It’s Day four at the Rotterdam Six Day 2012, and like it says on the report cards; ‘could do better!’ We’re referring of course to ‘our Alex’s’ time keeping – he missed the rolling presentation on Sunday. It’s not a huge deal because at the time he had no partner, poor Stöpler having crashed out.
But strictly speaking he should have been up there – fortunately Mr. Sercu was in a good mood and actually looked pleased to see Alex when he arrived, he was in a lather, straight off his Cervélo.
I took the bike up to the cabin; I had to road test it along the corridor – in the interests of our site, you understand.
Light, twitchy… pity I couldn’t get up out of the 39 x 23, but never mind.
Alex’s position would just about do me.
He’s on the Rotor rings, I was only on the bike for maybe 50 yards, so didn’t feel the full effect of them – but Alex reckons they’ve significantly aided his climbing.
Sundays are a blessing and a curse, good because we get finished at 6:00 pm but bad because the programme starts at 12:00 noon.
That sounds late, but we don’t get to bed until nearly 2:00 am and all the setting up has to be done – start time is upon you before you know it.
It’s a ‘family’ afternoon and there are kiddies races and autograph signings – the clock seems to change down a few gears and whilst noon comes round too quickly, the afternoon seems to last forever.
[vsw id=”iFqVieZDKRo” source=”youtube” width=”615″ height=”450″ autoplay=”no”]
I was chatting to one of the young riders today and he was saying that there was a certain rider – who now is near the top – and he couldn’t understand how this guy was always down near the bottom of the classification in every race for a couple of seasons – but he does now that he rides the Sixes himself.
It’s not that you lose laps – well you do if you’re in the state Bobby Traksel was the other night – it’s more that you can’t take them when everyone else is.
And then there’s the issue of a partner, if you get a weak one it makes life so much harder; you can close the gaps they let open maybe three or four times – but not all night.
The sprinters weren’t as quick tonight, Bourgain won the TT with 10.5, Sireau was 10.3 the other night.
A ‘source’ was telling me that Bauge and Sireau aren’t ‘big neebz’ – it’s hard to see the ice thawing after old Gregory’s misdemeanours.
[vsw id=”OEPMbYeoHQQ” source=”youtube” width=”615″ height=”450″ autoplay=”no”]
The two lap time trial fell to Schep/Stroetinga again (see the video of the race above), despite Franco looking good.
The second chase was only 30 minutes, well, it is Sunday, after all.
Alex rode with Jos Pronk, Geert-Jan Jonkman sat the chase out; he didn’t look too distressed.
Then there were three day’s worth of pictures to sort out and send in to Martin for processing, back at VeloVeritas Towers, and it was bed-time before I knew it.
Even the compressor on the refrigeration unit of the fish van parked next to us couldn’t keep me awake.
Two to days to go, ciao, ciao.
