Lead changes again in Dortmund

Erik Zabel and Leif Lampater lost the lead (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

On Saturday's third night of the Dortmund Six Day, the Westfalenhallen velodrome was rocked when hometown favourites Erik Zabel and Leif Lampater lost the overall lead thanks to a late race escape in the first Madison of the evening. World Champions Franco Marvulli and Bruno Risi, the leaders after the first night, spent much of the 222 lap Madison marking the lead team of Zabel/Lampater.

Late in the race, a powerful move by multiple World Pursuit champion and Olympic gold medallist Robert Barto and his team-mate Andreas Beikirch formed an escape with the Dutch pair of Robert Slippens and Danny Stam. The breakaway succeeded in stealing a lap, putting Bartko/Beikirch into the overall lead as they had begun the night in third place on the same lap as Zabel/Lampater and Risi/Marvulli.

All three teams closed out the final Madison of the night on the same lap, which placed Bartko/Beikirch on top of the leader board with 136 points, while Risi/Marvulli stayed in second place with 160 points, one lap behind. Zabel/Lampater fell to third with 155 points with Slippens/Stam in fourth place with 106 points, but are by no means out of contention.

The Australian pair of Miles Olman and Leigh Howard, scored a second win in the UIV Talents cup for U25 riders. The pair lead the Polish team of Mariusz Wiesiak and Rafal Ratajczyk with the Dutch team of Jan Geert Jonkman and Roy Pieters in third place. Oldmann and Howard won the UIV Talents Cup during the Amsterdam Six Day last month.

Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.