Late on Tuesday evening at Berlin's underground Velodrom complex, Australian and GreenEdge world madison champions Cameron Meyer and Leigh Howard won the 101rst edition of the Berlin Six Day race.
Second was previous Berlin winner, Swiss ex-world madison champion, Franco Marvulli, who was paired with up and coming compatriot Silvan Dillier.
Dillier also made the podium in the Four Days of Zurich, paired with Australian Glenn O'Shea.
Rounding out the podium were the Belgian European madison champions, Kenny De Ketele and Iljo Keisse.
Keisse again underscored his six day track abilities in a winter campaign which has seen him rarely miss the podium.
The joy for the Australians was contrasted by the bitter disappointment of Ghent and Rotterdam winner, Peter Schep of Holland who crashed heavily in the 1,000 metres time trial on the opening night, breaking his collar bone.
Six day fans will not mark this down as a vintage year for Berlin but the event enjoyed massive public support, drawn not just to the six day race but to a programme heavy with sprinting and motor paced events.
The final result was not decided until the final points sprint as all three teams shared the zero lap going into the closing stages of the race.
The men in the rainbow jerseys attacked from a long way out and held on ahead of a charging peloton to secure the sprint points and the overall win.
Despite the young Australians’ success as madison riders at national and world level, this was their first six day victory. It was their only six day of the winter; but Marvulli, Keisse and De Ketele all travel north to Copenhagen for the final six day of the season.
The race, to be held on the Ballerup track, starts with a 100 kilometre madison on Thursday evening and stars home specialists and reigning champions, Michael Morkov and Alex Rasmussen.
Berlin Six Day:
1, Leigh Howard (Aus) and Cameron Meyer (Aus) - Axel Lange, 263 pts
2, Franco Marvulli (Swi) and Silvan Dillier (Swi) – Wolfram, 254
3, Iljo Keisse (Bel) and Kenny De Ketele (Bel) – Techem, 254
4, Leif Lampater (Ger) and Roger Kluge (Ger) – Schultheiss, 239
5, Robert Bengsch (Ger) and Marcel Kalz (Ger) – LCW, 234 plus one lap
6, Marcel Barth (Ger) and Erik Mohs (Ger) – Oßwald, 77 plus 11 laps
7, Henning Bommel (Ger) and Tim Mertens (Bel) – Veaxo, 116 plus 12 laps
8, Andreas Graf (Aut) and Andreas Müller (Aut) - Preuss Münchenhagen, 49 plus 13 laps
9, Ralf Matzka (Ger) and Theo Reinhardt (Ger) - Berlin Recycling, 111 plus 14 laps
10, Rafal Ratajczyk (Pol) and Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) – Nokia, 132 plus 16 laps