Deeply profound Europop lyrics that start each day’s session here at the Copenhagen Six Day 2009, in just the right thought provoking vein — well, maybe you have to be here:
“Oh Copenhagen, Copenhagen south of Swee-den,
sweeter than the sweetest honey,sweeter than the sweetest wine,
in Copenhagen city too, you can make a dream come true!”
It’s a small world; Thursday night at dinner we were sitting beside the Argentinean rider, Sebastian Donadio, who’s a cool guy; he asked me where I was from, I told him; “Ahh! You must know Peter Jacques!”…
Sebastian runs a cycling school back in Buenos Aires and has been riding a few ‘races to nowhere,’ this autumn, he’s a multi task master; as well as the work on the bike, he does a bit of chanting behind the Casio organ.
I caught up with ‘Born in the USA’ man, Garmin’s Daniel Holloway, he was telling me that he didn’t have the best legs on day one; he’d just flown in from the States at 3.30 pm.
Daniel and his team mate, Colby Pearce have signed up for a Pez interview on Sunday, I’m looking forward to that.
Franco wins a sprint series and that’s another job to do — lug the huge bottle of wine he wins back to the cabin.
Bruno Risi is out, sick. Franco can’t ever remember Bruno being neutralised; the ‘master’ is an unusual colour as he walks down the stairs to his cabin then an early bed.
Alexander Aeschbach’s partner, bear-of-a-man Robert Bartko, is sick too, so the two Swiss are paired together — just like the old days in Grenoble.
Michael wins the derny without breaking sweat; ‘It’s embarrassing how slow we were going,’ he tells me — I guess anything under 60 kph is slow after a 3:56 team pursuit ride.
The 30 minute chase turns into a bit of a race; maybe it’s because Sylvester is blasting; “Do you wanna funk?’
After the blur of jersey changes, dryers and drinks, it’s time for a song from our man from Buenos Aires — he’s not bad at all — if edging just a tad too close to ‘Murph and the Magictones’ from the Blues Brothers movie for comfort.
We get a visitor; Hans Henrik Orsted, ex world pursuit champion and sea level hour record holder, ranked seventh in the Danish ‘six day wins hall of fame’ with eight victories; Palle Lykke is number one on 21.
Kris used to look after Hans Henrik, back in the 80’s when the Dane and Britain’s Tony Doyle duelled obsessively for the world title, year in and year out.
Break time and the band show no mercy to any song they perform, savaging one good tune after another — they wouldn’t last five minutes at Newtongrange Miners Welfare.
Flying lap time; but it’s a no contest as Alex and Michael torch the track, a little slower than last night, but a Chris Hoy-style kick seals it and the meagre crowd is on its feet — nearly.
It’s ‘Born in the USA’ time and Daniel does his thing; I desert my station to get some snaps from the top of the banking — hope you like them.
It’s time for the 60 minute chase, but it’s all a bit flat with such a poor crowd; apparently there’s a big handball match on TV tonight and the Danish national team is playing.
The Italians take a lap; I’d forgotten about them, it can’t be that fast tonight.
Matthe Pronk is struggling; he’s rocking and rolling like it was the three mile grass champs at Ceres Highland Games — in the rain.
The Dutchman is a little eccentric, for example, he doesn’t have a mechanic, he does all the ‘spanner stuff’ himself’ — that’s like Lewis Hamilton replacing his own clutch.
Michael Morkov meanwhile, is cruising; Pronk hirples past again as the PA blasts, ‘Walkin’ on Sunshine,’ — more like treacle, for Matthe.
The lap board shows 24 minutes as Bill Haley gets the older soigneurs hips into motion, ‘one, two, three o’clock …
With 20 minutes to go, the riders remember that this is a race; Alex Rasmussen bridges to Peter Schep and Franco Marvulli, but Kenny de Ketele knows a good move when he sees one and is sprightly across the gap — this is more like it!
It’s apparent, if you know what you’re looking at, that the young Danes could win here; but will politics permit it?
Alex takes a late lap, but Marvulli/Aeschbach and Stam/Schep counter; it’s all down to the sprint on the line.
Alex and Michael go from six out, much to the delight of the crowd, but there are four old foxes behind them and it’s the tall figure of Marvulli who demonstrates what he once told me was his big strength; ‘I don’t loose much of my sprint at the end, no matter how hard it’s been.’
Before I can get Franco’s vest and jersey off, he has to go through the ritual of scoring the chase off the night’s programme, then ripping it up and tossing it in the bin; ‘When I tear it up and throw it away, I’m throwing away the pain in my legs too, ready to start fresh tomorrow.’
I mention to Franco that one of the smaller teams was strong tonight; ‘Stupid!’ he replies, ‘In a Six you have to know where you belong, if you’re five laps down you don’t chase the leaders, you look at who are one place above you; your race is with them, not the big teams.’
Then it was time for the washing — did I mention the politics? No? Remind me and I’ll tell you tomorrow.
What’s that music?
It’s Vera Lyne, ‘We’ll meet again,’ — I liked it better when they played Danny Kaye, ‘Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen’ as last song, never mind.
Ciao, ciao.
