Gent Six Days 2011 – Night Six

On the one hand, the 18:00 finish here at the Gent Six Days 2011 is cool; but on the other, the lunch time kick off means that the last day is pretty hectic for the support staff.

The result was never really in doubt and I thought that the last chase was poor.

But I said all of that yesterday – and what I’m not taking account of is the huge gaps in the Six Day programme.

The life of a Six Day man used to be simple, ride the Six then drive or fly to the next one.

You had to have condition for the first races, but after that you didn’t have to worry too much about condition – the racing did that.

But now, with the huge gaps in the programme riders have to keep in shape between races.

If you live in the mild climes of southern Europe then late autumn road training isn’t a problem – but in the cold north it’s more difficult.

The crowd was good though, and the race organisation did retiring renners Stam and De Neef proud.

Meanwhile, the man who could have transformed this race from ‘average’ to ‘outstanding’ – a certain Iljo Keisse by name – was sitting in the stand.

He had a column in the in the Gentenaar for the duration of the Six – but I didn’t see his notebook.

It’s always an anti climax at the end of a Six – especially if you have no one on the podium.

There’s always a shindig at Iljo’s dad’s bar, De Karper after the Six – Jesper, Martin and Gillian went, with John and the Renner crew, but we didn’t have the head for it.

An omelette, one beer and back to the camper.

Gent Six Day - Results from Night Six, Gent Six Days