The opening night of the Gent Six Days turned out to be a highly dramatic affair with two riders crashing so severely that they might be compelled to abandon the race altogether.

World scratch champion Martyn Irvine, who teams up with Marc Hester, was carried off the track on a stretcher few minutes into the first madison of the evening. At first a fractured femur was feared but that has yet to be confirmed.

Later the Australian rider Luke Roberts, who partners with veteran rider Franco Marvulli, hit the track and remained lying for a long time. According to reports from Belgium the Aussie has probably suffered a fractured collarbone and is unlikely to return to the race.

Thus it seems probable that Marvulli and Hester will team up for the remainder of the race.

French world Madison champions Kneisky/Brisse took the opening Madison, while Belgian duo De Ketele/Van Hoecke claimed the second and longest Madison on the opening night.

However, the overall lead is enjoyed by the Belgian/German constellation De Buyst/Lampater who amassed enough points in the early disciplines to secure the lead as they stayed in the same lap as three other teams.

Home crowd favourite Iljo Keisse sits comfortably in third place with his Dutch team mate Wm Stroetinga.

Classification after day 1:

1 Jasper De Buyst (Belgium) - Leif Lampater (Germany) 85 points

2 Kenny De Ketele - Gijs Van Hoecke (Belgium) 75

3 Iljo Keisse (Belgium) - Wim Stroetinga (Holland) 69

4 Morgan Kneisky - Vivien Brisse (France) 49

At 1 lap

5 Silvan Dillier - Tristan Marguet (Switzerland) 25

6 Christian Grasmann (Germany) - Andreas Graf (Austria) 20

7 Martyn Irvine (Ireland) - Marc Hester (Denmark) 9

At 2 laps

8 Andreas Müller (Austria) - Yoeri Havik (Holland) 28

9 David Muntaner - Albert Torres (Spain) 11

10 Franco Marvulli (Switzerland) - Luke Roberts (Australia) 11

At 3 laps

11 Robert Bartko - Marcel Kalz (Tyskland) 15

12 Jesper Mørkøv (Denmark) - Claudio Imhof (Switzerland) 6

At 4 laps

13 Moreno De Pauw - Nicky Cocquyt (Belgium) 32