Disappointed to have to abandon hopes of competing in his home race, the Ghent Six Day, Iljo Keisse gave himself a morale boost with victory in the Six Days of Grenoble yesterday. The Belgian rider and his French team-mate Morgan Kneisky ended up with 314 points, six less than the Swiss pairing of Alexander Aeschbach and Franco Marvulli but, crucially, one lap ahead.
The Belgians Kenny de Ketele and Tim Mertens were third on 307 points.
Keisse and Kneisky grabbed the lead on day four, taking over from Marc Hester and Jesper Morkov (Denmark). They battled to defend the lead from that point, holding on in the face of assaults from their rivals. In the final madison they came under real pressure, with rivals taking a bonus laps 60 laps from the end. Keisse and Kneisky responded and managed to take a lap back, then sealed things by grabbing another lap ten from the end.
The victory is the third consecutive triumph for Keisse, who also won the Six Days of Amsterdam and the European Madison title recently. Keisse’s lawyer Walter Van Steenbrugge stated yesterday that they had conceded that the November 22nd start date of the Ghent Six will come too soon for the rider to take part. He recently lost a court decision relating to his two year ban for cathine and hydrochlorothiazide.
He has already competed the sanction, but legal manoeuvres which enabled him to race in Belgium during that time have led to him now being forced to miss racing in that country until January.
“We have too little time for a new process to start,” Van Steenbrugge told Sporza. “We also know that the international cycling federation UCI would not accept an interim measure in favour of Keisse.”
Ghent Six Day organiser Patrick Secru has accepted that Keisse will miss his race, saying that he regretted it as there were no other Belgian riders at the same level. He won in 2007, 2008 and 2010.
As the Grenoble race has shown, the rider is in strong form and he will aim to continue winning elsewhere in the months ahead.
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Six Days of Grenoble (final overall classification):
1, Iljo Keisse - Morgan Kneisky (Belgium/France) 314 points
2, Alexander Aeschbach - Franco Marvulli (Switzerland) 320 points (+1 lap)
3, Kenny de Ketele - Tim Mertens (Belgium) 307 points (+ 1 lap)