November 28, 2005 – The z6s-daagse Vlaanderen Gent is a huge winter party for the city of Gent and this year the local fans had a lot to cheer about. Matthew Gilmore the veteran of 100 six-day races and Iljo Keisse the youthful track star from Gent combined for the first time in Gent to defeat last year’s winners the Dutch duo, Robert Slippens and Danny Stam, in a dramatic finale.

The last day’s event began on Sunday afternoon at 1:30pm with Gilmore/Keisse in first place with 310 points and 0 laps. In second place were Slippens/Stam at 1 lap with 284 points. Also 1-lap down were the veterans Bruno Risi/Kurt Betschart with 189 points. Both Risi/Betschart and Slippens/Stam were poised to gain a bonus lap if they passed the 100-point mark. Thus all the frontrunners would be tied at zero points and it would be a battle for points.

The Team Points Race was won by Marvulli/Villa gaining 16 points with Risi/Betschart 2nd with 11 points and Slippens /Stam with 10 points.

The Team Elimination was won by Slippens/Stam gaining 15 points and the bonus lap which put them only three points behind Gilmore/Keisse. During the Team Elimination there was a serious crash in the first corner. Dimitri De Fauw, a local track star and fan favorite, hit a slick spot on the track above the blue line and came tumbling to the bottom of the track, but not before he took out Bruno Risi who catapulted over De Fauw as he was falling. Both riders were seriously injured and had to be taken from the track for medical attention. It appeared that De Fauw and Risi had knee injuries and it was doubtful that they would return to the race.

Slippens/Stam took the Flying Sprint with a speed of 68.497km/hr. Gilmore/Keisse were in 5th place. Matthew Gilmore won the Derny Final with the Dutch gangmaker Joop Zijlaard. Slippens/Stam were now leading with 327 points over Gilmore/Keisse with 321 points.

The Individual Elimination did not change the status of the front runners as Robert Hayles from Great Britain won. Christian Grasmann (Ger) won the second Derny Final. The team of Grasmann/Hester also won the 500m Sprint Time Trial in 63.807km/hr with the same time as Marvulli/Villa.

The Supersprint was won by Pennsylvania track star Marty Nothstein who rides for Navigators Cycling Team.

We are now down to the last event the 60-minute, 50 lap Madison. De Fauw and Risi were now officially out of the race and a new team of Kurt Betschart (SWI) and Andreas Beikirch was formed.

At 10 minutes 30 seconds into the race Slippens/Stam were at 329 points, Gilmore/Keisse were in 2nd place at 325 points and the new team of Betschart/Beikirch was at 222, all at 0 laps. In fourth place and looking very strong were Bartko/McGrory, who had 301 points and were 1 lap down.

At 22 minutes Robert Slippens attacked and Gilmore/Keisse countered his move. Two minutes later Slippens/Stam tried again. By 25 minutes Slippens/Stam had a one-lap lead. The see-saw for the lead continued as Gilmore/Keisse gained the lap back at 26 minutes 15 seconds. At 29 minutes the troops were riding tempo and trying to catch their breath from all the attacking.

Now we were halfway through the final race with Slippens/Stam being shadowed by Gilmore/Keisse. When either of the riders attackec, their rival was on their wheel. At 60 minutes all was still even. There was perfect symmetry to the riding with the hand sling of riders and racers taking turns at the front and then peeling off to the end of the pack.

In the final Madison after the 60 minutes of riding, sprint points were awarded every 10 laps of the final 50 laps. The drama continued as Slippens edged Gilmore in Sprint 1. Iljo Keisse won Sprint 2 nipping Danny Stam. Sprint 3 went to Gilmore and it came down to the final sprint as the superstar from Gent, Iljo Keisse, came over the top of Robert Slippens on the final straightaway to win, pumping his hand in the air with a victory salute. What a finale!

It has been an exciting week at the Gent 6-day. Of all the European Six-Day Races this is perhaps the classic. The riders love coming here as do the cycling fans from throughout Europe and North America.
Results

Points race

1 Franco Marvulli (Swi)/Marco Villa (Ita) 16 pts
2 Bruno Risi/Kurt Betschart (Swi) 11
3 Robert Slippens/Danny Stam (Ned) 10
4 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel)/Matthé Pronk (Ned) 6
5 Marty Nothstein (USA)/Juan Llaneras (Spa) 6
6 Christian Grasmann (Ger)/Marc Hester (Den) 5
7 Kenny De Ketele (Bel)/Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) 4
8 Robert Bartko (Ger)/Scott Mcgrory (Aus) 4
9 Peter Schep (Ned)/Gerd Dörich (Ger) 3
10 Matthew Gilmore/Iljo Keisse (Bel) 1
11 Robert Hayles/Mark Cavendish (GBr)
12 Steven Deneef/Steve Schets (Bel)
13 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel)/Andreas Beikirch (Ger)

