Cobblestone rocket Sep Vanmarcke of Garmin-Barracuda

Sep Vanmarcke at the 2011 E3 Prijs Vlaanderen – Harelbeke (photo by Cindy Trossaert, Flickr)

[updated 2/27/2012]

Four days before the 2012 Omloop het Nieuwsblad, Sep Vanmarcke acknowledged that Hushovd’s departure from Garmin-Barracuda opened a door to greater potential success this year for the young classics rider.

With last season marked by knee and achilles tendon injuries and a bad crash at the Vuelta, Vanmarcke could have allowed shaken confidence to rule; he could have focused on the “what-ifs” of stepping into the space beyond the open door – another crash on the narrow roads, perhaps, or a return of the cramps that took hold at the end of last year’s Gent-Wevelgem.

Twenty-three year-old Vanmarcke from West Flanders instead mustered his courage. He shot through that open door on Saturday and won the Omloop het Nieuwsblad ahead of Tom Boonen.

Vanmarcke’s calendar on his website shows he should be starting Paris-Nice on Sunday, March 4th. That provides a few days to discover and savor a few morsels about Vanmarcke.

Dreams

“I think the kind of rider you dream to be is what’s in you,” Vanmarcke said in 2011. “I think I always dreamed of the cobblestone races and always wanted to do it, so I’m good at it…I didn’t dream about Miguel Indurain, but I loved Johan Museeuw and Peter Van Petegem and Edwig Van Hooydonck.”

Belgian racing family

“I grew up with racing, I never saw anything else,” he told Podium Cafe. His dad raced. His brothers raced. “I couldn’t start [racing] earlier because of my parents; there were three children that were racing and it was too difficult to get them to the races at one time. I just had to wait ‘til I was 15.”

Sep and his brother Ken raced together for two years. Second place in the 2008 Deinze-Ieper one-day race matters a lot to Sep, because that day his brother Ken won. Sep became a professional cyclist in August, 2009.

Hard worker

In 2011 Sep Vanmarcke rode well to position Hushovd for a shot at Paris-Roubaix — one of Vanmarcke’s favorite races, and ultimately supported Vansummeren’s win as well as finding 20^th place for himself. He worked for Heinrich Haussler at the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen – Harelbeke, and later in August for Dan Martin at the Vuelta.

These valuable domestique performances landed Vanmarcke among the five nominees on the HLN reader’s poll for best Belgian worker in 2011, the Crystal Sweat Drop Award (the award is a glass replica of a drop of sweat). Readers voted Vanmarcke into third place, the middle of the pack — the only time you’re ever find the cobble-loving on-the-attack Vanmarcke in that position.

Sep Vanmarcke, November 2011, in Boulder (photo by Mary Topping)

Career details

Born: July 28, 1988, in Kortrijk , Belgium

Race results highlights:

• 2011 —  2^nd Westrozebeke, 4^th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen – Harelbeke, 4^th stage 20 of Tour of Spain
• 2010 — mountains jersey Four Days of Dunkirk, 2^nd Gent-Wevelgem, 2^nd overall Franco-Belge, 2^nd Wanzele
• 2009 — 1^st stage 2 Ronde van Vlaams-Brabant, 1^st Trognée-Hannut, 1^st stage 1 U-23 Tour du Haut Anjou, 5^th stage 1 & 6^th stage 3 of Tour de l’Avenir, 24^th U-23 World Championships
• 2008 — 1^st stage 2 Ronde van Vlaams-Brabant, 1^st Kruishoutem, 2^nd Deinze-Ieper, 2^nd Omloop van de Gouden Garnaal
• 2007 to 2004 — numerous top 10’s and 15 wins

Teams

KSV-Deerlijk Gaverzicht, 2003 – 2006 (Juniors)

CLC team Ingelmunster, 2007

Young Flanders-Davitamon-Lotto, 2008

Jong Vlaanderen-Bauknecht, 2009 (until August)

Topsport Vlaanderen, 2009 – 2010

Garmin Barracude, 2011 – present

[With gratitude to Cindy Trossaert for Creative Commons sharing on Flickr.]