Despite a late charge by Danes Alex Rasmussen and Michael Mørkøv who attacked solo to regain the lap, Germans Marcel Kalz and Robert Bartko just managed to cling on to their fragile lead and win the final Six Days race of the season as they Danes fell centimetres short of making contact with the tail end of the peloton.
German/Danish duo Leif Lampater and Marc Hester also finished a lap down and placed third.
For Robert Bartko the the final evening marked the perfect ending as he celebrated his first Copenhagen win. 38-year-old Bartko already had 20 Six Days races, two Olympic gold medals and four world championships to his name. He took his last six-day win in 2012 in Bremen with Peter Schep. Kalz won his one and only title in Bremen last season with Franco Marvulli.
Even though the final evening mainly transformed into a long count down to the decisive Madison, Marcel Kalz completed his clean sweep of the 250 metres time trial as he won for the sixth consecutive evening.
Eventually it all boiled down to the final Madison. Mørkøv/Rasmussen entered as the favourites since they had a comfortable lead on points after having gained what appeared to be a decisive bonus lap earlier in the evening as the finished third in the team elimination.
As Bartko/Kalz and Lampater/Hester took turns to go on the offensive, Mørkøv/Rasmussen seemed to have everything under control. A powerful surge by the German duo towards the end saw them gain a lap, however. A last-minute counterattack by the home crowd favourites nearly succeeded as the Danish duo just failed to make contact with the peloton. Actually, it seemed at first glance as if they had indeed succeeded but after some deliberations, the UIV commissaries declared Bartko and Kalz the winners of the Copenhagen Six Days race.
Thus Bartko put a fitting end to an illustrious career.
Final classification:
1 Robert Bartko - Marcel Kalz 291
At 1 lap
2 Alex Rasmussen - Michael Mørkøv 375
3 Leif Lampater - Marc Hester 292
At 2 laps
5 Wim Stroetinga - Jesper Mørkøv 236
4 Andreas Müller - Andreas Graf 140
At 3 laps
6 Albert Torres - Vojtech Hacecky 171
At 10 laps
7 Nick Stöpler - Luke Roberts 105
At 21 laps
8 Tristan Marguet - Mads Christensen 174
At 23 laps
9 Marcel Barth - Niki Byrgesen 132
At 26 laps
10 Guy East - Daniel Holloway 135
At 32 laps
11 Nico Hesslich - Simon Bigum 124
At 33 laps
12 Hans Pirius - Sebastian Wotschke 137
13 Melvin Van Zijl - Didier Caspers 71
At 38 laps
14 Vivien Brisse - Mathias Krigbaum 141
At 42 laps
15 Martin Hacecky - Achim Burkart 95
Rodney SANTIAGO 36 years | today |
Rolando AMARGO 28 years | today |
Holger SIEVERS 56 years | today |
Ahnad Fuat FAHMI 31 years | today |
Elisa LUGLI 22 years | today |
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