The 2017/18 ‘6 Day’ Season In Numbers

The 2017/18 winter ‘6 Day’ season is over and the velodromes turn to other sports and music for the summer… and in some cases even cycling! Our PEZman, Ed Hood, managed to spectate and work at a few less 6s than normal, but he’s in the perfect position to give us the run-down on the year and look at the future of the ‘zesdaagse’.

Moreno De Pauw and Kenny De Ketele in Gent

We thought you might like to see an analysis of who did what over the 2017/18 six day season. There were but six races.

London: What will happen when Cav calls, ‘time’?
Gent: A phenomenon, sold out every year – THE six day.
Rotterdam: In reasonable health.
Bremen: Limps on – still the ‘party six’ but not like it used to be.
Berlin: A full house on the last night but all those free tickets they gave away during the week will be back to bite them next year.
Copenhagen: Good houses on the first and last days – but what will they come to see when Michael Mørkøv retires?

And just six races? There were years, not so long ago, when a rider could compete in 14 or 15 six days in a season. Sad to say that it’s unlikely that any of the current crop of riders will ever make the ‘all time greats’ stats on starts or wins. We thought you might like to peruse them so. . .

The 2017/2018 six day season stats are right here:

# There were six races: London, Gent, Rotterdam, Bremen, Berlin and Copenhagen.

# London:
1. Cameron Meyer/Callum Scotson, Australia
2. Mark Cavendish/Peter Kennaugh, Isle of Man
3. Kenny De Ketele/Moreno De Pauw, Belgium.

London

# Gent:
1. De Ketele/De Pauw
2. Benjamin Thomas/Morgan Kneisky, France
3. Wim Stroetinga/Yoeri Havik, Netherlands.

Gent

# Rotterdam:
1. De Ketele/De Pauw
2. Stroetinga/Havik
3. Thomas/Kneisky.

Rotterdam

# Bremen:
1. De Ketele/Theo Reinhardt, Germany
2. Havik/Achim Burkhart, Germany
3. Christian Grasmann, Germany/Jesper Mørkøv, Denmark.

Bremen

# Berlin:
1. Havik/Stroetinga
2. De Ketele/De Pauw
3. Reinhardt/Roger Kluge, Germany.

Berlin

# Copenhagen:
1. De Ketele/Michael Mørkøv, Denmark
2. Havik/De Pauw
3. Leif Lampater, Germany/Marc Hester, Denmark.

Copenhagen

In total 18 riders made the podium, they appear below in order of podium points scored over the six races – 10 for a win; 8 for second; 6 for third:

1. Kenny De Ketele, Belgium (54)
2. Moreno De Pauw, Belgium (42)
3. Yoeri Havik, Netherlands (42)
4. Wim Stroetinga, Netherlands (24)
5. Theo Reinhardt, Germany (16)
6. Morgan Kneisky, France (14)
6. Benjamin Thomas, France (14)
8. Cameron Meyer, Australia (10)
8. Callum Scotson, Australia (10)
8. Michael Mørkøv, Denmark (10)
11. Mark Cavendish, Isle of Man (8)
11. Peter Kennaugh, Isle of Man (8)
11. Achim Burkhart, Germany (8)
14. Christian Grasmann, Germany (6)
14. Jesper Mørkøv, Denmark (6)
14. Leif Lampater, Germany (6)
14. Marc Hester, Denmark (6)
14. Roger Kluge, Germany (6).

Moreno De Pauw

# Whilst De Pauw and Havik tie on points, the Belgian has two wins – Gent and Rotterdam to Havik’s one – Berlin.

Yoeri Havik

# There are five Germans, three Danes and two each Belgians, Dutchmen, French, Australians and Manxmen in the 18 names.

Kenny De Ketele

# Only De Ketele scored in every six day.

Wim Stroetinga

# De Ketele has now won all six of the races on the current calendar.

# De Pauw and Havik both scored in five races; Havik missed out in London and De Pauw missed in Bremen.

Morgan Kneisky

# Of the 18 riders listed above, 16 have won at least one six day; Achim Burkhart and Peter Kennaugh are the exceptions.

Theo Reinhardt

# Top six from above career starts/wins:
Kenny De Ketele: 71-13
Moreno De Pauw: 21-6
Yoeri Havik: 37-4
Wim Stroetinga: 48-4
Theo Reinhardt: 11-1
Morgan Kneisky: 31-2.

Partick Sercu – All time best

# All time winners top six:
Patrick Sercu, Belgium: 88
Danny Clark, Australia: 74
Rene Pijnen, Netherlands: 72
Peter Post, Netherlands: 65 (off 155 starts)
Bruno Risi, Switzerland: 61 (off 184 starts)
Rik Van Steenbergen: 40 (off 134 starts).

Danny Clark – Most appearances

# All time starts top six:
Danny Clark: 236
Rene Pijnen: 233
Klaus Bugdahl: 228 (Germany 37 wins)
Patrick Sercu: 223
Albert Fritz: 198 (Germany 34 wins)
Etienne De Wilde: 197 (Belgium 38 wins).

Moreno De Pauw and Kenny De Ketele – Winners in Gent

But for all the faĺling houses, lack of road stars, savagely expensive refreshments and ‘mini’ madisons, you should get yourself along to Gent or Berlin for a finale. Don’t worry too much about the detail, just drink it all in – the scale, the colors, the speed, the music. It’s still a unique experience and one well worth experiencing.

The Dix Days of Gent runs from November 13th to 18th 2018.

See you there ?

All the fun of Gent

You can read about Ed’s trips to Gent, Rotterdam and Bremen, Berlin and Copenhagen.

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It was November 2005 when Ed Hood first penned a piece for PEZ, on US legend Mike Neel. Since then he’s covered all of the Grand Tours and Monuments for PEZ and has an article count in excess of 1,600 in the archive. He was a Scottish champion cyclist himself – many years and kilograms ago – and still owns a Klein Attitude, Dura Ace carbon Giant and a Fixie. He and fellow Scot and PEZ contributor Martin Williamson run the Scottish site www.veloveritas.co.uk where more of his musings on our sport can be found.