The Berlin Six Day reached a golden milestone last January with its 100th edition, and the annual festivities will return to the German Capital for the 101st Berlin Six Day 2012 on Thursday.
Unfortunately Six Day racing continues to be in decline and it’s not something that can solely be laid at the door of the global economy rather just a sad fact of life that times change.
Events have in recent years left established Six Day cities such as Dortmund, Munich and Stuttgart, lack of sponsors and public interest being the main factors.
So in 2012 it is left to Bremen and Berlin to fly the flag for Germany.
As well as events, riders come and go and many who created the spectacle and excitement over the last 10-15 years; Bruno Risi, Kurt Betschart, Silvio Martinello, Marco Villa, Matt Gilmore, Scott McGrory, Jimmi Madsen and Robert Slippens — have all retired.
Others like Michael Mørkøv and Alex Rasmussen seem to have left track racing behind to the draw of the road and commitment to trade team contracts.
One of the best riders left in the Six Day bunch is Robert Bartko and he won’t be on the start line following a dispute with the Berlin organisation over the terms (a major reduction) of his contract. That, and the fairly thin field, is testament to the fact that even this great event is under pressure.
But with or without Bartko the show goes on and 32 riders will race to nowhere around the 250 metre long boards inside the Landsberger Allee Velodrome.
The quality and composition of the field is, like it has been at all this winter’s Sixes, a mixed bag, and there are very few riders who now race at all the Sixes in the season.
In the past there was what they called ‘the blue train’ but that seems – like Munich and Dortmund – to be a thing of the past. It’s not all doom and gloom though, as the riders who are present will be motivated to put on a show and compete to the best of their varying abilities.
Here is a look at the starting field…
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Favourites
Without the aforementioned Robert Bartko in the field, his partner in victory last year Roger Kluge starts his first Six Day of the winter with Leif Lampater as his ‘new’ team mate.
The talent of Kluge is undoubted and his ultimate goal for 2012 will be a medal in the London Olympic Omnium.
That new and generally unpopular championship event is very difficult for most Six Day riders to be competitive in; Kluge does have the speed, strength and endurance to make a real go of it although it is still something of a lottery.
Whatever the outcome once the Olympics are over you’d suspect that Kluge will concentrate more on the road and like Mørkøv and Rasmussen will be another talent lost for most of the winter circuit.
In Berlin though as the home team, and with the main sponsors name on their jersey, he and Lampater will be expected to bring home the bacon.
The quiet but talented Lampater won here in 2007 with Guido Fulst and will be motivated having the speedy Kluge at his side. He doesn’t have the strength of Bartko though and the mantle of favourites will pass over to another team this year.
That team are World Madison Champions Cameron Meyer and Leigh Howard who, like Kluge, will be entering their one and only Six this winter – in fact it is only the second of Meyers career.
Last year in his first ever Six Meyer and his partner Leigh Howard pushed the strong Bartko-Kluge team all the way to the finish taking 2nd place. This time around despite the lack of experience they look like the class riders of the field.
Their talent and road strength, honed back home at the Tour Down Under, should be enough to see them competitive. To prove the point they recently cruised to victory on the track in the Australian Madison Championship.
The lack of top riders in the field sees them stand out like a beacon and they’ll be keen to put on a strong, and winning, performance in their World Champions jerseys.
Ultimately they’ll be looking to retain the jerseys for the third consecutive year on home soil in Melbourne during early April.
Probably the only other team with a realistic shot at the victory are European Madison Champions Iljo Keisse and Kenny de Ketele.
The Belgians both have Six Day victories this winter although none together, Keisse was in especially good form winning in Amsterdam, Grenoble and Zurich but was only fourth and third in Rotterdam and Bremen.
The Gent winner de Ketele hasn’t ridden in either of the last two races but will surely arrive in good shape after riding at some track World Cups. He and Keisse would be a strong team at most Sixes but on this 250 metre track it may be difficult for them to match the strength of Kluge, Meyer or Howard. A place on the podium is certainly up for grabs though.
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Farewell to Danny Stam
At 39 years old Danny Stam is ending a great career on the boards of Europe, and the world, next month in Copenhagen. The ‘little diesel’, as he is known, has won 16 Six Day races with 11 of those coming with his friend and fellow Dutchman Robert Slippens.
