Reset equals rest. It has not been the kind of season that Sepp Vanmarcke has experienced so far, as he was plagued by injuries in the early spring and then the need to chase UCI points.

As Israel Premier Tech made a lonely attempt to maintain their WorldTour status, they found themselves racing to survive, not to win, in 2022.

Vanmarcke had originally planned to compete in the Tour de France, perhaps with an eye on the early stages over the cobblestones to Arenberg; by June, his status as Israel-Premier Tech's top rider was increasingly in jeopardy, so he was The vagaries of the UCI points system dictated otherwise.

The goal of the practice was not necessarily to win, even if Vanmarcke did win the Maryland Cycling Classic in September for the first time in three years, but to maximize points by placing several Israeli Premier Tech riders in the top 10.

"My program has changed a lot, the way I race has changed," Vanmarcke told Cycling News. [At one point, the second and third sprints became more important. Normally, one would go all out to win, but this has changed the tactics. In that sense, next year we can go back to the normal way of racing

"The whole summer was really strange. It wasn't the kind of race we wanted, but the focus was pretty much on the points. Everyone likes to race to win, to get results. With that in mind, I'm glad the season is over."

Israel Premier Tech was already in an almost irretrievable position in the three-year World Tour standings when Vanmarcke was drafted in as a point-getter.

In September, Israel Premier Tech's owner, Sylvan Adams, threatened legal action to protect the team's wildcard status. Vanmarcke was diplomatic on the subject at last month's Veneto Classic: "We still want to be on the world tour next year.

As it stands, however, Israel Premier Tech will have to rely on invitations from race organizers to the biggest events in 2023. With Vanmarcke on board and more invitations on the way, the team is confident of securing a spot in the cobbled classic, but the road to the Grand Tour is completely narrow.

"It's always great to be part of the WorldTour, but personally, knowing that I'm invited to all the one-day races, it doesn't change that much," Vanmarcke said. But of course there is the GC part of the team, and if they aren't automatically invited to every race, then they will have a harder time." Every climber on the team will face more difficulties."

If Israel-Premiatech's relegation to the WorldTour is made official by the UCI, Vanmarcke would be free to terminate his contract and move to another team, but the 34-year-old admitted he has no intention of doing so.

"No, I have no intention of leaving. For me it won't change that much," he said.

"The team was very young when I got my World Tour license. I think we are moving in the right direction, but maybe not strong enough yet. But that's the unfortunate thing. Now that the team has progressed and wants to become stronger, there is no time for that. "

Whatever the status of the team, Vanmarcke will want a completely different season in 2023.

Even before the summer points rush, the 34-year-old's Classic campaign was ruined by illness, forcing him to miss both the Tour de Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, which the entire team withdrew from. His victory at the Maryland Cycling Classic was the ninth of his career.

"On a personal level, this has not been a great season. During the summer and fall, I was always at a good level, but the results weren't as good as I wanted them to be. [But even if Maryland didn't have a full World Tour team, that was a very hard race. Since then, my head has been free. It gave me motivation to come back next year."

As in the past, the first two Sundays in April will be the focus of Vanmarcke's campaign. Vanmarcke, who has been consistent in the Ronde and Roubaix throughout his career, made the closest mistake from Fabian Cancellara nearly a decade ago: in 2013, he was overwhelmed by Cancellara on the Roubaix velodrome and a year later in a four-man sprint at the Tour de Flanders. He lost to the Swiss.

When Vanmarcke began racing on the cobbles, his path to victory went through Cancellara and Tom Boonen. But even in the era of Mathieu Van der Pol and Wout Van Aert, the barriers that stood in his way were not small.

"The landscape has been changing for some time already, but I don't care," he said. 'When cycling's superheroes start running races like this, it will only make them more powerful and more beautiful. I'm glad they are coming to Belgium more often."