Sunday, April 20, 2025

Grenoble Six Day 2009 – Day Two; ‘Descende!’

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HomeDiariesGrenoble Six Day 2009 - Day Two; 'Descende!'

It’s 3:00 pm on Saturday and time to ‘descende’ for my ‘pression‘ – draught beer – at Bar Clémenceau, I coincide this with a trip to the shops, so as not to arouse too much suspicion.

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Eds Bar in Grenoble.

The weather is glorious, despite the carpet of leaves on many of the side walks, it’s like a Scottish summer day.

Shorts are fine – essential in the heat of the velodrome – in the sunshine and the frantic Grenoble traffic is on valium for the day.

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Franco is in with a shout.

Last night saw things get down to brass tacks – there are really only two teams who can win; Marvulli/Roberts or Keisse/Meersman.

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Meersman is going well here.

In all, four teams want to be on the podium, the two named above plus Van Bon/Vermeulen and Madsen/Kreutzfeldt.

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Alex Aeschbach.
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Martin Blaha.
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Grenoble regular for the sprints, Gregory Bauge.

‘Experts’ will tell you that Sixes are all ‘fixed’ – explain that to the French guys who can’t even hold their place in the string; or closer to home – Bob Hayles and Mark Cavendish, who lost 32 laps at Gent, with the rainbow jerseys of world madison champions on their backs.

Laurent Biondi was world pro points champion, Bernard Thevenet won two Tours de France; you can’t blag the guys that are running this Six – as my old dad used to say; “never kid a kidder.”

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Biondi and Thevenet run the show here.

They want a show; the public have paid for a show and, believe it or not, the best guys don’t feel comfortable with hollow wins.

Whilst the racing here isn’t as ‘chase centred’ as at other Sixes – there’s only one 35 minute madison each night – the riders make good money on their points totals, accrued in devils, points and time trials. This makes for better than usual racing in these supporting races – pros race for money!

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Daniel and Jens Erik look a little phased.

The devils are hotly contested, Tour de France Daniel Mangeas dishes out the bad news; “descende!” – ‘come down!

This got me to thinking about the time I rode Dundee track league, back in the 80’s.

Someone was eliminated in the devil, but wouldn’t ‘descende!’ Bob Morgan, the organiser took to the track with a yard brush to persuade the errant coureur that retiral was, in fact, the best course of action.

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World Team Pursuit Champion Jens-Erik.

The cabaret acts are all very good, this year – I’ve taken a few snaps but my pass doesn’t get me in to that part of the track centre.

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The men-in-black.
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Djulia the entertainer.

Kris was telling me that race personnel used to be allowed in to sample the buffet.

However, Michael Hubner – the German sprint star – and his amigos made such beasts of themselves that the organisation banished cyclists and their staff from the centre forever.

One of the Belgian runners got past the guard to go and empty his rubbish box into the big bins in the centre – the instant he deviated to the cheese counter however, he was collared faster than you can say, ‘camembert.’

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The calm before the storm.

There has to be big money being made on the catering – it’s like the Berlin airlift; food and drink shipments are constantly arriving and whilst the stands may not be full, the 100 or-so ten placing track centre tables are fully booked – at 50 euros per setting.

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A fresh delivery of bread.
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The aftermath.

It’s 5:45 pm and time to get organised – hope you like the pics.

A demain!

Ed Hood
Ed Hood
Ed was involved in cycling for over 50 years. In that time he was a successful time triallist, a team manager and a sponsor of several teams and clubs. He was also a respected and successful coach and during the winter months often worked in the cabins at the Six Days for some of the world's top riders. Ed was a highly respected journalist, his tales of chasing the Giro, Tour, Vuelta, Classics and World Championships - and his much-loved winter Six Days - are legendary, never the same twice, they gave our site an edge other cycling media could never duplicate or challenge. Sadly Ed passed away in January 2025, two years after suffering a devastating stroke.

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