Ghent 6 - day 1

The Ghent 6

The UIV Cup – Memorial Foré U23

There is no law that tells with which Law you have to win. That is what Alex Carver tought

when he and his mate Jackson Law lighted the fuse of the powder keg last night. Alex won

the Ghent six last year with Jackson’s brother Scott. It was just before the first sprint that the

Australians attact for the first time. Immediately we could see who the teams are that will

compete for the final win on sunday. Only the British, the Swiss and the Belgians Deweer

Ligneel could follow the unchained Aussies. Jackson won that first sprint and put him and

Alex in the lead. Altough compared to last year, the rest of the field was not ready to be

slaughtered. Specially the British team fought back and in what way! They won

three out of the five sprints and the last one was for the Swiss team.

The first night ended with the yellow jersey for Mould-Yates, the green one for the Aussie

boys. In the meantime the other antipode, the New Zealander Chris Magic, road around with

his Belgian mate already 11 laps down.

1. Mould – Yates (20 pts) - GBR

2. Carver – Law (15 pts) – AUS

3. Imhof – Dillier (11 pts) – SWI

4. Deweer – Ligneel (3 pts) BEL

5. Lander – Kreutzfeldt (- 1 lap – 3 pts) DEN

70th Lotto Z6daagse Vlaanderen Gent

Every eye was concentrated on what local hero Iljo Keisse would do after his ban, then corrected by court, banned again and finally the lights set on green for a start in “his” six day race. You could see that he missed the four months of competition and on top of that he came at the start with fever because of flu.

After the traditional teams presentation, riders have to sign the startlist on the track, the race could begin.

Before the first madison, Rasmussen-Morkov (twice) and Stam-Van Bon got flowers in the smaller events.

The first madison was won by De Ketele-Lampater in a close sprint with Bartko-Hondo.

The first night usually tells a lot about the chances of the teams to win. That means that Iljo is warned! His fellow countryman had a remarkable start.

And that De Ketele is in superform, you could see after the madison, he won his heat in the derny race and the finale as well.

The Danes Rasmussen- Morkov won the second madison, which means: we know how to look for!

1. De Ketele – Lampater (65 pts) BEL-GER
2. Bartko – Hondo (50 pts) GER
3. Keisse – Schep (-1 lap – 68 pts) BEL-HOL
4. Rasmussen – Morkov (-1 lap – 58 pts) DEN

Australian Luke Roberts and his younger French partner Morgan Kneisky are ranked at the 9^th place, also 1 lap down and 20 pts. For the Frenchmen it’s his first race with the big guns. Luke, on the other hand, told me that he only arrived two days ago in the cold Belgium, after a short trainingscamp in Queensland with his roadteam. He felt the jetlag of course. Everything can only go better after the first night, and a good night sleep!