Meet Ken Vanmarcke: Seeing Performance From Both Sides
Ken Vanmarcke works where training meets racing. As both a sports director at EF Pro Cycling and a coach at Team EF Coaching, he brings a unique perspective into how preparation translates into real performance on race day.
As a cycling coach, Ken has always been drawn to understanding how performance is built. He enjoys working with training data, reviewing power numbers, and talking through long-term plans with athletes. But what truly defines his approach is that he also sees how those plans shift when racing begins. As a sports director, he watches riders manage effort in the peloton, fight for position, and make decisions under pressure. Those moments often reveal far more than a training file ever could.
That connection between training and racing sits at the core of Ken’s coaching philosophy. He regularly sees riders with strong training numbers who struggle late in races, not because they lack fitness, but because that fitness is spent inefficiently. Time in the wind, poor positioning, or unnecessary accelerations add up. Being able to analyze both the data and the race allows Ken to identify where energy is lost and turn those observations into practical, actionable feedback.
Ken’s understanding of this balance comes from personal experience. As a young rider, he raced seriously but lost motivation at the age of 19 and stepped away from cycling during his U23 years. Three years later, he found his way back to the sport by joining his younger brother Sep in training. A few months later, he returned to racing himself. That second chapter brought his strongest results, including a defining moment in 2008 when he won Gent–Wevelgem U23, with Sep finishing second. It was a highlight that reflected not just performance, but shared effort and persistence.
"Progress came not from doing more, but from doing things with intention."
Photo: Keir Plaice
In 2010, Ken stopped racing again, but this time cycling never left his life. As his brother Sep Vanmarcke went on to establish himself as a WorldTour rider specializing in the cobbled classics, with podium finishes at races such as Paris–Roubaix and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Ken committed fully to supporting him. For the next six years, he didn’t miss a single training ride. While working full-time, he logged between 24,000 and 28,000 kilometers per year, day after day, season after season.
Those years also shaped how he thinks about balance. Training at that volume while managing work and life responsibilities showed him both the power and the limits of sheer commitment. When structure and outside perspective were later added to his own training, the impact was immediate. Progress came not from doing more, but from doing things with intention. That lesson now sits at the heart of how he coaches others.
When Ken joined Team EF Pro Cycling in 2017, his focus shifted entirely toward helping others perform at their best. His experience as a rider, training partner, and now sports director gave him a rare vantage point. He had lived the demands of elite preparation without the filter of results alone. That perspective allows him to guide athletes with empathy, realism, and clarity.
Today, Ken believes one of the most important roles of a cycling coach is to provide objectivity. Athletes are emotionally invested in their own training, which makes rational decision-making difficult. Whether working with professional riders or amateur cyclists, his goal is to slow things down when needed, create structure, and ensure that progress remains sustainable.
Despite working daily within WorldTour cycling, Ken finds particular motivation in coaching non-professional athletes. Helping someone reach a level they never believed possible is deeply rewarding for him. Many amateur riders assume that professionals train at maximum intensity all the time, but Ken knows that endurance, consistency, and timing form the real foundation of performance.
"Knowing where to spend energy, when to hold back, and how to execute a plan often delivers greater gains than any single metric."
This philosophy is especially effective in gran fondo and long endurance events. By breaking courses down into realistic efforts, calculating sustainable power targets, and planning how fatigue will accumulate across climbs, Ken helps athletes approach these events with confidence rather than uncertainty. The result is often not just a better finish, but a calmer, more controlled experience from start to finish. In many cases, athletes move from simply completing events to competing meaningfully within a single season. What changes is rarely raw fitness. It is understanding.
Across all of Ken’s work, one principle remains constant. Clarity beats chaos. Whether he is preparing an EF Pro Cycling squad for major races or guiding an athlete toward a personal goal, preparation matters more than chasing numbers. Knowing where to spend energy, when to hold back, and how to execute a plan often delivers greater gains than any single metric.
For athletes working with Ken Vanmarcke, that means training shaped by real-world racing experience, decisions informed by years inside the team car, and guidance that balances ambition with long-term sustainability. His strength lies in perspective. Seeing performance from both sides, and knowing how to connect them.