‘For me, that was the hardest chase of the winter!’ The words of Franco Marvulli as he flopped onto the bench in his track side cabin, after he’d just won the night’s closing 60 minute madison with Bruno Risi, here at the Copenhagen Six Day.
The first night’s chase may have been a stilted affair; but not last night, as Martyn said with seven minutes to go; ‘it’s on a bit now!’
‘On,’ is certainly the word, as the string flashed past, a different peloton from the one which chugged past on Thursday night; you could see the speed, sharpness – and sheer pain, if you weren’t one of the big teams.
Life got a little simpler today, for us down among the spawn, at the bottom of the pond, when Michael negotiated with the organiser that he and Alex only need ride the ‘Danmark’ number seven jerseys – “the rainbow jersey for the chase” notion is binned and those six beautiful/pain in the neck (depending on whether you just like how they look or have to wash, dry, fold, stack and not lose them) tricots are now snuggled in a carrier bag for the duration.
It was a rolling presentation at the start of the evening, a much more sensible affair; warming the riders up and keeping them out of our hair for 20 minutes.
The selection is made already, only four teams can win – Bruno & Franco, Alex and Michael, Iljo Keisse & Robert Bartko and maybe, Danny Stam & Peter Schep.
Leif Lamphater is quality, but he can’t win with Christian Grasmann; Christian’s a big fish – but we’re talking Great Whites in this pond.
Alex and Michael are more than good enough and fast enough to win, Bruno and Franco look a tad jaded and I don’t think Danny and Peter can do it.
But ‘Big Bob’ and Iljo could; Bartko isn’t universally popular, but he’s impressively strong and consistent, whilst Iljo looks sharp as a tack.
He’s wearing his lovely new QuickStep kit here and has points to prove – they wouldn’t let him ride Berlin because of his “problems with contaminated food supplements” and the word is that the Danish Federation were none too chuffed about his appearing here.
The further north you go in Europe, the more conservative people’s views on the ‘D-word’ are; down on the Med, folks just shrug.
But in these cooler climes, the papers are still locked on to Ullrich and Michael Rasmussen.
The crowd was better too, but not amazing; the new upper tier seating, which has been installed for the Worlds next month, doesn’t help – simply providing more uninhabited wilderness.
Word is that the view of the track from a lot of the new seats isn’t the best – with large sections of pine invisible because the seating isn’t steeply enough tiered.
Some of the track centre tables were filled last night and that helps the atmosphere; but I couldn’t help but think about Grenoble, where all 99 of the ten cover tables were sold out, every night – at 50 euros a head.
It’s hard work with ten riders; initially, we had four cabins, two with two riders and two with three – now we have five cabins with two riders.
Alex and Michael, who are my main responsibility; Jens Erik Madsen shares with Franco, who is also ‘my’ man; our German masseuse Judith looks after Christian Grasmann and Daniel Kreutzfeldt.
Kris, Judith, Martyn and I all try to keep an eye on our other two cabins – Michael Smith Larsen and Michael Berling, who are suffering badly; then finally, Michael Faerk and Jesper Mørkøv – Michael is undemanding and Jesper is laid back and full of fun, so they’re not too much of a challenge.
But it’s a lot of riders to change, make drinks for, keep clothed and tie lose ends up for; the big cabin is crazy – ‘boredom’ is not a word used on this Six.
Christian wasn’t feeling too clever last night, luckily the organisation was sympathetic; “what’s this about you supposed to being sick, Grasmann!’
Michael Berling isn’t good either – he was neutralised, last night for a while.
Michael Smith Larsen has just finished university and is in the middle of setting up a coaching business – not the best preparation for a Six of this quality.
I’m writing this on Saturday morning; today will be heavy duty – it’s the loathed by riders and helpers alike, ‘split session’ today.
The afternoon racing runs 13:45 until 16:00, then the evening is 19:30 ’til 00:50 – I don’t even like to talk about it!
I’ve got a 10:00 am rendezvous with Jacob Mørkøv (Michael and Jesper’s wee bruv) to sort out that cabin – wish me luck.