Results
A-Consult Sprint
1 Angelo Ciccone / Samuele Marzoli (Ita): 5 pts
2 Christian Grasmann (Ger) / Daniel Kreutzfeldt (Den): 3
3 Kenny De Ketele / Tim Mertens (Bel): 2
4 Michael Smith Larsen / Michael Berling (Den): 1
5 Bruno Risi / Franco Marvulli (Swi)
6 Robert Bartko / Leif Lampater (Ger)
7 Matthé Pronk (Ned) / Mads Bugge (Den)
8 Sebastian Donadio / Dario Collo (Arg)
9 Alex Rasmussen / Michael Mørkøv (Den)
10 Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) / Jens-Erik Madsen (Den)
11 Colby Pearce / Daniel Holloway (USA)
12 Luke Roberts (Aus) / Jacob Moe (Den)
13 Danny Stam / Peter Schep (Ned)
14 Leon van Bon (Ned) / Marc Hester (Den)
15 Andreas Müller (Aut) / Jesper Mørkøv (Den)
Siemens Sprint
1 Robert Bartko / Leif Lampater (Ger): 5 pts
2 Leon van Bon (Ned) / Marc Hester (Den): 3
3 Matthé Pronk (Ned) / Mads Bugge (Den): 2
4 Luke Roberts (Aus) / Jacob Moe (Den): 1
5 Bruno Risi / Franco Marvulli (Swi)
6 Sebastian Donadio / Dario Collo (Arg)
7 Angelo Ciccone / Samuele Marzoli (Ita)
8 Michael Smith Larsen / Michael Berling (Den)
9 Alex Rasmussen / Michael Mørkøv (Den)
10 Kenny De Ketele / Tim Mertens (Bel)
11 Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) / Jens-Erik Madsen (Den)
12 Colby Pearce / Daniel Holloway (USA)
13 Danny Stam / Peter Schep (Ned)
14 Andreas Müller (Aut) / Jesper Mørkøv (Den)
15 Christian Grasmann (Ger) / Daniel Kreutzfeldt (Den)
Dansbo Sprint
1 Leon van Bon (Ned) / Marc Hester (Den): 5 pts
2 Danny Stam / Peter Schep (Ned): 3
3 Luke Roberts (Aus) / Jacob Moe (Den): 2
4 Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) / Jens-Erik Madsen (Den): 1
5 Bruno Risi / Franco Marvulli (Swi)
6 Robert Bartko / Leif Lampater (Ger)
7 Matthé Pronk (Ned) / Mads Bugge (Den)
8 Sebastian Donadio / Dario Collo (Arg)
9 Angelo Ciccone / Samuele Marzoli (Ita)
10 Michael Smith Larsen / Michael Berling (Den)
11 Alex Rasmussen / Michael Mørkøv (Den)
12 Kenny De Ketele / Tim Mertens (Bel)
13 Colby Pearce / Daniel Holloway (USA)
14 Andreas Müller (Aut) / Jesper Mørkøv (Den)
15 Christian Grasmann (Ger) / Daniel Kreutzfeldt (Den)
Claus Dalsgaard Sprint
1 Sebastian Donadio / Dario Collo (Arg): 5 pts
2 Andreas Müller (Aut) / Jesper Mørkøv (Den): 3
3 Michael Smith Larsen / Michael Berling (Den): 2
4 Colby Pearce / Daniel Holloway (USA): 1
5 Bruno Risi / Franco Marvulli (Swi)
6 Robert Bartko / Leif Lampater (Ger)
7 Matthé Pronk (Ned) / Mads Bugge (Den)
8 Angelo Ciccone / Samuele Marzoli (Ita)
9 Alex Rasmussen / Michael Mørkøv (Den)
10 Kenny De Ketele / Tim Mertens (Bel)
11 Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) / Jens-Erik Madsen (Den)
12 Luke Roberts (Aus) / Jacob Moe (Den)
13 Danny Stam / Peter Schep (Ned)
14 Leon van Bon (Ned) / Marc Hester (Den)
15 Christian Grasmann (Ger) / Daniel Kreutzfeldt (Den)
Mermaid Sprint
1 Bruno Risi / Franco Marvulli (Swi): 5 pts
2 Leon van Bon (Ned) / Marc Hester (Den): 3
3 Angelo Ciccone / Samuele Marzoli (Ita): 2
4 Luke Roberts (Aus) / Jacob Moe (Den): 1
5 Robert Bartko / Leif Lampater (Ger)
6 Matthé Pronk (Ned) / Mads Bugge (Den)
7 Sebastian Donadio / Dario Collo (Arg)
8 Michael Smith Larsen / Michael Berling (Den)
9 Alex Rasmussen / Michael Mørkøv (Den)
10 Kenny De Ketele / Tim Mertens (Bel)
11 Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) / Jens-Erik Madsen (Den)
12 Colby Pearce / Daniel Holloway (USA)
13 Danny Stam / Peter Schep (Ned)
14 Andreas Müller (Aut) / Jesper Mørkøv (Den)
15 Christian Grasmann (Ger) / Daniel Kreutzfeldt (Den)
Team ride
1 Alex Rasmussen / Michael Mørkøv (Den): 20 pts
2 Robert Bartko / Leif Lampater (Ger): 12
3 Christian Grasmann (Ger) / Daniel Kreutzfeldt (Den): 10
4 Kenny De Ketele / Tim Mertens (Bel): 8
5 Angelo Ciccone / Samuele Marzoli (Ita): 6
6 Colby Pearce / Daniel Holloway (USA): 4
7 Michael Smith Larsen / Michael Berling (Den): 2
8 Sebastian Donadio / Dario Collo (Arg)
9 Danny Stam / Peter Schep (Ned)
10 Matthé Pronk (Ned) / Mads Bugge (Den)
11 Leon van Bon (Ned) / Marc Hester (Den)
12 Luke Roberts (Aus) / Jacob Moe (Den)
13 Andreas Müller (Aut) / Jesper Mørkøv (Den)
14 Bru