Rotterdam Six Day 2012 - Results from Day Four
Koppelkoers
1 11 Traksel – Vermeulen
2 7 Mørkøv – Pieters
3 8 Kreder W – Boskamp
4 6 Schep – Stroetinga
5 2 Terpstra – Keisse
6 5 Lampater – v Bon
7 9 Mouris – Marvulli
8 3 Ligthart – Bartko
9 13 Markus – Hester
10 10 Kreder R – Kreder M
11 1 Stam – Havik
12 12 Jonkman – Pronk
Koppelafvalkoers
1 3 Ligthart – Bartko
2 1 Stam – Havik
3 9 Mouris – Marvulli
4 2 Terpstra – Keisse
5 12 Jonkman – Pronk
6 10 Kreder R – Kreder M
7 13 Markus – Hester
8 6 Schep – Stroetinga
9 5 Lampater – v Bon
10 7 Mørkøv – Pieters
11 8 Kreder W – Boskamp
12 11 Traksel – Vermeulen
Koppeltijdrit
1 6 Schep – Stroetinga 21.926
2 9 Mouris – Marvulli 22.246
3 5 Lampater – v Bon 22.500
4 10 Kreder R – Kreder M 22.582
5 13 Markus – Hester 22.684
6 3 Ligthart – Bartko 22.688
7 11 Traksel – Vermeulen 22.824
8 8 Kreder W – Boskamp 23.230
9 12 Jonkman – Pronk 23.551
10 2 Terpstra – Keisse 23.691
11 1 Stam – Havik 23.949
12 7 Mørkøv – Pieters 24.047
Koppelkoers
1 10 Kreder R – Kreder M 20
2 5 Lampater – v Bon 12
@ 1 Lap
3 1 Stam – Havik 10
4 2 Terpstra – Keisse 8
5 9 Mouris – Marvulli 6
6 8 Kreder W – Boskamp 4
7 6 Schep – Stroetinga
8 3 Ligthart – Bartko
9 13 Markus – Hester
@ 2 Laps
10 11 Traksel – Vermeulen
11 7 Mørkøv – Pieters
@ 3 Laps
12 12 Jonkman – Pronk
Supersprint
1 1 Stam – Havik
2 13 Markus – Hester
3 8 Kreder W – Boskamp
4 7 Mørkøv – Pieters
5 11 Traksel – Vermeulen
6 3 Ligthart – Bartko
7 2 Terpstra – Keisse
8 9 Mouris – Marvulli
9 5 Lampater – v Bon
10 6 Schep – Stroetinga
11 10 Kreder R – Kreder M
12 12 Jonkman – Pronk
Derny's - 1e Serie
1 11 Traksel – Zijlaard J
2 12 Jonkman – Zijlaard R
3 10 Kreder – Kos
4 8 Kreder – Bakker
5 7 Mørkøv – Huybrechts
6 13 Markus – Stam C
Afvalkoers
1 2 Terpstra – Keisse
2 10 Kreder R – Kreder M
3 12 Jonkman – Pronk
4 9 Mouris – Marvulli
5 11 Traksel – Vermeulen
6 8 Kreder W – Boskamp
7 5 Lampater – v Bon
8 6 Schep – Stroetinga
9 1 Stam – Havik
10 7 Mørkøv – Pieters
11 3 Ligthart – Bartko
12 13 Markus – Hester
Derny's - 2e Serie
1 6 Schep – Zijlaard J
2 5 Lampater – Zijlaard R
3 3 Ligthart – Kos
4 2 Terpstra – Stam C
5 9 Mouris – Vaarten
6 4 Rasmussen – Bakker
7 1 Stam – Huybrechts
Koppelkoers
1 3 Ligthart – Bartko 20
2 13 Markus – Hester 12
3 7 Mørkøv – Pieters 10
@ 1 Lap
4 6 Schep – Stroetinga 8
5 9 Mouris – Marvulli 6
6 1 Stam – Havik 4
7 5 Lampater – v Bon 0
8 4 Pronk – Rasmussen 0
9 2 Terpstra – Keisse 0
@ 2 Laps
10 8 Kreder W – Boskamp 0
11 11 Traksel – Vermeulen 0
12 10 Kreder R – Kreder M 0
Rotterdam Six Day 2012 - Overall after Day Four
1 9 Mouris Jens – Marvulli Franco 221
2 6 Schep Peter – Stroetinga Wim 202
3 1 Stam Danny – Havik Yoeri 147
@ 1 Lap
4 2 Terpstra Niki – Keisse Iljo 187
5 5 Lampater Leif – Bon van Leon 148
6 3 Ligthart Pim – Bartko Robert 137
@ 2 Laps
7 4 Pronk Jos – Rasmussen Alex 67
@ 5 Laps
8 13 Markus Barry – Hester Marc 121
@ 9 Laps
9 10 Kreder Raymond – Kreder Michel 135
@ 12 Laps
10 7 Mørkøv Jesper – Pieters Roy 60
11 8 Kreder Wesley – Boskamp Melvin 48
@ 16 Laps
12 11 Traksel Bobbie – Vermeulen Jeff 81
