Yoeri Havik and Jan-Willem van Schip go into the first night as leaders of the Lotto Zesdaagse Vlaanderen-Gent. Van Schip crashed in the first Madison, but in the final Madison his teammate Havik seized power alongside Lasse Norman Hansen. Defending Champions Lindsay De Vylder and Robbe Ghys follow in second place with one lap.
The first points race of the evening went to Frenchman Oscar Nilsson-Julien. He immediately grabbed a lap on the rest of the pack in that event. The second points race was right up Tuur Dens’ alley.
Then it was up to defending Champions Lindsay De Vylder and Robbe Ghys to seize power. De Vylder first won the individual elimination and then lived up to his role of favourite in the track lap, in which he set the track record twice last year. In the Madison, the last event before the musical interlude, victory went to the duo Matias Malmberg/Aaron Gate.
After the break, the big engines came out for the first time, literally. De Vylder and Fabio Van den Bossche seized power behind the derny. This was already the third win of the evening for De Vylder/Ghys. In between, Jules Hesters won the second individual elimination. The crowd in Ghent went wild for the home rider.
The finale of the evening had another solid surprise in store. After a celebration for Tim Tom Teutenberg in the Scratch, Jules Dens broke the first track record of the 82nd edition in the 500m time trial: 26.378.
Defending Champions De Vylder and Ghys seemed to go into the first night as leaders, but in the final Madison they were pipped at the post by the duo Havik/Norman Hansen by one lap. And so, at the end of the first day, we get a rainbow over Ghent’s Kuipke. World Champions Havik and Van Schip top the leaderboard. De Vylder/Ghys and Van den Bossche/Hesters follow with one lap and complete the top three.
1. Yoeri Havik (Ned)/Jan-Willem van Schip (Ned) 37 points
At 1 lap:
2. Robbe Ghys (Bel)/Lindsay De Vylder (Bel) 65
3. Fabio Van Den Bossche (Bel)/Jules Hesters (Bel) 57
4. Vincent Hoppezak (Ned)/Philip Heijnen (Ned) 40
5. Matias Malmberg (Den)/Aaron Gate (NZe) 37
6. Jonas Rickaert (Bel)/Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) 24
7. Roger Kluge (Ger)/Theo Reinhardt (Ger) 8
At 2 laps:
8. Noah Vandenbranden (Bel) /Tuur Dens (Bel) 48
9. Gianluca Pollefliet (Bel)/Tim Torn Teutenberg (Ger) 43
10. Oscar Nilsson-Julien (Fra)/Valentin Tabellion (Fra) 28
11. Mark Stewart (GB)/Oliver Wood (GB) 8
At 4 laps:
12. Milan Van Den Haute/Michele Scartezzini (Ita) 7
