From the very first chase there was little doubt about who was in charge of the Copenhagen Three Day 2020; Dutchmen Jan Van Schip and Yoeri Havik were the strongest men on the track.
In the recent UCI World Cup in Milton, Canada Van Schip won the Omnium then teamed up with Havik to win the Madison – so we knew they were on form.
But a Six Day (or a Three Day) is as much a show as a sporting event – did they really need to win by five laps?
One lap on the last night would have provided more excitement but the pair obviously have “Rainbows over Berlin” in the forthcoming Worlds in mind and pushed themselves hard in every chase.
The Sunweb duo of Dane Casper Pedersen and big finishing Dutchman – yes, another one – Cees Bol were second at five laps albeit with a better points total, surprisingly beating home legend Michael Mørkøv who was paired with rising star Oliver Wulff.
But our spies tell us though that the youngster was tired after a Six Day season paired with compatriot and one of a very few to have completed 100 Six Days, former Copenhagen Six winner Marc Hester.
Sadly, Marc was absent from the Copenhagen Three Day starting line-up this year.
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DAY ONE
There’s the bongos… Paul Delicato’s unmistakable ‘Cara Mia’ marks the start of the first chase in the 2020 Copenhagen Six D – sorry, make that Three Days.
But as Franco Marvulli once said; ‘three days is much better than NO days.’
Despite the fact that it’s just a Three Day, the field isn’t the worst.
Big Dutch World Points Champion, Jan Van Schip pairs with his Canada World Cup madison-winning partner, experienced compatriot, Yoeri Havik.
Our rider, Polish former European Champion, Wojciech Pszczolarski pairs with Berlin Six Day winner, the hugely experienced Dutchman, Wim Stroetinga.
And, of course, there’s ‘Par no. 7’ – home boy and multiple winner and podium finisher in the Six Day here, Michael Mørkøv – paired with rising star in the Danish heavens, Oliver Wulff Frederiksen.
An interesting pairing is that of Dane Casper Pedersen and Sunweb World Tour Dutch team mate and 2019 Nokere Koerse winner, Cees Bol.
Apart from Wojciech we have Polish pairing Bartosz Rudyk and Damian Slawek.
And German pairing, our old chum Hans Pirius and Moritz Augenstein; Hans has won the u23 Gent Six Day and Moritz the u23 Bremen Six Day.
Then there’s our Czech guys, Denis Rugovac and Ludek Lichnovsky.
Last but by no means is our Englishman, Stephen Bradbury who’s becoming a regular on the Six Day circuit with rides in Bremen and Berlin.
Pictured here in the wheel of splendidly named Belgian partner, Matthias van Beethoven who speaks absolutely perfect English.
The first chase went to Messrs. Van Schip and Havik, putting their mark on the race early; ‘we want to win this,’ the message to the unfortunates trying to hold their wheels.
Next up was the ladies’ Devil, won by English lass, Emily Nelson.
The lads in pink won the One Lap TT – I’ll pay more attention tomorrow – our boy Moritz is usually pretty rapid over one lap but chose to put Hans in, like I say, I’ll pay more attention to the results tomorrow.
The music the play for the flying lap is cool – AC/DC, ‘Highway to Hell’ and Kiss, ‘I Was made for Loving You’ two of my faves.
Derny One and our Denis was the early leader – never a good thing – with team five taking the flowers.
Derny Two went to Michael Mørkøv and the ladies Points – which seemed to be about 1,000 laps – to Emily.
The girls aren’t into lap gains but in fairness, at 250 metres, it’s a big old bowl to claw a lap out of.
Dario G’s ‘Sunchyme’ marked the 10 lap Balustrade Sprint – I’ll take pics tomorrow and then we were straight into the final 160 lap Chase.