Yoeri Havik and Nick Stöpler became the new leaders of the Amsterdam Six Day after day three. The favourites kept a close eye on each other in yesterday’s final Madison, but the youngsters still managed to break free in the final part of the race. Together with Pim Ligthart/Marcel Kalz and Robert Bartko/Barry Markus they lapped the rest of the field. Ligthart and Kalz took the win, but their second place brought Havik and Stöpler the overall lead.

“It was very hard,” puffed Havik right after the victory lap. “We gave everything we had. When we took a lap, we had to chase again right away.”

The third day was a good day for Havik and Stöpler but the Dutchmen keep the champagne in the fridge. “We’ll eat as much as we can and then we’ll go to bed immediately,” said Stöpler. The two Dutch youngsters are clearly the home crowd favourites due to their aggressive and attack-minded riding.

Leif Lampater and Raymond Kreder lost the lead on Wednesday. The German-Dutch couple triumphed in the elimination race but couldn’t keep up with the best duos in the final Madison. They are now second overall.

Standing ovation
The Belgian duo De Ketele/Van Hoecke clearly had plans going into the third night. They opened a barrage of attacks during the final Madison. De Ketele also entertained the crowd during the second derny ride. The Deelen Verswaren rider was at the back of the field for a long time, but decided to accelerate during the final part of the race. In commanding fashion he caught up with Barry Markus and Pim Ligthart. In the last 200 metres he overtook the two, which provided him the win a standing ovation by the Amsterdam crowd.

Sprinters
Hugo Haak had set his sights on the Masters Keirin on Wednesday. He lost narrowly to Bart Hommes, but now, thanks to his second place, shares the overall lead with Teun Mulder. Both men have seven points. Bart Hommes and Nils van ‘t Hoenderdaal are third with a total of eleven.

Haak lost his lead in the Sprint Masters because of his efforts in the Keirin Masters. After a sixth place in the sprint final, he dropped to the second place, which he shares with van 't Hoenderdaal and Hoogland. Matthias Büchli won the Sprint Masters and will start day four in the lead.

Overall after 3rd day in Amsterdam Six Day:
1 Nick Stöpler/Yoeri Havik (NED), 135 p., 2 Leif Lampater (GER)/Raymond Kreder (NED), 127 p., 3 Pim Ligthart (NED)/Marcel Kalz (GER), 102 p., at 1 lap: 4 Kenny de Ketele/Gijs van Hoecke (BEL), 140 p., 5 Tristan Marguet (SUI)/Marc Hester (DEN), 107 p., 6 Jens Mouris/Wim Stroetinga (NED), 107 p., at 2 laps: 7 Barry Markus (NED)/Robert Bartko (GER), 24 p., at 7 laps: 8 Jiri Hochmann/Vojtech Hacecky (CZE), 75 p., 9  Melvin Boskamp/Jesper Asselman (NED), 63 p., 10 Wesley Kreder (NED)/Nolan Hoffmann (RSA), 37 p., at 8 laps: 11 Aaron Gate (NZL)/Luke Roberts (AUS), 45 p., at 12 laps: 12 Didier Caspers/Melvin van Zijl (NED), 19 p., at 13 laps: 13 Guy East/Daniel Holloway (USA), 9 p.

Live stream
You can follow the Amsterdam Six Day 2013 via the livestream at www.sixdayracing.com, from 19:20cet with English commentary by Carlton Kirby and former world champion Tony Doyle. Eurosport commentator Martijn Berkhout and Vacansoleil-DCM Sports Director Michel Cornelisse are responsible for the Dutch commentary.