if you know!
In a dramatic climax, the 56th Dortmund Six Day cycle race was won by Switzerland's Bruno Risi and Kurt Betschart came from behind to win the Dortmund Six for the third time (their previous wins were in 1992 and 1993). It is their fifteenth six-day victory. They had lurked in second and third positions throughout, ready to pounce while first Veggerby/Madsen then Aldag/Martinello held the lead. They came from four points behind going into the final night, and it all came down to Bruno Risi beating world points champion Silvio Martinello in the very last sprints of the night.
The other teams did not give up without a fierce struggle. The Australian duo of Matthew Gilmore and Scott McGrory again impressed on the final night, while Veggerby and Madsen came painfully close to gaining a lap during the last 60 laps, spending a painful eight minutes off the front and gaining three-quarters of a lap, only to see the lead disappear when the other teams responded.
Germany's second-placed Rolf Aldag can gain some consolation from winning the World Derny Series, which was held during the Dortmund Six. This was the only six-day race that Aldag is riding this winter.
The Dortmund Six started with 28 riders taking part and eager to win the DM 120,000 in prize money and primes (that's about 40,000 Pounds in real money). One team dropped out along the way. Some 5,000 spectators attended the opening session, which featured musical entertainment by pop group Boney M. Attendance rose to 10,000 on the last night, with an estimated 70,000 spectators attending during the full six days, which is an improvement on last year. Trivia-lovers will be fascinated to learn that 170,000 glasses of beer were consumed during the event.
This was also the debut for new Six-Day Sports Director Olaf Ludwig, the former Telekom professional. He kept a sharp eye on proceedings: "There were no crashes on the track, and no major problems with the event organisation," said Ludwig. "This was a first-class event. Teams such as Aldag/Martinello, Risi/Betschart, Veggerby/Madsen and McGrory/Gilmore impressed the fans. Only Guido Fulst and Carsten Wolf made a negative impression - they should have given a much better showing"."
| Position | Riders' names | Points total | Laps down |
| 1 | Bruno Risi (Switzerland) Kurt Betschart (Switzerland) |
435 | 0 |
| 2 | Rolf Aldag (Germany) Silvio Martinello (Italy) |
430 |
0 |
| 3 | Jens Veggerby (Denmark) Jimmi Madsen (Denmark) |
374 |
0 |
| 4 | Scott McGrory (Australia) Matthew Gilmore (Australia) |
268 | -1 |
| 5 | Marco Villa (Italy) Andreas Beikirch (Germany) |
234 |
-2 |
| 6 | Gerd Dörich (Germany) Lars Teutenberg (Germany) |
218 | -2 |
| 7 | Etienne De Wilde (Belgium) Frank Corvers (Belgium) |
181 | -4 |
| 8 | Juan Llaneras (Spain) Miguel Alzamora (Spain) |
120 | -6 |
| 9 | Guido Fulst (Germany) Carsten Wolf (Germany) |
127 | -29 |
| 10 | Jens Lehmann (Germany) Jean-Michel Monin (France) |
112 | -32 |
| 11 | Urs Freuler (Switzerland) Ronny Lauke (Germany) |
73 |
-38 |
| 12 | Christian Lademann (Germany) Mario Vonhof (Germany) |
116 | -41 |
| 13 | Sascha Henrix (Germany) Thorsten Rund (Germany) |
97 |
-41 |
What happened to Malcolm Lange and Moolman
Welgemoed? They seem to have dropped off the results, and are
listed as "did not finish" for a derny race on Saturday
evening. Drop an e-mail to if you know!
My thanks to the organisers of the Dortmund Six Day race for kindly sending me the results each day.
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