The riders have covered an average 100km a day, concentrating on endurance training at an equable 25 degrees centigrade -- more important, Rominger and Ferrari have tried to sort out major objectives for the season. Like other experts, Ferrari is convinced that it's not possible these days to win both the Giro and the Tour de France in the same season. Rominger will therefore give the Italian tour a miss in the hope of giving the most to probably his last chance in the Tour -- he will be 35 on 27 March.
With the object of beating Miguel Indurain, a change of strategy is envisaged. "This time," says Ferrari, "it will be absolutely essential for us to gain time in the time trials to force Indurain to do more than defend his position in the mountains." In line with this objective, Ernesto Colnago is working on a special time trial bike for Rominger that won't be unveiled until the Tour itself.
There's also a change in tactics in Rominger's programme -- he wants to follow Indurain step-by-step, so there's a likelihood, for example, that he'll ride such stage races as the Midi Libre and the Dauphine Libere if Indurain puts them on his programme, as he did last year.
Ferrari is very satisfied with the work Rominger has put in in South Africa. "When Tony arrived there," Ferrari says, "his condition was far inferior to what it was at the same time in previous years, because since the Tour he's been pretty inactive. But he has made enormous progress in a short time. What's more, we've had some good tennis matches -- Tony won them all 6-0, 6-0! His mentality is in good shape."
The Indurain-Rominger battle should start early this season. It will also be a battle of the trainers. Indurain is now being advised by Professor Conconi, whose pupil Ferrari was.
This was the second Six Day-win, after Grenoble, for the Italian world champions and Villa's comment was simply: "We won because we were the strongest".
Olaf Ludwig, who rode with Carsten Wolf, was satisfied with fourth place in his Bremen-debut.
Of twelve starting pairs, eleven finished. Bremen-born Andreas Kappes (illness) and Italian Adriano Baffi (injury) abandoned.
German duo Hardy Zimmermann and Konstantin Hamann won the amateur Six Day clearly with a two-lap advantage.
60 per cent of the audience came from outside the Bremen-area. They came on special trains from Hamburg, Braunschweig and Helmstedt and on 460 chartered buses from the rest of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. The Bremen hotel keepers were happy with having 8 000 cycle fans as guests.
300 000 beers were consumed, 12 000 beer glasses were broken or stolen, 60 000 glasses of sparkling wine were lifted to toast the riders. 650 people serviced 32 pubs and 35 snack bars on a floor space of 23 000 square meters.
The low number of reported crimes and disturbances made the police department happy too; 5 car break-ins, 4 assaults, 3 drunk drivers, 1 case of fraud and 40 parking offences.