Sepp Vanmarcke's victory in Sunday's Bretagne Classique d'Ouest-France will help the Belgian rider wipe away memories of the ill-fated and injury-plagued Paris-Roubaix in the spring.

Somewhat surprisingly, given the 31-year-old's experience and impressive palmarès, Sunday's victory at the Bretagne Classic in Plouët was the EF Education First rider's first win at the World Tour level, and after the frustrations of the first half of 2019, he firmly back on track.

The year started promisingly enough when Vanmarcke won a stage at the Tour du Haut Var in February. However, he injured his knee in a crash at the E3 Binkbank Classic in March and as a result missed the Ghent-Wevelgem and the Doire de Frandelen. He returned to racing a little over a week after the crash, first testing his knee at the Tour of Flanders (where he finished 25th) and then at Scheldeprij a few days before Roubaix.

Perhaps the rest helped, Vanmarcke rode strong in the "Hell of the North" and could have surpassed his second place from 2013. However, he suffered machine trouble on the infamous cobblestone section Carrefour de l'Arbre with 14km to go, and finished Roubaix in fourth place for the third time in his career.

Since Roubaix, Vanmarcke has shown signs of a return to form in French one-day races, finishing 12th overall at the Tour of Norway, Tour de Suisse, and the BinckBank Tour in August.

"After the spring classics, I asked the team not to take me to the Tour de France. 'I wanted a fresh start at the BinckBank Tour, but things didn't work out there. I was a little disappointed because I didn't get the results. So I came to Plouay with a lot of questions, but apparently I didn't have to."

Vanmarcke went into a decisive split with 80 km to go in the 284 km competition, pulling away from Lotto Soudal's Tiesj Benoot and Jack Haig (Mitchelton Scott).

"I knew that if I could get through the final climb with 5km to go, I had a great chance to win," Vanmarcke said joyfully on the EF Education First website.

"I am really happy with this win. We had to work long, hard, and patient to get such a big win. I am proud that we finally achieved it."

Team manager Jonathan Boaters also commented, "You can see that Sepp is truly motivated by the win because he knows he needs the win to boost the morale of the team. It's a testament to the strength of this organization. Even in bad times, everyone is building each other up. It's great to be a part of that."