“I couldn’t believe my eyes. I beat Tom Boonen, my big hero…”
Sep Vanmarcke After winning Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
Tenspeed Hero would like to shed two tears, one for Sep and one for Tom. One is borne of joy for the the young Sep Vanmarcke for he rode a beautiful Omloop Het Nieuwsblad against his Hero and emotionally paid his respects to Tom like a true professional. We knew nothing of this young man but what we do know comes from the slimmest of Wikipedia pages. His bio reads plainly and briefly with one very short description: Sep Vanmarcke (born 27 July 1988 in Kortrijk) is a Belgian professional road bicycle racer who rides for UCI ProTeam Garmin-Barracuda. If there are any Heroes out there that are Wiki-Editors we ask you to add a sentence or two. Please write something about his Joy and Humility at winning his first Professional Race thereby confirming his podium placing in the 2010 edition of Ghent-Wevelgem. If you have time, maybe add a quote, or mention his qualities as a human.
Our second tear is borne out of sadness for Tom. A win at the Omloop was needed. It was his race to win and he lost it. In what should be the glorious last productive years of a champion, Mr. Boonen has often been distracted by things that can only be described as Cocaine. When he should be channeling his focus on collecting the Monuments he has often been extending his energies by retracing his steps in nightclubs in order to figure out how drug entered his system. In a professional’s life such expended resources often have domino effect that leads to second places, DNF’s and the eventual lack of emotion at losing. One only needs to look at Mark Cavendish or even the great Eddy Merckx’s agony at coming in second to know what we mean. Champions do not suffer defeat easily unless it becomes the norm. They should not disrespect the winner but it is a sign of one’s desire to reveal some pain. Tom has been a bit too gracious even by Hero standards. Nevertheless we refuse to believe that these are the last days of Tom Boonen but he needs to win a major event sooner than later, as time and The Great Sep Vanmarckes will not wait any longer.