Pim Ligthart and Michael Mørkøv lead the Amsterdam Six after one night of racing. Ligthart, who returned from Beijing on Sunday evening, was happy. “It’s in the middle of the night for me at the moment, but as long as I keep busy, it’s okay.”
The Danish-Dutch pair went off to a flying start. In the first three events they gathered 37 points. Mørkøv pipped Niki Terpstra, last year’s winner on the line in the first madison race. They finished third in the time trial and second in the elimination race.
Last year’s winners Niki Terpstra and Iljo Keisse just finished their road season but were eager to show they want to win the Amsterdam Six again. “It’s like going back to school,” Keisse said. “Everyone is nervous. I just returned from China so I am a bit jetlagged but my form is good. I worked hard for Tony Martin in Beijing. Since Copenhagen in February, I only trained on the track for maybe four days so it will probably hurt a bit. We’ll see where we’ll end up,” the Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider explained.
In the second half of the evening the pairs who are competing for the overall victory on Saturday came to the front. Next to WorldTour-riders like Terpstra, Keisse, Mørkøv , Ligthart and Jens Mouris, the organization of the 20th Amsterdam Six also signed some Six-Day specialists like Robert Bartko, Franco Marvulli, young talents Yoeri Havik and Nick Stöpler and Madison World Champions Gijs van Hoecke and Kenny de Ketele.
Wim Stroetinga and Peter Schep are among those favourites too but are dealing with some setbacks. Stroetinga however, won the derny race and they are second in the classification after one night. “We are indeed one of the favourites,” the Koga rider explained, “but my partner Peter Schep is ill. We’ll have to try and control the damage in the first half of the week and hope we’ll get better later on. These points are very important to start with.”
The big one-hour madison race proved decisive for the overall classification after one night. Ligthart/ Mørkøv and Keisse/Terpstra took a lap with only ten minutes to go. It was up to Mouris/Bartko and Stroetinga/Schep to react. In an all-or-nothing attempt in the final three minutes they managed to take a lap. At the end of the first night these four pairs are within the same lap. Pim Ligthart and Michael Mørkøv lead with 63 points before Stroetinga/Schep with 55 points, Terpstra/Keisse with 51 points and Bartko/Mouris with 31 points.