Six Days of Zürich

Switzerland, November 29 - December 4, 1999

Night 5 - December 3rd

Courtesy of Ernst Bretscher

The fifth night, with a crowd of 7,500 watching, was the longest and ended at 3 a.m. Highlight of the night: The 75 km handicap-race, held since 1963 (first winners: van Looy/van Steenbergen). Kammermann/Dunkel and Fulst/Rund had a bonus of twelve and seven laps respectively on the "big four" leading pairs. Newcomers, Kammermann/Dunkel had to stop the race after only 25 km for medical reasons but Fulst/Rund did remain in the lead until 56 laps before the end, when four other teams caught them: Weber/Lehmann, Lapage/Corvers, Weispfenning/Steinweg, and finally Madsen/Kappes.

A final sprint with these five teams was expected, but only 7 laps before the end the rest of the big teams also gained a lap. Corvers/Lapage took a chance riding in the wheels of the big teams, and attacked for a winning lap. This was really a surprise. Eight other teams could only sprint for second, which went to Risi/Betschart ahead of Martinello/Villa and Gilmore/McGrory.

Three new track records, over 40, 60 and 75 kms, were established, with a fantastic 54.855 kph for the 75 kms, going to Kappes/Madsen. No change in the overall, still four teams on the same lap with intact chances for a final victory.

Results:

Courtesy of Pascal Meisser

1. Bruno Risi/Kurt Betschart (Swi)            277 pts
2. Andreas Kappes/Jimmy Madsen (Ger/Den)      266
3. Matthew Gilmore/Scott McGrory (Bel/Aus)    239
4. Silvio Martinello/Marco Villa (Ita)        230

3 laps behind:
5. Adriano Baffi/Andrea Collinelli (Ita)      169

6 laps behind:
6. Etienne De Wilde/Tayeb Braikia (Bel/Den)   104

15 laps behind:
7. Christian Weber/Jens Lehmann (Swi/Ger)     178

17 laps behind:
8. Eric Weisspfennig/Stefan Steinweg (Ger)     49

19 laps behind:
9. Mario Vonhof/Gerd Dörich (Ger)             110

20 laps behind:
10. Frank Corvers/Laurenzo Lapage (Bel)        63
11. Juan Llaneras/Isaac Galvez (Esp)           29

21 laps behind:
12. Rob Hayles/Bradley Wiggins (Gbr)           74
13. Peter Jörg/Lars Teutenberg (Swi)           73

23 laps behind:
14. Patrick Vetsch/Alexander Aeschbach (Swi)   54

32 laps behind:
15. Guido Fulst/Torsten Rund (Ger)             59

The amateurs had two stages (45 and 25 km) in the fifth night. In the evening's first stage, Liska/Zabka took their second stage win and also the overall new lead. But in the 6th stage, the second for the evening, Belgian Vermeersch/de Duytsche with a third placing got back into the leader's position.

In this short stage the Germans Kalfack/Appler took their first win in the final decisive sprint out of eleven teams. Young Swiss Team Ganz/Osterwalder came in second, the best stage classification for a Swiss team during this week.

1. Luc de Duytsche/Nicky Vermeersch (Bel)      76 pts
2. Martin Liska/Josef Zabka (Svk)              75
3. Andre Kalfack/Marco Appler (Ger)            64
4. Karsten Wörner/Sven Epple (Ger)             57
5. Patrick Fäh/Marcel Pfister (Swi)            43
6. Gregor Gut/Beat Obrist (Swi)                19
7. Simon Ganz/Adrian Osterwalder (Swi)          6
8. Patrick Banfi/Reto Lauper (Swi)              1

1 lap behind:
9. Pascal Manser/Stefan Mittelhammer (Swi/Ger)  5
10. Ralph Zimmermann/Martial Heer (Swi)

2 laps behind:
11. Jan Brunner/Philippe Weingartner (Swi)

5 laps behind:
12. Tobias Baumgartner/Michael Müller (Swi)

15 laps behind:
13. Stefan Schär/Oliver Mattmann (Swi)

17 laps behind:
14. Patrick Kraus/Kevin Jaeggi (Swi)

25 laps behind:
15. Philipp Dambach/Marco Hartmann (Swi)

In the sixth stayer stage, German Podlesch was the first rider this week to take a second stage win, and he took over the overall lead from Puttini. This 37.5 kms stage was the longest and with an average of 67.483 kph also the fastest.

1. Carsten Podlesch (Ger)/Walrave     18 pts
2. Hanskurt Brand (Swi)/Aebi          20
3. Felice Puttini (Swi)/Puttini       21
4. Sabino Cannone (Ita)/Durst         26
5. Christoph Göhring (Swi)/Steiger    26
6. Lubomir Mazel (Cze)/Baur           28
7. Ralf Keller (Ger)/De Bakker        37
8. Roland Rol (Ned)/Buchmann          40

With the fourth stage, the popular Derny-Classic for the Swiss road stars ended. For the first time this week there was a real fight: First Markus Zberg lapped the others, but later also Zülle, Richard and Camenzind made a lap and Camenzind was able to win his first stage, the longest of this competition, 30 kms, and also the fastest (57.877 kph).

Rolf Järmann got a standing ovation from the crowd since he in this race ended his long and successful cycling career.

Final Standings

1. Markus Zberg          9 pts
2. Alex Zülle           14
3. Pascal Richard       16
4. Roland Meier         17
5. Armin Meier          22
6. Oscar Camenzind      24
7. Beat Zberg           24
8. Rolf Järmann         27
9. Niki Aebersold       27

Jens Fiedler took back his leader position by winning the sprinters' 250 m TT with 13.05, the best time of the week. He also won the first match sprint and one of the two keirin heats - the other was won by Peden. For the first time this week, Barbados rider Forde had a win, in the second match sprint.

1. Jens Fiedler (Ger)         9 pts
2. Anthony Peden (NZ)         9
3. Ainars Kiksis (Lat)       14
4. Patrick Merk (Swi)        15
5. Claudio Treig (Swi)       17
6. Jan van Eiden (Ger)       22
7. Barry Forde (Barbados)    26