Risi accepts a tearful farewell from colleagues and fans
Switzerland's Bruno Risi (L) and Franco Marvulli (R) of the SalzburgerLand team greet the crowd in the opening of the Munich Six Days. (Image credit: AFP)
Bruno Risi won his final appearance at the Munich Six-Day race, before waving a tearful farewell to the German public on Tuesday night. The Swiss rider and partner Franco Marvulli came back from second place to take the overall victory in the final night. It was the ninth win for Risi at the event.
The Swiss duo won the event ahead of Denmark's Alex Rasmussen and Michael Mørkøv, who had led after the fifth night. Lief Lampater and Christian Grasmann of Germany finished third.
Risi is retiring at the end of this season. He was driven to tears as both his colleagues as the public bade him farewell. “That was a very emotion moment for me,” he said, according to the German news agency dpa. “What I experienced here in Munich was simply great.”
The lead in the event had swung back and forth between the Swiss and Danish riders for the whole six days. The Danes led going into the final night and lost by only three points, as the Swiss pair claimed the final sprint.
"Losing a big and prestigious Six-Day race like Munich's by three points and in the very last sprint is almost impossible to bear," said Mørkøv. "It has been up and down for us all week but it was a great Saturday and an equally fantastic Monday. Alex and I had agreed that we would go for the victory and not just settle for second best, so we were on the attack.”
Once again there were fewer spectators at the Olympia Park than hoped for. Only 52,100 fans turned out for the event over the six days, which was 8,000 fewer than last year, and 12,000 fewer than anticipated. “We have clearly failed to meet our goal, that is clear,” said race organiser Klaus Cyron.
It is not clear whether the Six-Day race will be held again in 2011, or whether the format will be changed. However, Olympia Park boss Ralph Huber promised, “We will try everything to continue this traditional event in one form or another.”
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