British Olympic champions to take on the rest of the World in annual sprint tournament
British Olympic champions Sir Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny will both take part in this winter’s Rotterdam Six Days, which will take place in the Dutch city’s Ahoy Arena between January 3rd and 8th, next year. The two sprinters, who between them wrapped up the gold medals in the London velodrome in the summer Olympics, will be two of the names on the bill of the annual Sprinters Cup, which takes place between the more traditional endurance events.
“With these two speedy Britons it promises to be a fantastic spectacle in Ahoy” said event organiser Frank Boelé. “We are currently securing more big names and expect to announce a race program shortly, unparalleled in terms of sport and entertainment.” Rotterdam Six Day will be organised for the 31st time and is known in the cycling world as the most prestigious Six Day event.”
Hoy has a total of eleven World championships on the track, and is the current Keirin champion; he also has also won an incredible total of six Olympic golds, having won the Kilometre in Athens 2004, the Sprint, Keirin and Team Sprint in Beijing 2008 - for which he received his knighthood - and the Keirin and Team Sprint in London 2012.
Kenny meanwhile, at just 24, has understandably taken far fewer titles than his 36-year-old compatriot, but was the World sprint champion in 2011, and took the Olympic Sprint and Team Sprint titles in London, adding to the Sprint silver he took behind Hoy in Beijing.
Last year’s Sprinters Cup was won by Dutchman Teun Mulder, ahead of Frenchmen Kevin Sireau and Mickaël Bourgain.
The two sprinters will not be the first British riders to grace the boards in Rotterdam; in 1988 Tony Doyle was part of the winning ‘koppel’, along with Australian Danny Clark, which was the last edition before the event’s revival in 2005.