Cavendish and Keisse retain Gent lead on day 5

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Mark Cavendish and Iljo Keisse retained their position at the top of the standings on day five of the Gent Six, despite Cavendish crashing earlier in the night. The pair remain behind Jasper De Buyst and Kenny De Ketele on points, but are one lap ahead of the Dutch duo. Only 48 points, and a lap, separate the leading pairs making it all to play for on the final session on Sunday.

De Ketele and De Buyst quickly regained the lead early in the evening with victory in the team elimination, but it didn’t last long. Cavendish took a tumble in the first Madison of the evening, leaving Keisse to complete some extra laps while the Manxman got back to his feet. Cavendish was back on the bike before long and the Omega Pharma-QuickStep pair went on to win the race, nudging themselves over the 300-point mark and earning a vital bonus lap to move them to the top of the standings.

Cavendish also took victory in second the derny race. Madison World Champions Albert Torres and David Muntaner claimed victory in the final Madison of the evening.

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“So proud of my mate @MarkCavendish ! Crashed, jumped on his bike, took a doublette, suffered like hell, won that chase and took the lead!” Keisse wrote on twitter after the session finished. “That's how we do it, keep going, never give up, no pain no gain! Cav you are The Man! I love you in a good way!”

Leif Lampater and Silvain Dillier remain in third place, 18 points ahead of Alex Rasmussen and Marc Hester.

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