Having gone into the final lap in second positions, tied with Jasper de Buyst and Kenny De Ketele, Mark Cavendish and Iljo Keisse managed to take the win on the final day of the Six-Days of Zürich. The pair won the race ahead of Leif Lampater and Silvan Dillier while their Belgian rivals had to settle for third.
Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team riders Mark Cavendish and Iljo Keisse waited until the perfect moment to launch a flurry of attacks in the final Madison event of the Six-Days of Zürich on Saturday, gaining an advantage within the last few laps to clinch the victory.
Cavendish and Keisse dominated the final laps so much that Keisse had brief moments to bunny hop. But the overall victory was far from easy, as the duo went into the final Madison down 8 points on Jasper De Buyst and Kenny De Ketele. They then had to chase back some earlier laps gained by Silvan Dillier and Leif Lampater, and again when Dillier and Lampater continued their offensive after the first sprint. But the Manx Missile and Keisse were able to take a lap themselves, and then with 6 laps to go they kept up their effort to see if they could take enough points for victory. They were successful, as Dillier and Lampater were the only team to finish on the same lap as the Omega Pharma - Quick-Step duo, but with not enough points to remove Cavendish and Keisse from the top step of the podium.
The win comes as a sweet revenge for the pair after they had narrowly been denied the win in Ghent. The winners of the Belgian race, De Ketele/de Buyst, completed the podium, one lap behind the two best pairs.
Final overall standings:
1. Iljo Keisse/Mark Cavendish 245pt
2. Silvain Dillier/Leif Lampater 224pt
1 lap:
3. Jasper de Buyst/Kenny De Ketele 250pt
4. Tristan Marguet/Marcel Kalz 233pt
5. Albert Torres/David Muntaner 164pt
2 laps:
6. Alex Rasmussen/Marc Hester 188pt
4 laps:
7. Roger Kluge/Jesper Mørkøv 114pt
6 laps:
8. Gael Sutter/Claudio Imhof 129pt
7 laps:
9. Andreas Müller/Andreas Graf 46pt
9 laps:
10. Christian Grassman/Jan-Andre Freuler 85pt
11. Morgan Kneisky/Vivien Brisse 64pt
10 laps:
12. Luke Roberts/Glenn O'Shea 106pt
Brecht DHAENE 36 years | today |
Paul TORRES 41 years | today |
Pieter SERRY 36 years | today |
Johanna NILSSON 34 years | today |
Yves DE WILDE 37 years | today |
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