The last few years have not been the best for the sport of six day racing; the 2011 Zurich six is now a four day, and this week the organisers of the Six Days of Grenoble announced a similar format for the 2012 edition of their event.
Against this background, it would be a blow for this wing of the sport to lose charismatic individuals like Belgian Iljo Keisse.
The last three years have seen 28 year-old embroiled in a complicated battle with the UCI over what he insists he has proved was inadvertent ingestion of proscribed substances due to a contaminated food supplement; but which the UCI claims is a straightforward doping case.
The infringement took place during the Six Days of Ghent in 2008 which Keisse won with German Robert Bartko as his partner.
Keisse was sued by the supplement manufacturers for his assertions about their products but successfully defended his arguments in the Belgian courts.
The situation now is that Keisse is free to race anywhere worldwide, except his homeland. This unusual circumstance arises due to Belgian courts having found in his favour during this long and drawn-out affair and allowed him to race in Belgium whilst he was unable to race elsewhere due to UCI sanction. That decision was eventually overturned by the Brussels Court of Appeal, re-imposing his ban at home.
The Belgian suspension does not expire until January 27th 2012. It was recently reinforced when the Brussels Court of First Instance said it couldn’t overrule the earlier ruling.
Keisse has track racing in his blood. His father managed the track in Ghent before opening the 'de Karper' bar in the city, a stone's throw from the velodrome and which is now the six day fan's Mecca.
Keisse was Belgian junior omnium champion in 2000 and since then has accumulated a vast array of Belgian junior, U23 and senior track titles.
In addition he has been European Derny and Madison champion, taking his most recent title in the latter discipline at the European Track Championships with Kenny De Ketele earlier this month. This was just hours after winning the Six Days of Amsterdam with Niki Terpstra.
With his win in the Six Days of Grenoble with French man Morgan Kneisky late on Tuesday night, Keisse's six day score now stands at 16 with wins in Amsterdam, Bremen, Fiorenzuola, Gent, Grenoble, Hasselt, Munich, Rotterdam and Stuttgart.
An accomplished roadman, Keisse has a podium place in the tough Belgian semi-classic Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne to his credit as well as a raft of kermis wins, many of which he accumulated during season 2009 when he could not ride UCI races and raced for the Belgian John Saey kermis team.
However, the suspension compromised what was meant to be his breakthrough into road sport with Belgian World Tour team QuickStep, with whom he was contracted for 2010 and 2011.
Prior to then he spent two seasons with Top sport Vlaanderen and three years with Chocolade Jacques.
VeloNation spoke to Keisse in the track centre of the Grenoble Palais des Sport while he was en route to his victory.
VeloNation: Congratulations on Amsterdam and the Europeans, Iljo…how did you handle the jump from six day gearing to World Cup level madison racing?
Iljo Keisse: I rode the six on 53 x 16 which is a little higher than I would normally ride and rode the Europeans on 52 x 15, which is a little lower than I would normally ride. In that way the jump wasn't so big.
VN: Tell us about that mean looking new bike…
IK: I’m tired of my aluminium Eddy Merckx frames and I’ve had my carbon Merckx since the 2008 Olympics; not that there’s anything wrong with them, I just wanted a change.
I kept asking for new frames but eventually I just went out and bought two myself; they’re Dolans – aluminium is comfortable for a six day bike but on the new carbon frame it feels like all of your energy is going through the transmission.
The only thing is that I may not be able to race them until the end of the year, I’m under contract with QuickStep until then and even though the team is changing from Merckx frames for next year, it’s still team issue at the moment.
VN: I saw you had the Cam Meyer bars on it at the start of the week.
IK: Yes, I like them and they’re really comfortable, especially for training, but I had to take them off because I was bumping my wrist on the top part of the bars when I was sprinting. I need to ride them more in training and learn how to use them.
VN: Will we see you at the Six Days of Ghent?
IK: At the moment, no.
I want to and there’s a small chance, but at the same time I just want all of this to be over and to have my freedom to ride where I want.
