No fifth win in a row for Robbe Ghys in ‘t Kuipke and no third in a row for Lindsay De Vylder. Speed was once again an asset and yielded many points. In the final, Jules Hesters and Aaron Gate threw a bomb. Two dogs fought for a bone and the third ran away with it. Fabio Van den Bossche and the Frenchman Benjamin Thomas were crowned winners.
On the edge of their seats, Cycling enthusiasts in a packed Kuipke followed the denouement of another very successful 83rd Lotto-Six Days Flanders-Ghent. On Saturday evening, Jules Hesters and New Zealander Aaron Gate took over the leading position from De Vylder-Ghys, who had been in the lead from the first evening. With the Germans Roger Kluge and Theo Reinhardt also in the clear round, there was work to be done for De Vylder-Ghys and… Fabio Van den Bossche and the Frenchman Benjamin Thomas. “We quickly created a bonus round and later Van den Bossche-Thomas did the same. Starting the final with four teams in the zero round was not a comfortable position for us,” Ghys said before the start of the final. “In any case, we will have to bear the weight of the final and will be bombarded from different angles. Hopefully we can parry all attacks.”
Action and reaction followed each other at an accelerated pace in a thrilling finale. The Vylder-Ghys had everything in perfect control with about fifty laps to go. A large points lead was a plus if one could prevent the competitors from setting up a winning round for the overall victory. “The failure of Hesters-Gate deep in the final killed us. There was quite a bit of a cut on that outburst. We had to go deep to close that gap. When that was done, poeften Van den Bossche and Thomas gone. They have been able to benefit from our hard work for a long time. There is nothing wrong with that, by the way. As a leader you must take responsibility. Meter by meter we saw them driving away from us. Our legs were full and Fabio and Benjamin got an adrenaline rush, urged on by a frenzied audience. We leave ‘t Kuipke with our heads held high. Losing two top players is no dishonor,” said De Vylder and Ghys in unison.
© Marc Van Hecke
Plan
De Vylder will start the UCI Champions League in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines on November 23. This will be followed by two games in the Omnisporthal in Apeldoorn (29-30/11) and two games in the Lee Valley Velopark in London (6-7/12). Ghys will ride the Rotterdam Six Days (10-15/12) in Ahoy with the Spaniard Sebastian Mora Vedri, De Vylder will ride with Van den Bossche.
