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The derny rases the speed to close to 60km/h (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 2 of 48
Iljo Keisse and Michael Morkov in action (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 3 of 48
Iljo Keisse (Bel) and Eddy Merckx (Bel) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 4 of 48
The derny race sparked some high-speed racing (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 5 of 48
The Gent Six is probably the most popular on the winter circuit (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 6 of 48
The track centre was packed with spectators (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 7 of 48
A view of the Gent velodrome on the opening night (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 8 of 48
The Gent track is tight making for a fast race (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 9 of 48
Holding the wheel of the derny is vital (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 10 of 48
Marc Hester is part of team number five (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 11 of 48
Jasper De Buyst wears number one (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 12 of 48
Marc Hester has slight lead (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 13 of 48
Kenny De Ketele in the derny slipstream (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 14 of 48
The Gent derny drivers have years of experience (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 15 of 48
Kenny De Ketele was flying (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 16 of 48
Markov sits in tight behind his derny (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 17 of 48
Iljo Keisse checks how much skin he lost in the crash (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 18 of 48
Britain's Chris Lawless shows off his beard (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 19 of 48
Roy Pieters leads the peloton (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 20 of 48
Stijn Steels is riding for Topsport Vlaanderen (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 21 of 48
Moreno De Pauw goes on the attack (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 22 of 48
Danish pair Alex Rasmussen and Marc Hester make a change (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 23 of 48
Iljo Keisse and Michael Morkov close up (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 24 of 48
Iljo Keisse and Michael Morkov are the favourites for overall victory (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 25 of 48
Tristan Marguet is treated by para-medics (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 26 of 48
Iljo Keisse gets checked out by the para-medics (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 27 of 48
Iljo Keisse needed some time to recover from his crash (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 28 of 48
Tristan Marguet went down hard (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 29 of 48
Iljo Keisse was not happy to have crashed on the opening night (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 30 of 48
Security measurements at Gent Six Day (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 31 of 48
Tristan Marguet (Sui) and Claudio Imhof (Sui) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 32 of 48
Alex Rasmussen (Den) and Marc Hester (Den (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 33 of 48
Iljo Keisse (Bel) and Michael Morkov (Den) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 34 of 48
Otto Vergaerde (Bel) and Jasper De Buyst (Bel) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 35 of 48
Michael Morkov (Den) and Iljo Keisse (Bel) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 36 of 48
Kenny De Ketele (Bel) and Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 37 of 48
Jasper De Buyst (Bel) and Iljo Keisse (Bel) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 38 of 48
Jasper De Buyst (Bel) and Michael Morkov (Den) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 39 of 48
Melvin Van Zijl (Ned) and Christopher Lawless (Gbr) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 40 of 48
Otto Vergaerde (Bel) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 41 of 48
Eddy Merckx (Bel) at the Gent Six Day opening night (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 42 of 48
Andreas Muller (Ger) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 43 of 48
Iljo Keisse (Bel) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 44 of 48
Iljo Keisse (Bel) and Michael Morkov (Den) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 45 of 48
Gent Six Day opening night (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 46 of 48
Iljo Keisse (Bel) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 47 of 48
Rob Discart Race Organizer with Michael Morkov (Den) and Iljo Keisse (Bel) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 48 of 48
Kenny De Ketele (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) The Gent Six Day opened Monday night in Belgium, with four-time winner Eddy Merckx on hand to greet the racers and help start the proceedings.
The race, which dates back to 1922, takes place November 17-22 in the legendary 'Kuipke' cycling stadium on the steeply banked 166.66m wooden track.
Lotto Soudal's Jasper De Buyst, who won the race in 2013 with Leif Lampater and in 2014 with Kenny De Ketele, returned this year with fellow Belgian Otto Vergaerde. De Ketele, meanwhile, started with Gijs Van Hoecke. Five-time Gent winner Iljo Keisse (Etixx-QuickStep) was back with new six-day teammate Michael Morkov (Tinkoff-Saxo).
The women's omnium begins on Friday.