Copenhagen Six Day Results
Sprint 1
1 Aloïs Kankovsky / Petr Lazar (Cze) 5 pts
2 Alex Rasmussen / Michael Mørkøv (Den) 3
3 Sebastian Donadio / Tristan Marguet (Arg/Swi) 2
4 Bruno Risi / Franco Marvulli (Swi) 1
Sprint 2
1 Alexander Aeschbach / Michael Færk (Swi/Den) 5 pts
2 Danny Stam / Peter Schep (Ned) 3
3 Andreas Müller / Jesper Mørkøv (Aut/Den) 2
4 Colby Pearce / Daniel Holloway (USA) 1
Sprint 3
1 Léon van Bon / Daniel Kreutzfeldt (Ned/Den) 5 pts
2 Sebastian Donadio / Tristan Marguet (Arg/Swi) 3
3 Michael Smith Larsen / Michael Berling (Den) 2
4 Leif Lampater / Christian Grasmann (Ger) 1
Sprint 4
1 Andreas Müller / Jesper Mørkøv (Aut/Den) 5 pts
2 Colby Pearce / Daniel Holloway (USA) 3
3 Léon van Bon / Daniel Kreutzfeldt (Ned/Den) 2
4 Michael Smith Larsen / Michael Berling (Den) 1
Sprint 5
1 Bruno Risi / Franco Marvulli (Swi) 5 pts
2 Jens-Erik Madsen / Marc Hester (Den) 3
3 Alexei Shmidt / Jiri Hochmann (Rus/Cze) 2
4 Alexander Aeschbach / Michael Færk (Swi/Den) 1
Sprint 6
1 Robert Bartko / Iljo Keisse (Ger/Bel) 5 pts
2 Michael Smith Larsen / Michael Berling (Den) 3
3 Léon van Bon / Daniel Kreutzfeldt (Ned/Den) 2
4 Andreas Müller / Jesper Mørkøv (Aut/Den) 1
Team Elimination
1 Léon van Bon / Daniel Kreutzfeldt (Ned/Den) 20 pts
2 Bruno Risi / Franco Marvulli (Swi) 12
3 Leif Lampater / Christian Grasmann (Ger) 10
4 Jens-Erik Madsen / Marc Hester (Den) 8
5 Alexander Aeschbach / Michael Færk (Swi/Den) 6
6 Colby Pearce / Daniel Holloway (USA) 4
7 Alexei Shmidt / Jiri Hochmann (Rus/Cze) 2
8 Michael Smith Larsen / Michael Berling (Den)
9 Aloïs Kankovsky / Petr Lazar (Cze)
10 Alex Rasmussen / Michael Mørkøv (Den)
11 Sebastian Donadio / Tristan Marguet (Arg/Swi)
12 Danny Stam / Peter Schep (Ned)
13 Robert Bartko / Iljo Keisse (Ger/Bel)
14 Andreas Müller / Jesper Mørkøv (Aut/Den)
Madison 1
1 Robert Bartko / Iljo Keisse (Ger/Bel) 20 pts
2 Bruno Risi / Franco Marvulli (Swi) 12
3 Jens-Erik Madsen / Marc Hester (Den) 10
One lap behind
4 Danny Stam / Peter Schep (Ned) 8
5 Leif Lampater / Christian Grasmann (Ger) 6
6 Colby Pearce / Daniel Holloway (USA) 4
7 Alex Rasmussen / Michael Mørkøv (Den) 2
8 Léon van Bon / Daniel Kreutzfeldt (Ned/Den)
9 Sebastian Donadio / Tristan Marguet (Arg/Swi)
10 Andreas Müller / Jesper Mørkøv (Aut/Den)
Two laps behind
11 Alexei Shmidt / Jiri Hochmann (Rus/Cze)
12 Michael Smith Larsen / Michael Berling (Den)
13 Aloïs Kankovsky / Petr Lazar (Cze)
14 Alexander Aeschbach / Michael Færk (Swi/Den)
Derny A
1 Alex Rasmussen / Michael Mørkøv (Den) 10 pts
2 Bruno Risi / Franco Marvulli (Swi) 8
3 Danny Stam / Peter Schep (Ned) 6
4 Robert Bartko / Iljo Keisse (Ger/Bel) 4
5 Leif Lampater / Christian Grasmann (Ger) 2
500m TT
1 Alexander Aeschbach / Michael Færk (Swi/Den) 0:00:28.393
2 Léon van Bon / Daniel Kreutzfeldt (Ned/Den) 0:00:28.443
3 Alexei Shmidt / Jiri Hochmann (Rus/Cze) 0:00:28.987
4 Danny Stam / Peter Schep (Ned) 0:00:30.580
Derny B
1 Alexander Aeschbach / Michael Færk (Swi/Den) 10 pts
2 Colby Pearce / Daniel Holloway (USA) 8
3 Andreas Müller / Jesper Mørkøv (Aut/Den) 6
4 Aloïs Kankovsky / Petr Lazar (Cze) 4
5 Sebastian Donadio / Tristan Marguet (Arg/Swi) 2
Flying lap
1 Alex Rasmussen / Michae