Just a little bit less pressure from powerful Lampater and Kalz was enough for the local heroes, Danish pair no. 7, to emphasize their status as main favourites to triumph in the 2015 edition of the Six Days of Copanhagen. Even though the overnight leaders, de Buyst and Hester, managed to stay on top of the standings when Friday night came to an end, Rasmussen and Morkov definitely were on fire and even more should be expected from former track world champions on Saturday.

„It feels fantastic to hear the supporter in the arena! Yet again you guys were suplim! Great TT effort from Jasper De Buyst , made us keep the points lead. thanks for the pain mate,” Hester again praised his team-mate on his Facebook account.

Even though de Buyst emphazised on Friday morning that he shouldn't be considered as favourite to take the final victory in Copanhagen, such statement apparently left a motivation of the 21-year old Lotto-Belisol rider intact. The Belgian-Danish pair opened up the rivalry on the best possible fashion, claiming a fair share of points in a sprints competition and winning a prestigeous team elimination in the finale against Lampater and Kalz.

The 60-minutes long Madison race brought an excitement to an entirely different level, though, as the home crowd favourites for the first time showed off their power and emphasized clear intentions to take another victory in the Copanhagen event. All breakaway attempts made by Rasmussen and Morkov were controlled by the German pair on the Thursday night, but Danes were flying again on Friday as slightly weaker Lampater and Kalz took a pressure off. Pair no. 7 won the first long chase of the evening, but de Buyst and Hester maintained their lead thanks to reaching the 100-points mark.

Danes continued their winning strike on Friday, as young Jonas Aaen took the first derny race and Michael Morkov in a truly impressive style triumphed in the second, cheering the local crowd. The team pursuit, however, turned out to be a one man show, as Jasper de Buyst let his partner Marc Hester ride in his slipstream for the most of the distance, eventually clocking the best time and strengthening their overall lead.

The Berlin Six winners, Lampater and Kalz, were certainly a little bit off the pace on Friday night, but nonetheless the one-lap specialist took another victory in his favourite discipline, beating Rasmussen and de Buyst once again.

The final Madison was once again controlled by aggressively riding Rasmussen and Morkov, who visibly upped a pace halfway through the distance and watched covered all moves made by the German and Belgian-Danish pairs. In the end the top three combinations finished the night at the same lap with de Buyst/Hester leading in points, while underdogs Grasmann/Morkov took the final sprint in the long chase and thus shortened their distance to main contenders.

The racing should be even more exciting on Saturday, as two sessions of tough rivalry should divide real title contenders from two-day wonders, and at the moment there are more questionable points than answers: will the German pair recover after a slightly disappointing second day of competition? Are the Danes able to continue applying pressure on their rivals? Will Hester match a strength of his younger partner? And finally, can Grasmann and Morkov cause some surprise? CyclingQuotes will be there again, and bring you all the answers..

 

The Six Days of Copenhagen classification after day two:
1. Jasper de Buyst – Marc Hester 137

2. Alex Rasmussen – Michael Morkov 119

3. Leif Lampater – Marcel Kalz 102

at one lap

4. Christian Grassman – Jesper Morkov 81

5. Andreas Muller – Andreas Graf 42

at 11 laps

6. Denis Rugovac – Martic Hacecky 30

7. Melvin van Zijl – Didier Caspers 24

at 12 laps

8. Jake Duehring – Daniel Holloway 31

9. Nick Stopler – Mathias Krigbaum 31

10. Martin Blaha – Vojtech Hacecky 22

at 17 laps

11. Simon Bigum – Elias Helleskov Busk 23

12. Jiri Hochmann – Achim Burkart 9

at 18 laps

13. Nikola Aistrup – Jonas Aaen 30

at 20 laps

14. Manuel Cazzaro – Filippo Fortin 40

15. Sebastian Wotschke – Hans Pirius 33