Starts Today: Mallorca Six Day

Today sees the final of the Six Day Series with 12 of the best teams from around the world racing the Mallorca Six Day

RST Cycle Clothing & Trigon Bikes

Starts Today: Mallorca Six Day

From Sportsbeat …

Four six day series events, 24 days of high action racing, thousands of fans cheering across Europe, and it all comes down to this: the six day series final in Mallorca.

Wim Stroetinga and Yoeri Havik (Raleigh GAC) racing the final Six Day of the season in Mallorca

Awash with talent, 12 of the best duos from across the globe will take to the Mallorcan boards tonight for the very first final, all racing for the honour of being Six Day Series champion. Currently in pole position for the crown are Kenny de Ketele and Moreno de Pauw, with the Belgians certainly the team to beat throughout the competition having amassed an impressive 360 Series points thus far.

That was largely due to a stunning showing at Six Day London – the first event this season – usurping home favourites Sir Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish on the final Madison chase – a strong indication of more thrills to come on the track. That included further domination in Amsterdam, taking top spot with a blistering display and more than 550 points, with two titles from two events the perfect way to begin the season.

Seb Mora of Raleigh GAC (Left) and Albert Torres who rode for the team in 2016 will be racing their home event, especially Torres

But with the strength in depth that the Six Day Series possesses, you can only write people off at your peril. Dutch duo Yoeri Havik (Raleigh GAC) and Wim Stroetinga currently occupy second place heading to Mallorca on 235 points, while Leif Lampater and Marcel Kalz round off the top three a further 59 points behind.

That means there is certainly everything up for grabs come Friday night, with the men’s competition seeing them take part in a 20 minute Madison, 15km Points race and team elimination in their bid to wow the Mallorca crowds. But that’s not all, with the race for the Six Day Series champion’s trophy set to go down to the very last event of the season – the 60-minute Madison chase.

Even with the Belgians’ impressive lead, the night is certainly no foregone conclusion, with Havik (Raleigh GAC) – Six Day Berlin winner with Stroetinga – keen to show what he can do in front of a sizeable crowd once more. “I’ve really enjoyed riding with Wim as a regular partner, hopefully it’s the future of Six Day cycling,” he said.

“After our win in Berlin we were getting some really positive comments, the Dutch public want a competitive team do the Series has really worked well. In London we were in really good shape too, missed a few things in Amsterdam, but have made a really good partnership since. We knew what we wanted from each other, where I needed to place Wim before the sprints, we were working way better than the first times.”

“I think the Series was really good with the points you accumulate to qualify for the final. I know some of the guys were really intent on qualifying, and the guys from sixth to 12th all wanted to place themselves high enough in Copenhagen to qualify for Mallorca.”

MEN’s  TEAMS:
Kenny de Ketele & Moreno de Pauw (BEL)
Yoeri Havik & Wim Stroetinga (NED)
Leif Lampater & Marcel Kalz (GER)
Andreas Graf & Andreas Müller (AUT)
Jesper Mørkøv & Marc Hester (DEN)
Chistian Grasmann & Maximilian Beyer (GER)
Morgan Kneisky & Benjamin Thomas (FRA)
Tristan Marguet & Claudio Imhoff (SUI)
Nick Stopler & Roy Pieters (NED)
Nico Hesslich & Achim Burkart (GER)
Andrew Tennant & Chris Latham (GBR)
Albert Torres & Sebastian Mora Vedri (ESP) – WILDCARD

Six Day races:
20 minute Madison
15km Points race
Team Elimination
60 minute Madison finale
… continued after advert

2016_ShuttVeloRapideAdvert

Women’s Omnium
Later today the women’s omnium hits its six day series finale and, with a stellar line-up taking to the boards in Mallorca, it promises to be one exciting night.

And with four different winners coming from the four events of the Six Day Series so far, it’s anyone’s guess as to who will be lifting the trophy. The female riders will take part in a 10km scratch race, elimination race and 10km points race in Palma, with 13 of the track’s toughest competitors gunning for glory in the maiden final.

That list includes Series leader and eight-time European champion Katie Archibald, currently atop the pile after a stellar season to date, including taking top honours from her home Six Day London. The competition is one the 23-year-old believes is perfectly suited to her abilities, delighted to show what she has been able to do on the Six Day stage as she looks to walk away with the crown.

“I should be in fairly good shape in Mallorca and I can hopefully bring a good show,” she said. “The lessons you can learn from competition are accelerated at Six Day because it provides so many opportunities to test yourself. That’s what I have loved so much about the Series so far, just the mass of races that I’ve been able to do.

“Six Day has been really competitive, and when I’ve been speaking to other riders, everyone has been so focused on qualifying and reaching those qualifying spots. I think there are a lot of people with hunger for success at that event, so I think it is going to be taken pretty seriously and should be a good showdown.”

Archibald currently has 180 points to her name heading into Friday’s climax, though she’ll certainly have to be on her toes with both Amalie Dideriksen and Trine Schmidt hot on her back wheel.

Dideriksen was the only rider to pip Archibald at Six Day Berlin, conceding just 28 points from six more thrilling days of racing and the 20-year-old has had a rather different preparation for Mallorca than most, enjoying her first event in the rainbow jersey of a world champion after taking the World Road Race Championships last autumn.

But, despite the differences she knows she’ll face between track and road, the Dane is confident she has what it takes not only to be firing on all cylinders, but to also have a good time in the process.

She said: “I raced in London and Berlin which was really nice, the atmosphere was very good and it was fun to be able to have that with all the girls,” she said. “Being able to talk between the races before having some hard battles was really cool, it’s different to everything else you do which makes a nice change. Everyone wants to win, but you also have an excellent time doing that, which is great.

“There are a lot of strong riders in the final, and hopefully I can be amongst them as a top rider – there is a little bit of pressure but I won’t be the only person who will have that.”

FEMALE RIDERS:

Katie Archibald (GBR)
Amalie Diderksen (DEN)
Elinor Barker (GBR)
Anita Stenberg (NOR)
Maria Confalonieri (ITA)
Neah Evans (GBR)
Tatjana Paller (GER)
Alzbeta Pavlendova (SVK)
Gudrun Stock (GER)
Anna Knauer (GER)
Kelly Markus (GER)
Ema Kankovska (CZE)
Stephanie Pohl (GER)

WOMEN’S OMNIUM RACES:
10km Scratch race
Elimination Race
10km Points race

AlpsCyclesMidstory

 

Send your results as well as club, team & event news here

Cero

Other Results on VeloUK (including reports containing results)

Other News on VeloUK

Tags: