With the Cologne Six not taking place this year after the old venue was ripped down, the riders from the six-day circus have been free to take part in the traditional Christmas track racing meets. This year saw big race meetings at Dortmund in Germany, Amsterdam (Holland) and Ghent in Belgium.
| Thanks to Kris Westwood for the piccie! | |
This traditional track meet has been held since 1925, and attracted 13,000 cycling fans in 1998. An exciting day's racing included motor-paced racing behind the big motors, won by European Champion Hanskurt Brand from Switzerland ahead of local rider Andreas Beikirch. World Champion Carsten Podlesch from Berlin was third. (Technical note: motor-paced racing is sadly no longer a world championship event, so Carsten Podlesch is likely to remain "world champion" for some time, since he won the last championship to be held!).
The big highlight of the meeting was the "Omnium der Asse", or "Omnium of the Stars". Racing in teams, the riders competed in six track disciplines: sprint, flying laps, devil-take-the-hindmost, Derny races, team pursuit and team time trials. The German team duly won five of the six events, but they were beaten in the team pursuit by a "European" team comprising Bruno Risi, Ainar Kiksis, Jimmi Madsen and Marco Villa. The German team featured Telekom pros Erik Zabel and Rolf Aldag, world sprint champion Jens Fielder (who won the sprint and the flying lap events), and Dortmund's very own Gerd Dörich.
For some reason, this meeting was cancelled and no racing took place.
Here are the results of the Belgian Omnium Championship, kindly sent to Fat Nick by Stefaan Degryse, who runs another EPCN web site at www.cyclingteams.com
There were four events which were held in Gent (Het Kuipke). Most bizarre figure on the track was MTB-specialist Filip Meirhaeghe but he did very well, especially in the individual numbers, and says these calls for a repetition in the future.
Points race:
1. Lorenzo Lapage (Bel) Collstrop
2. Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) Palmans
3. Etienne De Wilde (Bel) Spar
4. Peter Van Petegem (Bel) TVM
5. Frank Corvers (Bel) Palmans
6. Rik Van Slycke (Bel) Spar
7. Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002
8. Dany Baeyens (Bel) Collstrop
9. Filip Meirhaeghe (Bel) Home Market
10. Kristof Trouve (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002
Elimination (or Devil Take The Hindmost):
1. Peter Van Petegem (Bel) TVM
2. Etienne De Wilde (Bel) Spar
3. Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) Palmans
4. Rik Van Slycke (Bel) Spar
5. Lorenzo Lapage (Bel) Collstrop
6. Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002
7. Frank Corvers (Bel) Palmans
8. Filip Meirhaeghe (Bel) Home Market
9. Kristof Trouve (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002
10. Dany Baeyens (Bel) Collstrop
500 metres without flying start:
1. Peter Van Petegem (Bel) TVM
2. Filip Meirhaeghe (Bel) Home Market
3. Frank Corvers (Bel) Palmans
4. Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002
5. Rik Van Slycke (Bel) Spar
6. Etienne De Wilde (Bel) Spar
7. Kristof Trouve (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002
8. Dany Baeyens (Bel) Collstrop
9. Lorenzo Lapage (Bel) Collstrop
10. Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) Palmans
Individual pursuit:
1. Frank Corvers (Bel) Palmans
2. Filip Meirhaeghe (Bel) Home Market
3. Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) Palmans
4. Peter Van Petegem (Bel) TVM
5. Etienne De Wilde (Bel) Spar
6. Rik Van Slycke (Bel) Spar
7. Lorenzo Lapage (Bel) Collstrop
8. Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002
(Kristof Trouve and Dany Baeyens were not classified.)
Final Overall:
1. Peter Van Petegem (Bel) TVM 10 pts.
2. Frank Corvers (Bel) Palmans 16 pts.
3. Etienne De Wilde (Bel) Spar 16 pts.
4. Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) Palmans 18 pts.
5. Filip Meirhaeghe (Bel) Home Market 21 pts.
6. Rik Van Slycke (Bel) Spar 21 pts.
7. Lorenzo Lapage (Bel) Collstrop 22 pts.
8. Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 25 pts.
9. Kristof Trouve (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 26 pts.
10. Dany Baeyens (Bel) Collstrop 26 pts.
So, Peter Van Petegem is the Belgian Omnium champion.
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