Friday, March 29, 2024

Zürich Six Day 2012 – Part I

-

HomeDiariesZürich Six Day 2012 - Part I

Germany, somewhere near the Taunus mountains at 09:22 Sunday. We left the velodrome of the Zürich Six Day at 03:00 and there are still 400 kilometres to go to the ferry at Amsterdam.

It began to snow like Hell about an hour into Germany; there were roadworks, we were diverted off the motorway and there were either no diversion signs or they were snow bound.

Whichever it was, we ended up hideously lost and dropped a chunk of time.

But once the sun comes up, it all doesn’t seem quite as grim: despite the spray and demented German drivers. We passed the emergency services at one incident where a hot hatch was lodged in the branches of a tree – crazy.

Zürich Six Day
The final podium of the Six.

And on the subject of dangerous surfaces; Kenny De Ketele and Peter Schep confirmed that they were the strongest pair on the rattling boards of Zürich to relegate Roger Kluge and Danilo Hondo to third.

Zürich Six Day
Kenny and Peter discuss tactics before one of the chases.
Zürich Six Day
A moustache-less Kenny De Ketele pops into our cabin for a chat.

(But Hondo is still the coolest man on the winter boards – just shading it from Iljo Keisse.)

Despite home boys Franco Marvulli and Tristan Marguet’s dominance in the time trials; when it came to the essence of what Six Day racing is all about – the chases – they didn’t have the horsepower of the men from the north.

For a while it looked as if Switzerland’s new ‘Golden Boy,’ Silvan Dillier – who was on the podium at Gent – might do the business, but once World Champion De Ketele and super stylist Schep got their noses ahead, no one was going to take a lap back.

None of our three riders set the boards aflame, but Adam Blythe won a Derny race – and there was a personal triumph in finishing for Martin Hacecky, who was unwell the night before and had doubts about even starting the final chase.

Zürich Six Day
Adam on his way to winning the Derny event.

And the next time someone tells you that the Six Days are all fixed, direct them to Adam Blythe, Martin Hacecky or Alois Kankovsky and ask them to tell you about night three at Zürich 2012; savage isn’t the word; there were men in tears coming off that track – and I don’t exaggerate.

* * *

Here’s what I wrote on Saturday morning, on the eve of the finale.

Franco Marvulli wants to win his home Six Day – but I don’t think that Kenny De Ketele agrees with that.

Zürich Six Day
Kenny De Ketele at the start of the Six Day (it was still Movember).

Marvulli/Marguet and De Ketele/Schep are strong, but so too are Dillier/O’Shea and Hondo/Kluge – with Hansen/Hester, Lampater/Grasmann and Graf/Müller all very capable, too.

It’s a solid, balanced field and the big chases are good to watch – there are two madisons each night; a 100 or 125 lap ‘opener’ and 200, 250 or 300 as the main chase of the night.

The final chase will be over 250 laps at 00:45 tomorrow morning – Sunday.

Zürich Six Day
Some of the guys use yoga to relax and recover between races.

There aren’t many negs to report from the VeloVeritas camp – great hotel, decent cabins, good food at the track and three cool riders to work with.

Zürich Six Day
And as a bonus we have Mr. Peter Jacques on the team to assist and entertain.

Pete is in Zürich as part of the German team which builds the track – or in this case, nearly didn’t.

The container with one of the bankings went astray and it was all hands on deck to get the ‘bahn’ ready for the race.

Zürich Six Day
Pete was working hard on the track build.

The race was cut back to a four day, last year.

If you’re a Six Day organiser then one of your biggest costs is renting the hall – cutting back to four days makes a big difference to the sums.

Grenoble has followed suit and cut back to four days – and we’ve actually heard a rumour that there will be no race there in 2012.

Let’s hope not.

Zürich Six Day
Adam is visited by his boss Andy. Photo©Pete Jacques.

Zürich has run since 1954, although there was a break from 2001 to 2006.

‘Recordman’ is Bruno Risi on 11 wins – seven with brother-in-law, Kurt Betschart, two with Danny Stam and two with Franco Marvulli.

Winners last year were ‘Marvellous’ Franco and Iljo Keisse – having the Belgian as a partner doesn’t do your chances of winning a Six Day any harm, it must be said.

Zürich Six Day
Tristan and Franco win another madison time trial.