A relative late-comer to the Six scene he didn’t really establish himself as one of the top guys until he won the Amsterdam Six, with Slippens, in 2003 at the age of 31.
Over the next few years he and Slippens became challengers at every race and that form culminated in a remarkable run in January / February of 2006 when they won in Rotterdam, Bremen, Berlin and Copenhagen.
That same summer Slippens had a terrible crash that ultimately ended his career although he did briefly come back in 2008 partnering Stam to victories in Amsterdam and, at the less prestigious, Zuidlaren Six.
But he was forced to retire and since then despite victories with Risi, Keisse, Lampater, Schep and last year in Rotterdam with Leon van Bon you feel it wasn’t quite the same for him racing without Robbie Slippens.
This will be the last German Six for Danny Stam and the winner in 2006 is paired with fellow countryman Peter Schep who is having a great 2012 so far winning in both Rotterdam (with Wim Stroetinga) and Bremen (with Bartko).
At both those races he was with faster men than Stam. It’s always been the case when these two are paired together that the lack of a sprint means they struggle to gain points and laps.
Also being in decline Stam will probably find the going tough on the long straights of the 250 metre track. Who knows, with the appreciative crowds that flock in night after night I’m sure he’ll get a wonderful send off, and with an in form Schep he may be inspired for one last podium push.
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Other Podium Contenders
Franco ‘marvellous’ Marvulli appeared to be in premature decline over the previous year or so but he seems to have re-found his form and enthusiasm winning in Zürich and taking 2nd in both Rotterdam and Bremen.
Berlin is one of his favourite races and this year he is paired with 21 year old Swiss hopeful Silvan Dillier who has shown well at a couple of Sixes this winter. They could be the surprise package as Dillier is fast and the veteran Marvulli, with over 100 career starts and 31 wins, will probably leave the sprinting to the younger man saving his energy for the chases. If they go well here who knows they could become a new Swiss team on the block!
The Berlin based Robert Bengsch and Marcel Kalz have been reunited based on their good showings at the last three Berlin Sixes. The 24 year old Kalz comes into his hometown on the back of his best ever result, a 2nd place in Bremen with Franco Marvulli.
After winning his first Six in Bremen last year (with Bartko) Bengsch has had more starts this season but hasn’t yet shown that same form.
The motivation of this being Berlin could make a difference and he and Kalz will look to improve on their 2009, 2010 and 2011 showings by pushing for the podium in 2012.
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Elsewhere
With quality Six Day riders becoming scarce as events are lost from the calendar and riders increasingly being drawn to the road it was a surprise to see that a few experienced riders such as Marc Hester and Christian Grasmann didn’t make the start list.
It was especially surprising to see the Dane Hester wasn’t a starter as he has had his best ever winter. Without them and the likes of Hondo and as mentioned Bartko, Mørkøv and Rasmussen much of the field is an unknown quantity. There are some familiar names many in national pairings with an eye on Aprils Worlds.
The 2011 World Madison silver medallists Martin Blaha and Jiri Hochmann from the Czech Republic should do reasonably well on the longer track whilst finding form for the World Championships in Melbourne.
Berlin-born Austrian national team rider Andreas Müller is paired with his Austrian national team partner Andreas Graf. Like the Czechs, and a number of other teams, they will be using the week to work on their Madison skills for Melbourne. That said Müller will want to show well when he can as he was born just a short walk from this velodrome and Berlin remains his home city.
The veteran Alex Aeschbach gets a start after surprisingly again being overlooked at Bremen and Rotterdam. He has some pedigree but as he is paired with Polish rider Rafal Ratajczyk he’ll just be keeping the peloton together rather than going for wins, unless Ratajczyk can produce the performance of his life.
Another Berliner is Henning Bommel who as part of the German track squad will be at home on this particular track. His partner is Belgian Tim Mertens who is another solid track rider. Their goal will be just to try and finish in the top 10 and pick up a few wins in the lesser races on the weeks programme.
The German pair Marcel Barth and Erik Mohs are both still only 25 but have a number of Six Day starts between them. This year Barth got a few starts outside of Germany but hasn’t shown he has the potential to ever be a challenger.
On the other hand Mohs came onto the scene strongly around 2006-2007 and appeared to have a big future but after aiming for a road career has since returned to the track but has not re-established himself as a potential podium rider.