Gijs van Hoecke and Kenny de Ketele chasing hard
Pim Ligthart and Michael Mørkøv consolidated their top position in the Amsterdam Six after the second night but Gijs van Hoecke and Kenny de Ketele are rapidly approaching the Dutch-Danish duo. Both teams passed the 100-points mark, with Van Hoecke/De Ketele still one lap behind.
Last year’s winners Niki Terpstra and Iljo Keisse keep riding aggressively too. “We can’t attack every day of the week so we have to pick our moments,” the Dutch national road champion Terpstra said. “We are a team that won’t win on points because we are probably not as fast as some of the track specialists. It’s important to pick the right moment to gain a lap because that’s how we’ll be able to win.”
The 2012 Madison World champions De Ketele/Van Hoecke started the night off well by winning their event. They beat Terpstra/Keisse and Wim Stroetinga/Peter Schep. “I am happy with this result,” five-times Six-Day winner Peter Schep said. “Wim controlled the damage yesterday. He was one of the best riders in the field and he made up for my lesser form.”
Mørkøv and Ligthart had a slow start to the second night and didn’t win any points but they managed to stay in the same lap as the other title contenders so no big damage was done. In the elimination race they showed themselves again and won. Keisse/Terpstra were the third to leave the track and lost valuable points in the event.
In the derny race Peter Schep showed he’s feeling better. The Dutchman has a stomach bug but nevertheless wins his heat. “It’s under control now. This gives confidence for the rest of the week. Wim and I are still one of the favourites here,” the 2006 and 2007 World Champion explained. They finished the night with another victory in the time trial.
The fight for the overall took place in the long Madison race. The WorldTour-riders show they have the biggest engines and the battle therefore was between Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s Terpstra and Keisse and Vacansoleil-DCM’s Ligthart and Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank’s Mørkøv. They finished in the same lap but it was Keisse who beat Mørkøv in the final sprint. “I could do a great lead-out for Iljo and then you know he’ll finish it off,” Terpstra said.
Terpstra and Keisse are now 22 points and one lap behind the leaders Ligthart/ Mørkøv. Van Hoecke/De Ketele are in second position. They are in the same lap but have 19 points more than the Belgian/Dutch pair.
Overall after two days:
1, Michael Morkov/Pim Ligthart, 108 points
2, Gijs Van Hoecke/Kenny de Ketele, 105 points – at 1 lap
3, Iljo Keisse/Niki Terpstra, 86 points – at 1 lap
4, Wim Stroetinga/Peter Schep, 90 points – at 2 laps
5, Yoeri Havik/Nick Stopler, 66 points – at 2 laps
6, Robert Bartko/Jens Mouris, 59 points – at 2 laps
7, Barry Markus/Leon Van Bon, 48 points – at 6 laps
8, Franco Marvulli/Leif Lampater, 22 points – at 6 laps
9, Michael Vingerling/Gert Jan Jonkman, 36 points – at 7 laps
10, Cyrille Thiery/Loic Perizzolo, 43 pts – at 8 laps