None of our guys will be on the podium – but a race isn’t just about the first three.

Martin Hacecky was meant to ride with brother Vojtech but when the latter went down sick, Alois Kankovsky stepped in.

Zürich Six Day
Martin Hacecky.

Martin and Alois ride for the Dukla Prague Continental team and have good palmarés.

Martin was junior time trial champion of the Czech Republic and spent time racing in Italy where he was a good climber.

He rode a year for Swiss Continental team Atlas before he returned to Dukla where he began his pro career.

Even although he had four wins in the Czech Republic in 2012, his job on the squad is to provide horsepower for team mate Alois.

Zürich Six Day
Alois puts out some power in the sprints.

Alois was World Omnium Champion in Palma in 2007 and has strong track palmarés, with a Worlds Madison bronze as well as World Cup and European medals.

But he’s a big finisher on the road, too.

The Dukla boys keep it together and Alois finishes it off; Martin tells me that he’s seen SRM files for Alois which show 2,000 plus watts in sprints – that’s serious power.

He’s won this year in Poland, Azerbaijan, Austria and China – as well as his native Czech Republic.

They’re both sound guys, there’s no ‘prima donna‘ stuff from Eastern Europeans.

Zürich Six Day
Alois takes an interest in the other racing.
Zürich Six Day
Adam and Pete relax in the cabin.

Adam Blythe is also very easy to work with; Adam bailed out of the GB ‘Academy’ to follow his own path in Belgium, so he hasn’t been cosseted, unlike some we could mention.

It’s a while since Adam has been on the boards – although he was European U23 Team Pursuit Champion in his youth and won the Ghent UiV cup with Peter Kennaugh.

He arrived in Zürich, and then via separate routes, so did his bikes and BMC madison shorts.

Zürich Six Day
Adam’s new shoes.

He has cool new white Nike shoes, too – we’ve already told him that he might not go the fastest but he’ll look the best.

He’s proper ‘old school,’ keeping himself warm and grabbing naps as often as he can – we like that.

Zürich Six Day
Adam catches 40 winks.

On the subject of ‘old school,’ the race magazine has 38 year-old Danilo Hondo down as the ‘last of the Mohicans’ – the only big road name you’ll still find on the winter boards.

Zürich Six Day
Danilo Hondo.

And he’s still the coolest man alive.

On the subject of cool guys, deejay Peter Traynor, ‘Mr. Music’ stopped in to see us, with an; ‘och aye, the noo!

But he’s allowed to poke fun at us, as long as he has that soft spot for our favourite Gloria Gaynor tunes.

Zürich Six Day
The DJ here at the Six, Peter Traynor.

The first night passed without too much incident, albeit Kenny De Ketele and Adam’s partner, Wim Stroetinga hit the boards.

Zürich Six Day
Wim and Adam change.
Zürich Six Day
Adam’s tired.

At the end of the night, Dirk, our mechanic asked Adam; ‘on a scale, one to 10, how hard was the last chase?

Adam didn’t need to think for long; ‘9.5 !

Result - Zürich Six Day 2012

Final Standings, Profis – Schlussrangliste

1 De Ketele Kenny (BEL) / Schep Peter (NED) 190pts
2 Hondo Danilo (GER) / Kluge Roger (GER) 175pts
@ 1 Lap
3 Marvulli Franco (SUI) / Marguet Tristan (SUI) 302pts
4 Dillier Silvan (SUI) / O’Shea Glenn (AUS) 226pts
@ 2 Laps
5 Lampater Leif (GER) / Grasmann Christian (GER) 144pts
@ 7 Laps
6 Graf Andreas (AUT) / Müller Andreas (AUT) 56pts
@ 10 Laps
7 Hansen Lasse (DEN) / Hester Marc (DEN) 107pts
@ 12 Laps
8 Muntaner David (ESP) / Mora Sebastian (ESP) 110pts
@ 20 Laps
9 Stroetinga Wim (NED) / Blythe Adam (GBR) 91pts
10 Aeschbach Alexander (SUI) / Keller Jan (SUI) 75pts
11 Hacecky Martin (CZE) / Kankovsky Alois (CZE) 28pts
@ 25 Laps
12 Perizzolo Loïc (SUI) / Horstmann Samuel (SUI) 66pts

 

