Niki Terpstra and Iljo Keisse are back in the lead of the Six-Days of Rotterdam at the halfway point after dethroning Jasper De Buyst and Kenny De Ketele on the third day of racing. In the below analysis of the third night, UIV president Henrik Elmgreen claims that the extra distance in the final madison took its toll on the riders.

The distance of the final Madison on the golden Saturday evening in Rotterdam was expanded from 200 to 250 laps (50 lm) and this fact really meant something, not only for the minor teams but surelu also for the boys fighting in the top of the overall. In the last 50 laps things came a little bit out of hand and the finish was confusing, even for live stream commentator Tony Doyle, one of the most experienced men in the world of Sixdays. But we don’t blame him for that, because things went really fast on that occasion.

But no doubt about the outcome: Iljo Keisse and partner Niki Terpstra won the chase and are now leading the “Zesdaagse van Rotterdam” with one lap. De Ketele – De Buyst lost their one lap lead from Friday and they are even one lap down in the overall by now, but that can easily be fixed on Sunday, because the team only misses three small points in order to get a bonus lap for passing the 200 points (which Keisse – Terpstra already did at the end of the Saturday). Mouris – Stroetinga came reasonable “undamaged” out of the business while Danes Mørkøv – Rasmussen will find themselves two laps down, when they look at the overall this morning. Also they have a bonus lap within reach, but it doesn’t hide the fact, that they are at this moment one step behind in the fight for victory.

A little bit about the other teams: Remarkable that Lampater and Barry Markus still holds a position just three laps behind the leaders. On Saturday, they won the early madison of 100 laps. Fine racing by Markus but also once again a sign of the excellent condition of  Lampater this season. In nearly all races he has been one of the best riders on the track, even if you can’t always see it from the results.

A little bit the same goes for Marc Hester. Here in Rotterdam he is riding in the rainbow jersey because his French partner Vivien Brisse is the reigning Madison World Champion, but the champion in this team is the Dane. Also Hester has been riding very well this season, and he is surely not to blame for not obtaining the results, he deserved.

In the rear end of the peloton the Belkin team Bos – Brown are coming along, better and better from day to day after the disaster on the opening evening. On the third day Graeme Brown had also found his legs, and the team slowly moves forward in the overall.

It is still not the old Marvulli we are seeing here in Rotterdam, but after all a better version than we saw in Ghent and Zurich. And in the 400 Meter TT the Swiss team are the masters. So far they have recorded best time all three evenings with 21,258 Sec. (67,739 Km/H) as their fastest time, achieved Saturday evening. Bos – Brown and Bartko – Kalz has being 2nd and 3rd respectively all three days.