Team elimination

1 Robert Slippens/Danny Stam (Ned) 15 pts
2 Robert Bartko (Ger)/Scott Mcgrory (Aus) 10
3 Christian Grasmann (Ger)/Marc Hester (Den) 8
4 Kenny De Ketele (Bel)/Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) 6
5 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel)/Matthé Pronk (Ned) 4
6 Matthew Gilmore/Iljo Keisse (Bel) 2
7 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel)/Andreas Beikirch (Ger)
8 Bruno Risi/Kurt Betschart (Swi)
9 Peter Schep (Ned)/Gerd Dörich (Ger)
10 Robert Hayles/Mark Cavendish (GBr)
11 Marty Nothstein (USA)/Juan Llaneras (Spa)
12 Franco Marvulli (Swi)/Marco Villa (Ita)
13 Steven Deneef/Steve Schets (Bel)

1 lap time trial

1 Robert Slippens/Danny Stam (Ned) 15 pts
2 Robert Bartko (Ger)/Scott Mcgrory (Aus) 10
3 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel)/Matthé Pronk (Ned) 8
4 Marty Nothstein (USA)/Juan Llaneras (Spa) 6
5 Matthew Gilmore/Iljo Keisse (Bel) 4
6 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel)/Andreas Beikirch (Ger) 2
7 Christian Grasmann (Ger)/Marc Hester (Den)
8 Robert Hayles/Mark Cavendish (GBr)
9 Kenny De Ketele (Bel)/Alexander Aeschbach (Swi)
10 Steven Deneef/Steve Schets (Bel)
11 Peter Schep (Ned)/Gerd Dörich (Ger)
12 Franco Marvulli (Swi)/Marco Villa (Ita)
13 Bruno Risi/Kurt Betschart (Swi)

Derny finale (1-6)

1 Matthew Gilmore (Bel) 5 pts
2 Kurt Betschart (Swi) 4
3 Danny Stam (Ned) 3
4 Robert Bartko (Ger) 2
5 Juan Llaneras (Spa) 1
6 Marco Villa (Ita)

Elimination

1 Robert Hayles (GBr) 15 pts
2 Franco Marvulli (Swi) 10
3 Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) 8
4 Scott Mcgrory (Aus) 6
5 Marty Nothstein (USA) 4
6 Marc Hester (Den) 2
7 Steven Deneef (Bel)
8 Gerd Dörich (Ger)
9 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel)
10 Iljo Keisse (Bel)
11 Andreas Beikirch (Ger)
12 Robert Slippens (Ned)
13 Bruno Risi (Swi)

Derny final (7-12)

1 Kenny De Ketele (Bel) 5 pts
2 Andreas Beikirch (Ger) 4
3 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) 3
4 Steven Deneef (Bel) 2
5 Mark Cavendish (GBr) 1
6 Christian Grasmann (Ger)

Team 500m time trial

1 Christian Grasmann (Ger)/Marc Hester (Den) 15 pts
2 Franco Marvulli (Swi)/Marco Villa (Ita) 10
3 Robert Hayles/Mark Cavendish (GBr) 8
4 Robert Bartko (Ger)/Scott Mcgrory (Aus) 6
5 Matthew Gilmore/Iljo Keisse (Bel) 4
6 Robert Slippens/Danny Stam (Ned) 2
7 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel)/Matthé Pronk (Ned)
8 Marty Nothstein (USA)/Juan Llaneras (Spa)
9 Kenny De Ketele (Bel)/Alexander Aeschbach (Swi)
10 Steven Deneef/Steve Schets (Bel)
11 Peter Schep (Ned)/Gerd Dörich (Ger)
12 Bruno Risi/Kurt Betschart (Swi)
13 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel)/Andreas Beikirch (Ger)

Supersprint

1 Marty Nothstein (USA)/Juan Llaneras (Spa) 15 pts
2 Steven Deneef/Steve Schets (Bel) 10
3 Christian Grasmann (Ger)/Marc Hester (Den) 8
4 Franco Marvulli (Swi)/Marco Villa (Ita) 6
5 Peter Schep (Ned)/Gerd Dörich (Ger) 4
6 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel)/Matthé Pronk (Ned) 2
7 Andreas Beikirch (Ger)/Kurt Betschart (Swi)
8 Matthew Gilmore/Iljo Keisse (Bel)
9 Kenny De Ketele (Bel)/Alexander Aeschbach (Swi)
10 Robert Bartko (Ger)/Scott Mcgrory (Aus)
11 Robert Hayles/Mark Cavendish (GBr)
12 Robert Slippens/Danny Stam (Ned)

Final Classification

1 Matthew Gilmore/Iljo Keisse (Bel) 371 pts
2 Robert Slippens/Danny Stam (Ned) 363
3 Andreas Beikirch (Ger)/Kurt Betschart (Swi) 234

1 lap behind

4 Robert Bartko (Ger)/Scott Mcgrory (Aus) 313 pts


9 laps behind

5 Kenny De Ketele (Bel)/Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) 179 pts


10 laps behind

6 Franco Marvulli (Swi)/Marco Villa (Ita) 237 pts

18 laps behind

7 Marty Nothstein (USA)/Juan Llaneras (Spa) 140 pts

23 laps behind

8 Peter Schep (Ned)/Gerd Dörich (Ger) 52 pts

24 laps behind

9 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel)/Matthé Pronk (Ned) 164 pts
10 Steven Deneef/Steve Schets (Bel) 150

26 laps behind

11 Christian Grasmann (Ger)/Marc Hester (Den) 159 pts

34 laps behind

12 Robert Hayles/Mark Cavendish (GBr) 141 pts
13 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel)/Andreas Beikirch (Ger)