Home crowd favourites Alex Rasmussen and Michael Mørkøv managed to maintain their lead in the Six Days of Copenhagen, but only just. Despite losing a lap in the early Madison on the third night, the Danish duo stayed on top at the half-way point thanks to a crucial bonus lap.
However, their principal rivals, Marc Hester and Leif Lampater, remain right behind them and appear ready to gain a bonus lap to recapture he lead.
Basically, the overall classification remains locked in a three-way battle. Rasmussen and Mørkøv lost a lap in the first Madison but gained it back going over 200 points, hitting 219. Leif Lampater and Marc Hester, 189 points, and Robert Bartko and Marcel Kalz, 168 points, trail but on the same lap. Surely, both Hester/Lampater and Bartko/Kalz will cross the 200 points mark before the final on Tuesday evening. However, given their strength in other disciplines, such as the time trial events and the team elimination, Rasmussen and Mørkøv also look set to cross the 300 points mark. The outcome of the race may come down to whether or not Hester/Lampater manage to cross the 300 points mark or whether or not Rasmussen/Mørkøv can reach 400 point. The former seems more realistic than the latter.
Obviously, Lampater and Hester were flashing the broadest smiles after the first Madison. They won the chase and took 20 points. The other big team, Bartko and Kalz, came along for the lap. The Austrians joined too and gained a lap to edge closer to the top three. It was a wild Madison characterized by an avalanche of attacks and counter-attacks and at certain points it seemed as if Bartko/Kalz and Hester/Lampater were purposefully teaming up against the Danish duo – much to the frustration of Alex Rasmussen who was visibly annoyed and making ironic gestures towards his competitors during the Madison.
Austrians Müller and Graf worked free with three other lower ranked teams in the last chase of the evening. They won the sprint in commanding fashion and collected more points and are now within reach of a bonus lap. However, they are trailing by too many points to pose a realistic threat as far as winning the race is concerned. But they will be lying in wait, ready to pounce and climb onto the podium if one of the leading three teams should falter.
Overall classification after day 3:
1 Alex Rasmussen - Michael Mørkøv 219 points
2 Marc Hester - Leif Lampater 189
3 Robert Bartko - Marcel Kalz 168
At 1 lap:
4 Andreas Müller - Andreas Graf 81
At 2 laps:
5 Jesper Mørkøv - Wim Stroetinga 133
6 Albert Torres - Vojtech Hacecky 104
At 6 laps:
7 Luke Robets - Nick Stöpler 40
At 15 laps:
8 Mads Christensen - Tristan Marguet 112
9 Guy East - Daniel Holloway 82
10 Niki Byrgesen - Marcel Barth 52
At 20 laps:
11 Melvin Van Zijl - Didier Caspers 48
At 21 laps:
12 Hans Pirius - Sebastian Wotschke 66
13 Simon Bigum - Nico Hesslich 65
At 23 laps:
14 Mathias Krigbaum - Vivien Brisse 83
At 25 laps:
15 Martin Hacecky - Achim Burkart 59
Nico CLAESSENS 39 years | today |
Miriam ROMEI 29 years | today |
Jon-Anders BEKKEN 26 years | today |
Thomas JOLY 29 years | today |
Simone CARRO 24 years | today |
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