year-old was still struggling to the finish line. He is not really fit, cardiac arrhythmia is diagnosed after the race. And much more: an ultrasound shows scar tissue on the surface of the heart. Continuing his career as a professional athlete would greatly increase the risk of heart failure. So Vanmarcke decided to retire immediately. Whether it was ultimately the trigger is uncertain, but he had also fallen ill with coronavirus in the meantime.
Belgian classics specialist without start at Liège-Bastogne-Liège
"It's a very painful decision to end my cycling career so abruptly, but there is no other option," the Belgian wrote on Instagram. In a message from his last team Israel - Premier Tech, it says that he would have liked to hang on for a few more years.
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Sep Vanmarcke has been a professional for 14 years. He signed his first contract with Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator in 2010, before which he rode for the junior team Davitamon Lotto Jong Vlaanderen. The terrain for which the man from Kortrijk in Flanders is made quickly became apparent. In his very first season, he finished on the podium at Gent-Wevelgem, with only Bernhard Eisel a little faster in the sprint of a small group.
The classics define Vanmarcke's career, especially those with cobblestones. Otherwise, he is rather selective in his racing programme. He never rides Liège-Bastogne-Liège - and that as a Belgian. He only starts twice at Milan-San Remo and three times at the Tour of Lombardy. He also completely avoids the Giro d'Italia, rides the Vuelta twice and the Tour de France five times.
Sep Vanmarcke - always co-favourite, but rarely the winner
But Vanmarcke knows every podium in the Northern Classics inside out. However, he rarely makes it to the top step of the podium for a man of his class. Vanmarcke has celebrated a modest total of nine victories in his career. The first is also his biggest. In 2012, the 1.90 metre tall rider was faster than Tom Boonen and Juan Antonio Flecha in the sprint at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. It remains the only spring classic that Vanmarcke wins. At the time, he was riding for Garmin.
A curiosity, because for over a decade the specialist has actually always been one of the favourites when cobblestones are involved. More than 30 top 10 finishes in the major classics are testament to this. However, it also feels like he has had at least as many crashes or defects. After all, Sep Vanmarcke is not exactly a lucky rider. Most of the time, however, the accidents are not so bad that he has to abandon a race, let alone run an entire spring.
But that fits the picture. Because talent is not something Vanmarcke is blessed with in abundance, as he says about himself time and again. He is the type of hard worker. And the fans love him for it. "With dedication and hard work, I was able to compete with the best riders in the biggest races," reads his statement at the end of his career.
Fabian Cancellara again and again
Vanmarcke has quite a few of these best riders in his generation, who also see the classics as one of their specialities. Among those who are often always a little bit better - or ultimately luckier - is Fabian Cancellara. At Paris-Roubaix 2013, the Swiss was the only one. They both enter the legendary race track with a big lead over the competition. After attempts to stand, Cancellara has the better position on Vanmarcke's rear wheel before the sprint and takes the last of his three victories in Roubaix. He was one bike length short of triumphing in a Monument. He never came that close again.
Canellara is also ahead of Vanmarcke in both of his third places in the Tour of Flanders. In 2014, a group of four riders hit the finishing straight. Once again, Cancellara has the best position. He sprinted past Vanmarcke and Greg van Avermaet to victory. In 2016, the winner is Peter Sagan, who, like Van Avermaet, is also ending his career on the road this year.
It is often the same names that stand in Vanmarcke's way. And it could give the impression that he lacked the necessary sprinting skills. But none of his eight stage victories - number nine is the overall victory in the ZLM Tour - were won by Vanmarcke as a soloist. He always won the sprint of small groups, even once against the young Wout van Aert.
Siblings bring Sep Vanmarcke to cycling
Sep Vanmarcke's most successful year was 2014, when he won a stage each at the Tour of Alberta and the Tour of Norway. Third place in the Tour of Flanders was followed by fourth place in Roubaix, and he also finished fourth in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Gent-Wevelgem. Things went similarly well two years later. He finished the monuments in the same way, plus second place at Gent-Wevelgem, during which time Vanmarcke rode for the team that was then called Belkin or LottoNL - Jumbo.
In 2017, he then switched to Cannondale, which later became EF Education. He hoped for better support from the team, as Jumbo was primarily designed for sprints at the time, before the transformation to a team of cyclists began. His brother Ken, who works as sports director at EF, is one of the main reasons for this. He is one of four older siblings, three brothers and a sister, who all found their way into cycling.
"Cycling came into my life when I was six years old. My older brothers and sister started racing and I became their biggest fan," Sep Vanmarcke later wrote at the end of his career. "When I finally got myself a race number as a rookie in 2003, I would never have dared to dream of a professional career. In the end, I lived that dream for 14 years, with ups and downs."
Falls from Sep Vanmarcke
His time at EF is initially one of the lows and doesn't exactly start promisingly. He crashed heavily at the Strade Bianche and then at the Tour of Flanders, and the classics season was over. A year later, things went a little better. Vanmarcke finished sixth in Roubaix and third in the Omloop and Dwars door Vlaanderen. At the age of 30, he is scratching the edge of old age, but in 2019 he once again finishes fourth in the velodrome.
Apart from that, not much else happens during the year - apart from the quite surprising victory at the Bretagne Classic World Tour race in Plouay in September, as this is not really the time of year when Vanmarcke usually delivers. And what's more, he was secretly already an old hand.
He was also able to successfully shake off the label in the 2021 post-corona season, the first for Israel-Premier Tech, because after finishing third in the Omloop once again, he also finished fifth in the Tour of Flanders. 2022 he was permanently ill in the spring and missed almost all the important races. This once again underlined his reputation for bad luck. Later in the year, however, he wins the Maryland Cycling Classic in a somewhat surprising manner and celebrates the last victory of his career.
One last podium for Vanmarcke
Sep Vanmarcke is not known for giving up. And so he is making another attempt at his third or fourth career spring in 2023. Third in Gent-Wevelgem, he is best of the rest behind the jumbo duo of Christophe Laporte and van Aert, who are riding lonely circles. The race makes the headlines, because the Belgian gives the Frenchman the victory.
The race must have seemed a bit like a gift to Sep Vanmarcke. At least in hindsight. Because after an unfortunate year and a half without any notable Classics results, he was able to remind his fans of himself once again. Due to his heart problems, Sep Vanmarcke will no longer have the chance to say goodbye in the way he might have wished. Nevertheless, he will somehow remain in the peloton: As sports director at the wheel of an Israel team car.
Sep Vanmarcke's greatest successes
- Omloop Het Niewusblad victory in 2012, three further podium finishes each (2017, 2018, 2021) and top 10 placings
- 2x third Tour of Flanders (2014, 2016)
- 1x second place Paris-Roubaix (2013), plus 3x fourth place (2014, 2016, 2019)
- Winner Brittany Classic (2019)
- 2x second Gent-Wevelgem (2010, 2016), 1x third (2023)
- 6x Top 10 E3 prize
- Winner ZLM Tour 2016
- a total of 9 victories as a professional
