Lampater and De Ketele claim opening night honours

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The Belgian-German pair of Kenny De Ketele and Leif Lampater are the first leaders of the Gent Six Day after winning the first Madison and taking a lap on all but one of their rivals. The pair were consistent performers throughout the evening's events, with De Ketele also winning his derny heat and the derny final, and finished with 65 points.

"I could not wish for more than to be in the lead after the first day," De Ketele told Sporza.

The German duo of Robert Bartko and Danilo Hondo were the only other team to finish on the lead lap and they trail De Ketele and Lampater by 15 points in second place.

Local hero Iljo Keisse started the Six Day with a cold and struggled in the opening sprints competition. But he and Dutch partner Peter Schep bounced back to finish second in the one-lap time trial followed later by a win for Keisse in the elimination. The pair scored the most points for the evening, 68, and hold third overall, the best of eight teams currently one lap off the pace.

"That's not too bad," Keisse told Sporza. "I had some difficult moments, but racing is always difficult. I hope to recover well and get better."

Defending champions Alex Rasmussen and Michael Morkov finished in fourth after the first night of racing, one lap down with 58 points. The Danish pair won the opening sprints event and nearly swept the timed competitions, with a win in the 166m flying lap followed later by a close second place finish to Switzerland's Franco Marvulli and Alexander Aeschbach in the 500m time trial. They lost a lap in the first Madison, but are still very much in contention to repeat their victory in the Gent Six Day.

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