Ed Hood
Ed Hood
Ed's been involved in cycling for over 50 years. In that time he's been a successful time triallist, a team manager and a sponsor of several teams and clubs. He's also a respected and successful coach and during the winter months was often working in the cabins at the Six Days for some of the world's top riders. Ed remains a massive fan of the sport and couples his extensive contacts with an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the minutiae and the history of our sport. In February 2023 however, our dear friend and beloved colleague Ed suffered a devastating stroke and faces an uncertain future; Ed has lost his ability to speak, to read, and has lost movement on the right side of his body. He's working with speech and physical therapists on rehabilitation, but all strokes are different and each patient responds differently, so unfortunately recovery is one day at a time. Ed ran his own business installing windows, and will probably not be able to work again. Please consider joining us to make a contribution to Ed's GoFundMe page to help stabilise and secure his future.

Related Articles

Gent Six Day 2009 Finalé-Revisited

The Gent Six Day 2009 kicks off next week, so as a way to build the excitement we thought we'd revisit last year's finalé, with VeloVeritas' own Ed Hood there and working for the Danish World Madison Champions, Saxo Bank riders Alex Rasmussen and Michael Mørkøv, as well as Swiss star Franco Marvulli. Read on!...

Rotterdam Six Day 2011 – D Minus 1

"Hello Mr. Sercu, how's life?" I ask at the Rotterdam Six Day 2011. "Well, I'm still alive!" comes the reply. He's a 'glass half empty' kind of a guy is Patrick, sometimes. But he's sport director here at the 6-daagse Rotterdam and not to be messed with. And he has a lot on his mind; his 'boy' Iljo Keisse may be smiling out at me from the 'programmakrant;' but there's no one smiling at UCI HQ in Switzerland. They've instructed Frank Boele, the organiser here, that Iljo is not to start...

Giro d’Italia – Day 2: Stage 16, Pergola – Monte Petrano

La Gazzetta Dello Sport doesn't like Gibo Simoni, he gets a 3 out of 10 for yesterday's effort, where he contrived to drop 17:59 on the stage - ouch! Saving it for today's stage to Monte Petrano? We'll see.

Le Tour de France 2012 – First Rest Day

Bonjour! VeloVeritas joins le Tour. The hotel is the Formule 1, Viry, with a wonderful view of a pile of tyres – it’s a glamorous life. But we’re not complaining. Easyjet, Edinburgh to Geneva wasn’t too bad, finding the car hire was a bit of a magical mystery tour but we were soon headed for Mâcon, our credentials and the Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank hotel.

At Random

Saunier Duval Team Launch 2008 – Day 1

The Saunier Duval Team Launch 2008 squad changed a little from last season - the team is made up of 26 riders, and one of its distinctive features will be it's youth: there will be no less than nine men under 24 years of age, and thus the team will be the second youngest in the ProTour peloton. The second distinctive feature of the team this season will be improved training: two personal trainers have been hired: Sergio Gelati, who worked with the team in 2007.

Gary Hand – Herbalife’s New Recruit

If there’s one thing we admire here at VeloVeritas, it has to be enthusiasm for the sport. Scottish road scene stalwart, Gary Hand - Herbalife has it in spades – so when he emails to say that he’s joined a new team for 2013 and has big goals for the next two seasons, we best get right back to him and get the story; even if it is Boxing Day.

A Day at the ‘Duinencross’ – the Koksijde Cyclo-Cross 2014

We're at the Gent Six Day, and of course, the pils still gets the better of a few of the ‘don’t get out much brigade.’ Friday night didn’t see the best madison chase ever, and on a unanimous decision we headed for frites – and beer. We love the Vivaldi, the landlady, the crazy clientele, the 70’s Disco and the fact that no matter how late we stay, we’ve never seen closing time... And the Saturday of the Gent Six Day means just one thing – the big ‘cross at Koksijde.

Le Tour de France 2012 – Stage 1: Liège – Seraing 198 km.

As Dave said during the Tour de Suisse; ‘Sagan’s winning just for fun.’ And that’s how it looked today. It’s not just his speed in the sprint and up the inclines; it’s his ability to read the race - he didn’t waste himself by marking Chava but was on Cancellara like a ferret. Add to that the confidence which enable him to ignore Capo Cancellara’s flicked elbows and switches and you have all the ingredients off the most exciting prospect cycling has seen since V de B.