Sep Vanmarcke blows his hat off with Champagne cork on Flanders podium (video)

Belgian Sep Vanmarcke had a bit of an issue with his Champagne opening technique after coming third in the Tour of Flanders
Nigel Wynn

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Sep Vanmarcke’s podium celebration didn’t quite go to plan after the Tour of Flanders on Sunday. The Belgian rider placed third behind Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) and Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo), and as he was attempting to undo the cork on his celebratory bubbly it fired off prematurely.

The cork propelled itself upwards, knocking Vanmarcke’s cap cleanly off his head. The 27-year-old LottoNL-Jumbo rider then directed the bottle away from himself, only to douse a podium official’s head as it sprayed everywhere.

Sagan looks on in amusement as he was one of the few not to get a shower from Vanmarcke’s bottle.

It was the end of an eventful day for Vanmarcke, who was involved in a crash at the mid-way point in the 255km cobbled classic.

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“My bike broke and it took a while before I was back in the race,” said Vanmarcke. “I had changed the position of my saddle on purpose, just before the race, and I didn’t have the chance to do that with my second bike as well. After 170 kilometres, I suffered.”

Vanmarcke composed himself well after the crash and bike change, and paced back up to the leaders with help from his team. He later put himself into the race’s winning break with Sagan and Sky’s Michal Kwiatkowski.

“When Sagan and Kwiatkowski attacked, I felt that it was going to be the decisive moment in the race. I had to close the gap to them immediately. Behind me, there was a moment of doubt and that was a perfect situation for me.”

Vanmarcke will next be in action at Paris-Roubaix in France on Sunday, April 10.