The_Guardian_-_2016-12-29

him. I can’t help but think about that.
“Me mum was here and people I haven’t seen for years; that’s more important than anything else. It’s
such a special place, the dirt on the windows have probably been here since [the Belgian world
champions] Rik van Looy and Van Steenbergen were riding here.”
Bradley Wiggins gets back in the saddle for
London Six Day ride
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The six is a throwback, a blend of circus and bike race, all loud music, fast food and flashing lights,
one of the last survivors of an extensive circuit that once kept professionals busy through the
European winter.
First held in 1922, it has recently become a magnet for British fans due to Ghent’s relative proximity
to the Channel ports; the late Tom Simpson was a fixture in the 1960s – when his party trick was to
ride wall of death style up the vertical advertising hoardings above the board – and Tony Doyle won
the event in 1986 and 1991. This year a third of the tickets went to Britons.
The track is shorter than average at 165m, with steeper bankings than the norm – its nickname,
’t Kuipke, means ‘hipbath’ – but the obvious risks did not put the riders off spending the first 15 laps
of a scratch race inciting the crowd to perform a Mexican wave by enacting one themselves on their
bikes with their hands off the bars. There has long been debate about the extent to which the races
may or may not be “arranged” but what cannot be denied is the consummate skill and nerve it takes to
race the Madison, in particular, in such claustrophobic surroundings.
The standings are taken from a combination of laps lost and gained in the Madisons and points scored
in other events such as the scratch, lap time trial and the “Derny” race, in which the riders are paced
at speed by small motorbikes which add another, quite terrifying dimension to proceedings. It all
meant that going into the final event Cavendish and Wiggins were lying third overall, with the local
riders Kenny de Ketele and Moreno de Pauw leading from another local, Iljo Keisse, and his Italian
partner, Elia Viviani.
During the closing 60-minute Madison, the three teams swapped the lead time after time but the final
verdict went to the Britons, who managed to elude the other two pairs in the final 15 laps in much the
same way that they won their world title in London in March.
The crucial lap gain was secured five out to ensure that, although it was Cavendish who was thrown
in to cross the line with his arms in the air, Wiggins ended his career on an appropriate winning note
– assuming, of course, that this is the end.
What sounded like his final winner’s press conference, whatever the ambiguities, ended with a