At the top of the 82nd Lotto Zesdaagse Vlaanderen-Ghent’s leaderboard, Yoeri Havik/Jan-Willem van Schip and Lindsay De Vylder/Robbe Ghys continue to swap places in the ranking. After day 4, the Belgians are on top again, followed by the World Champions from the Netherlands. Young Frenchmen Oscar Nilsson-Julien and Valentin Tabellion are third.
Thanks to a win in the team elimination, De Vylder and Ghys rounded the 200-point mark on Friday evening. The resulting bonus lap moved the defending Champions past Havik/van Schip into first place in the ranking and they held on to that spot for the rest of the night. In the subsequent time trial track lap, De Vylder and Ghys again took first prize. In the second Derny series, Ghys also took the win.
In the only Friday night Madison, the Patrick Sercu Grand Prix, Oscar Nilsson-Julien and Valentin Tabellion impressed. The promising Frenchmen, aged 21 and 24, followed De Vylder/Ghys and Malmberg/Gate down to two laps. The rest of the competitors had to give away even more laps. That feat helped Nilsson-Julien and Tabellion advance to third place in the overall ranking.
A list of Friday’s other winners: Michele Scartezzini (first points race), Philip Heijnen (first Derny series), Vincent Hoppezak (individual elimination) and twice Tuur Dens (second points race and time trial 500 metres). In the latter trial, ‘Tuurminator’ Dens was obviously helped by his buddy Noah Vandenbranden. For the first time in four days, no track record was broken. With 26.618, the young Belgians remained 357 thousandths above their record time of Thursday.
De Vylder and Ghys start Saturday’s penultimate day of the Lotto Zesdaagse Vlaanderen-Ghent as leaders. The duo from East Flanders/Limburg have a total of 249 points and are one lap ahead of Havik/van Schip (170 points). Nilsson-Julien/Tabellion and Malmberg/Gate follow with one lap too. The French have already gathered 133 points, the Dane and New Zealander 118. Fabio Van den Bossche and Jules Hesters had a bit of a bad day and are fifth with two laps and 170 points.
