Stroetinga's sprint extends his and Havik's Six Day Berlin lead

BySportsbeat

Published 22/01/2017 at 11:07 GMT

A change of scenery but no change in form for the Six Day Berlin leaders as Yoeri Havik admitted he and partner Wim Stroetinga are now in a strong position at the top of the overall standings.

Eurosport

Image credit: Eurosport

Havik finished third at Six Day Bremen last week, when riding with Jesper Morkov, and Stroetinga managed to better that by taking second spot on the podium alongside Leif Lampater.

Reunited for Six Day Berlin the Dutch duo have combined to take two stunning Madison victories in the last two days and sit a lap ahead of six other teams in the standings, and also with 11 more points than their closest challenger.

"So far it is our race, but the bunch is still very close together," admitted Havik. "It was a bit of a question mark when we came here. Bremen was completely different track.

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"In the first day we had to get used to the track here in Berlin because it is so much longer than Bremen. From yesterday on it went very well."

Andy Tennant is one of those just a lap behind the Dutch duo, sitting in fourth place overall with British partner Chris Latham.

The pair went into the final Madison of Day 3 in the lead, but had no answer to the pace and power of Havik and Stroetinga.

And Tennant admitted he and Latham have their work cut out to fight their way back, with the German and Austrian teams seeming to work together.

"It's my first Six Day Berlin. It's noisy, interesting and there's a great atmosphere here, it seems to be a big party," he said.

"It's a 250m track like London, too, I didn't like the shorter track in Amsterdam.

"Hopefully we can stay up there. Unfortunately the Germans are all ganging up against us. But it was the same in Amsterdam and we did the same in London."

In the sprinters competition, Germans occupy four of the top five positions, with Tennant's fellow Brit Philip Hindes lying in sixth.

He had been scheduled to race at Six Day Amsterdam, but having had to pull out with an injury, he is happy with his performances so far in Berlin.

"Day 3 was definitely a good day for me," said the double Olympic champion. "I took it a bit easier in the first two days because I just came back from an injury.

"I've been training only for a few weeks and I'm not that far away from the other guys. The most fun so far is the match sprint and the keirin.

"Racing against the best riders, the crowd cheering us, it's awesome."

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