News and notes from a big weekend of racing.
by Joe Lindsey
Last year, Garmin-Barracuda manager Jonathan Vaughters reflected on Johan Van Summeren’s win at Paris-Roubaix when he paused to note another rider to watch: Sep Vanmarcke.
Just 22 at the time, Vanmarcke played a key role in the race. With Van Summeren in a break up the road and Thor Hushovd marking Fabian Cancellara, Vanmarcke was bridging to Hushovd from behind (an earlier effort by Vanmarcke at Mons-en-Pevele had broken up the main chasing pack, but it cost him).
Cancellara, the defending champion and prohibitive favorite, was left isolated with Garmin’s nominal leader, Hushovd, who had a teammate up the road and support coming up from behind. Cancellara hit the gas and Vanmarcke was again gapped, but held on to finish 20th.
Vaughter said later that Vanmarcke’s presence was one of the keys to Van Summeren’s win and then made a bold prediction: “You’re looking at a likely winner of this race in two or three years,” he said.
Saturday wasn’t Paris-Roubaix, but it was the start of the spring Classics season and if Vanmarcke was a relative unknown before, he’s not anymore. Vanmarcke’s win at Het Nieuwsblad has instantly catapulted him to the top of the list of next great Belgian riders.
It’s not a purely positive development. The man he beat Saturday, Tom Boonen, could tell Vanmarcke about the pressures that accompany it. And Vaughters alluded to that in post-race comments, saying to CyclingNews’ Daniel Benson that he advised Vanmarcke last fall not to let the Belgian media drive him crazy.
But for all the praise Vanmarcke received, he was also the target of some comments that suggested he got lucky because Boonen started his sprint too early. Garmin-Barracuda director Charly Wegelius was having none of it:
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In fact, Wegelius was too modest by half. Vanmarcke attacked not once, but twice. First he was the only one to follow Boonen on the Taaienberg, vastly reducing the group; he went again on a section of cobbles called the Lange Munte, an effort that culled the field to just three riders: himself, Juan Antonio Flecha and Boonen.
Boonen graciously offered his congratulations to Vanmarcke, but betrayed a bit of his emotions in saying that Vanmarcke had probably peaked for Het Nieuwsblad while Boonen was waiting for the monuments in April.
Not so, said Vanmarcke, pointing out that so far this year he’s done only five days of racing at the Volta Algarve. How impressive was Vanmarcke’s win? Let’s tally it up. He:
When Boonen and Lars Boom tangled at the foot of the Taaienberg battling for position, Boom crashed, right next to Vanmarcke, who avoided it nicely; then Vanmarcke was the only one to stay with Boonen on the climb; attacked on the Lange Munte, which first dropped Hushovd and Matti Breschel and then shed Boonen’s teammate Dries Devenyns and Flecha’s teammate Matt Haymans to make it an even-odds trio; cagily dodged a pull or two in the final 5km to save his legs; made Boonen cover at least one of Flecha’s attacks; forced Flecha to lead the sprint and sat patiently on Boonen’s wheel. Highlights package here.
(Strategy note: watch Vanmarcke’s positioning in the sprint. With Flecha leading out along the right side of the barriers, Vanmarcke always keeps his bike positioned either directly behind Boonen’s or a bit to the left, ensuring that he’s never boxed in. It’s a simple thing, but easy to forget in a hypoxic haze after almost five hours of racing.)
This is after standing up at a pre-race meeting with Garmin and asking the team to ride for him for the win. Vanmarcke is 23. I’ll say it now: the kid is gangster.
Other notes:
-Juan Flecha’s finishing place at Het Nieuwsblad from 2012-2009 (reverse order); 3rd, 2nd, 1st, 3rd. He was also second in 2007. He’s never finished off the podium there.
-I’ve written before about the financial squeeze Euskaltel-Euskadi is feeling as the Basque regional government’s revenue shortfall makes it unable to fully fund its sponsorship commitments. The pinch extends to races: Pais Vasco and the San Sebastian Classic are on such thin financial footing that the organizer openly admits they may not be able to hold the events this year. The UCI has stepped in before to help struggling WorldTour events, as with the GP Plouay. Now would seem to be another such moment for action.
-Somewhat ludicrous headline from CyclingNews in this story asking if Jose Rujano had already won the Tour of Langkawi because the climber is in great position on GC heading into the pivotal Stage 6 climb to Genting Highlands. Rujano’s director, Gianni Savio, says of course the answer is no. But it’s a ridiculous premise for the story anyway, given that Garmin-Barracuda’s Tom Danielson is nine seconds ahead of Rujano on GC and is no slouch of a climber himself.
-On Friday I wrote about BMC’s super roster and how while, in theory, each of its star riders has plenty of chances for victory, in practice it could be difficult to keep everyone happy. This weekend wasn’t quite up to their hopes, I don’t think. It’s not even March, but BMC is in the position that Leopard-Trek was last year: still chasing its first win.
Among the other “Superteams,” GreenEdge got a victory in the home country Tour Down Under which should keep the pressure off for a bit. But it hasn’t won since. Katusha has three victories. Rabobank has just one so far.
The clearest victors so far are Sky, with eight wins, and Omega Pharma–Quick-Step. Despite Saturday’s disappointment, they have 12 victories in 2012 already, not including cyclocross results from Zdenek Stybar. Last year Quick-Step had eight victories total.
Aside from BMC, the only other superteam without a win yet is RadioShack-Nissan (not counting team general classifications, of which they have three). But it’s hard to win if you don’t race, and the team was absent from both of this weekend’s Belgian races and the Clasica Almeria in Spain. They will race Wednesday’s GP Samyn.
But racing season is off now and it comes thick and fast. Friday we get stage 1 of Driedaagse de West Vlaanderen. Saturday, March 3 is the Strade Bianche, rapidly becoming a favorite one-day race. And Sunday, Paris-Nice gets underway.