From January 27th I can go where I please but it’s like we say in Belgium; ‘it depends how the knife slices,’ on the one hand I want to have an end to all of the arguments but at the same time, it’s my home six day . . .
VN: Do you ever wish you had perhaps just cut a deal, taken a one year suspension and been done with it?
IK: Everyone in my situation has thoughts like that – but I’ve fought for three years now and it’s hard to let go when I know that I didn’t do anything – it has cost me so much time, money and energy.
If you dope and get caught then you get punished and that’s fair - but I didn’t do anything wrong.
VN: It seems that Alexandr Kolobnev will only get a fine and a warning from the Russian Federation for a similar offence?
IK: But WADA and the UCI may intervene – if they don’t then I’ll freak out! I just hope Kolobnev doesn’t have to go through what I have.
VN: Do you still intend to pursue the UCI for damages?
IK: That’s going on – I can’t accept all that’s happened and don’t want other riders to go through what I have. If it’s not your intention to dope and you can prove the facts of the situation then you shouldn’t be punished.
VN: Give us your six day statistics, Iljo.
IK: I don’t know, the Grenoble programme says 14 wins, but I think its maybe 15?
It’s not something I think about, I have it somewhere on a computer and my dad will know, but for me I take each race as it comes, I want to do well, win and then move on to the next race.
VN: What are your feelings on the decline in six day racing?
IK: There’s a financial crisis and it’s hard to find sponsors – and it’s not like you can invent new races, the six days have been like this for 100 years.
There are spells when they are up and spells when they are down – the retirement of Bruno Risi didn’t help, it’s always bad when you lose a name as big as Bruno.
VN: Why is Ghent still so popular?
IK: Because there are good local riders – you must have that. When Slippens and Stam (Dutchmen, ed.) were at their best the Six days of Amsterdam and Rotterdam were booming…you need local guys.
VN: Do you see new young six day riders coming up?
IK: Yes, look at Kneisky here in France – and the Dutch guys Havik and Stopler were good in Amsterdam - they have a bright future if they continue in the six days.
VN: What do you think of Grenoble with the cabaret shows and lighter race programme?
IK: It’s totally different to the North European six days but I like it – although every six shouldn’t be like this. I also like the six days like Ghent where there’s no spectacle – just racing!
VN: We’ve heard you linked to Vacansoleil for 2012?
IK: We’ve talked, but it depends on how the Mosquera situation turns out; but then of course Geox have gone so there are riders like Cobo on the market.
QuickStep told me quite late that I wasn’t being retained and that makes it difficult because all the teams are full – but I’m searching at the moment.
VN: Were you surprised when QuickStep let you go?
IK: A little bit, but they supported me through hard times for two years and I’ll always be grateful for that.
VN: Is your future on the road or track?
IK: Both – I’ll be 29 soon but I think it’s still possible for me to do something on the road – I’m too young to become just a track specialist. Good results are possible for me; I planned to have a good road season after the Olympic year in 2008 – but that was compromised.
I have no problems with training for 12 months of the year; I need goals to aim for to keep me motivated – I may be nearly 29, but I feel 23!
You need rest of course, but it’s easier for me to keep going than it is to have three months away from racing – I need a new target each month.
VN: What are your goals for 2012?
IK: It depends on the team but first of all I want to have a good winter; I want to do well in all of the six days I ride. I think if you get the balance of racing and resting right in the winter then it gives you a lot of potential for the road season.
VN: And if you could win just one more race?
IK: Before, I would have said; ‘the Olympic madison’ but that’s not possible anymore. On the track I want to be a world champion – madison, scratch, points - I don’t care as long as I’m world champion.
And on the road the Belgian elite road race championships; I’ve been good in it before with sixth and thirteenth on a course that didn’t suit me.
Next year it’s not possible, it’s down where Gilbert is from and the course is for him.
But there are some nice parcours coming up in the future which suit me. I think it’s a good time of the year for me, too late for the Classics guys but too early for the Tour guys…