Sunday, April 27, 2025

Gent Six Day 2010 – D Minus One

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HomeDiariesGent Six Day 2010 - D Minus One

Monday night, 24 hours until the 70th Gent Six Day 2010 commences.

Gent Six Day 2010
The Six Day in Gent is steeped in tradition. Photo©Ed Hood
Gent Six Day 2010
Sercu with Michael and Alex, chat about the week to come. Photo©Ed Hood

The Derny exhaust fumes are sweet and sickly, like the stench from the Grangemouth chemicals plant on a bad day, the cold air makes them all the more pungent.

Gent Six Day 2010
The dernys are polished and ready for action. Photo©Ed Hood

Five or six riders sit behind the little bike, loosening off stiff legs, dull after hours sitting in aeroplanes or cars.

Gent Six Day 2010
Despite rattling around the track at 30mph, the riders are well wrapped up – it’s cold in here. Photo©Ed Hood

They’re all wrapped up tight against the cold – Michael Mørkøv, Steve Schets, Tosh Van Der Sande, Kenny de Ketele and Iljo Keisse.

Gent Six Day 2010
These are the hard laps – no crowd cheering and zero atmosphere. Photo©Ed Hood

De Ketele wears a balaclava under his crash hat; Iljo has on gloves and leg warmers.

Now and again they shake their hands and flex their fingers.

Gent Six Day 2010
Michael warms up, literally. Photo©Ed Hood

I ask Michael when he comes down; ‘were your fingers cold?’ He explains;

“No, it’s just that your hands go to sleep, you have to get used to the small track, again.

“When you hit the bankings it’s hard on your back side, back, shoulders, arms and hands – it takes a bit of getting used to and you’re riding into the bankings every couple of seconds.”

Gent Six Day 2010
It’s why we’re in Gent. Photo©Ed Hood

I was up at 04:30 on Monday, two buses, a Ryanair flight and Kris collected me at Charleroi.

Kris always likes to get to the track early; he’s more nervous than the riders on the eve of a six.

Gent Six Day 2010
Getting the track centre setup. Photo©Ed Hood

There are two sets of cabins to set up, there’s the glam track side ones where you see those shots of legs getting rubbed.

Gent Six Day 2010
Kris in our luxury cabin. Photo©Ed Hood

But the heart of the operation is the big cabin where the riders are fed and massaged, the washing is done and everything needed for the race has to be stored.

Gent Six Day 2010
Priorities! There is a lot of beer consumed here this week. Photo©Ed Hood

At Grenoble, below the track there are nice custom built changing rooms with showers, a massage area, a sink and water, lots of space, good light and power.

At Gent there’s nothing below the track – except toilets.

The cabins are uninsulated steel storage shells, linked end to end, open plan office type screens are used to sub-divide them with curtains as doors. They are located in the big old exhibition hall next to the Six Day hall.

Heat comes from industrial space heaters which thunder away – the cabins are either too hot or too cold, it’s well nigh impossible to maintain a steady temperature.

The shower and toilet blocks are mobile units too – albeit clean and cosy.

So cosy that I caught Iljo warming down on his rollers in there last night; ‘It’s the only place in this whole stadium that is warm!‘ he told me.

Gent Six Day 2010
A VeloVeritas Exclusive – Iljo in Washroom Warmdown! Photo©Ed Hood
Gent Six Day 2010
This place will be packed tomorrow night. Photo©Ed Hood

The power supply was erratic to start with and whilst we parked inside the hall, anyone who parked in the car park was given a 25 euro fine – ‘no car park passes ’til tomorrow!

We’ve been told that we can’t park in the hall this year.

That’s a hassle for showering in the morning, at which times I resemble a dazed wildebeest and am devoid of human characteristics until I get blasted with a shower.

Gent Six Day 2010
Big Bob’s bike gets built. Photo©Ed Hood

But we’re here and we’re set up, Alex and Michael have arrived and the shopping has been done – on the way to the supermarket we wandered past the elegant museums and adverts for forthcoming cultural events.

Gent Six Day 2010
As past World Champions and winners, Alex and Michael feature heavily on the promo material. Photo©Ed Hood

It reminded us that Gent is a city of contrasts – art nouveau elegance, grubby flats, galleries, gay bars, all the beer in the world, delicate Jenever gin, sleazy dives, haute cuisine, frites – and bike racing.

Gent Six Day 2010
There’s bike racing and culture in the city this week. Photo©Ed Hood

For all the hassles, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than in this city for the next six days.

Gent Six Day 2010
There’s a story behind this T-shirt, but we’ll save that for another day. Photo©Ed Hood

We’ll do our best – assisted by John Young’s excellent pictures – to let you share the experience.

And who’s going to win? I’ll tell you what I think tomorrow.

Gent Six Day 2010
Autumn in Gent – best get down to the Kuipke. Photo©Ed Hood
Gent Six Day 2010
Iljo clocks off. Photo©Ed Hood
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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