There was a near-collapse after the line, a battle to fight back tears and a shaky finger pointing high into the sky as Jenthe Biermans dedicated a long-awaited first professional win to his girlfriend’s late father as thanks for ‘always believing in me’ at the Muscat Classic.
The way the Arkea-Samsic pro confidently and clinically saw off his rivals in the grinding uphill sprint finish on Friday made it hard to believe that the Muscat Classic was his first win since turning pro with Katusha way back in 2017.
But that was the case, and as Biermans told reporters afterwards, while he had had serious difficulties finding a team for 2023 and a lot of people lost faith in his talent, his girlfriend’s father was never one of them.
“This one’s for him,” the 27-year-old, twice a runner-up in the Paris-Roubaix Espoirs, said, “he died last year, but one of the last things he said was ‘you can win a race’."
“So that makes it very special for me and my family, it’s a first victory, and for sure, that’s emotional. I had some good races in U-23 but then some hard years in the pros and some people stopped believing in me. So this wins for the people who kept on believing.”
To judge by his difficulty in staying upright afterwards, Biermans clearly gave it everything to hold onto for victory, but as the designated top card for the team in the Classic and his team had given him solid support right up to the last 500 metres where he had to go it alone in a small bunch sprint.
“It was easy on the flat, but on every climb, the bunch were going full gas, and I managed to survive. I was one of the last ones to hang on on the last climb. My teammate Michel Ries was screaming at me, ‘come on, come on, you can do it.’”
“I managed that, and then I know I’m fast in these kinds of finishes, and my teammates put me in a perfect position. “Anthony Delaplace took me up to the last roundabout, and then [Jordi] Warlop gave me the perfect wheel, he went from a long way out, and I went with 200 metres to go. It was hard because there was a headwind, and it was uphill, I was thinking maybe I’d get second or third, but nobody came past.”
The huge hug which Biermans exchanged with team manager Emanuel Hubert after the finish was testimony to its importance to the team, too, as the Muscat Classic is the first for Arkea-Samsic in the 2023 season.
“It was very hard for me to find a team. It was really the last moment, August or September,” Biermans said. “So I was getting stressed out, but Arkea appeared on the scene, saying they believed in me, so a big, big thank you to them all.
“There were a lot of non-believers after six years, as I said, after six years of no podiums. But I’ve always been a good helper, and now this team gives me a lot of opportunities, and it’s nice to be able to give something back to the team.”
“It’s a very important victory for them as it’s the first of the year, and this will end the pressure. But the first win is there now, so I’m sure we’re on for a good year ahead.”
