Memorial Noel Fore

After Dortmund finished and we came to grips with the fact that we were not going to be competing in Munich, Jackie and I collected ourselves and quickly found some other races to do in the interim. First up was the Memorial Noël Foré at the Kuipke velodrome in Gent. The Kuipke is only open for cycling twice a year and the events are Noël Foré as well as the Gent Six Days. This was a one day U25 madison omnium that consisted of two 120 lap madisons and a 500m flying team time trial. The race has always carried a lot of prestige with a steady flow of talented riders etching their names on the winner’s trophy each year. Last year’s victors were Wim Stroetinga, a current Dutch road professional as well as pro six-day rider, as well as Niki Terpstra, a ProTour rider with Milram and winner of this year’s KOM jersey at the Tour of Germany. With that said, Jackie and I lined up for the first madison and a quick glance showed three riders from Chocolade Jacques as well as a pair from Jong Vlaanderen (Predictor-Lotto’s continental farm team). As expected, the race was ballistic straight from the gun. Four teams lapped the field immediately, all Belgians, and Jackie and I were quick to realize that we had missed the move. The Kuipke is so small, only 166m, that positioning is incredibly important and we hadn’t been aggressive enough off the start line and now we found ourselves a lap down and with a hundred laps still to go. Fortunately, after muscling our way to the front, the Belgian National Team represented by Kenny De Ketele (Chocolade Jacques) and Tim Mertens (Jong Vlaanderen) attacked to try and gain a second lap. The move worked out as we ended up lapping the field as well as getting sprint points while off the front. The remainder of the madison was a matter of defending our position and by the end we had secured fourth place. There was a moment of panic, though, when we looked at the scoreboard and saw Simes/Wiswell – 8th at 2 laps rather than Simes/Wiswell – 4th at 1 lap. A quick word with the officials and things were set straight.

The 500m flying team time trial followed and we finished a very mediocre 7th place. The way the event works is very similar to a 200m TT sprint qualification. The difference, though, is that the second rider sits behind his madison partner and part way through the five hundred meters (wherever the team decides) the first rider reaches back with his right hand, grabs his partner’s left hand, and slings him ahead as hard as possible. The second rider finishes the event and when he crosses the line it stops the clock. Anyway, Jackie and I came out of that sitting in fifth place and one point out of fourth. As we were getting ready for the final madison, Jackie and I had decided it was best to concentrate on trying to move into fourth but to also watch the team sitting in sixth since they were only one point behind us.

The second madison started off a bit slower but the pace steadily picked up coming into the halfway sprint for points. With ten laps to go until the first sprint, I threw Jackie into the fray. I was catching my breath and getting ready for my next turn when I heard that all too familiar sound of metal-on-metal and bodies hitting the wooden track surface. I was still rolling at a decent clip around the rail when the crash happened and as I came out of turn two the track was scattered with bodies from the top of the track all the way down to the bottom. By some miracle I made it through all the bodies and bikes and came out the other side in one piece. Jackie, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky. He was caught right in the middle of the pileup. Luckily he didn’t have any serious injuries and he was back up and on the bike after a few minutes. The race had been neutralized to give riders a chance to collect themselves as well as give the medics a chance to attend to anyone who was injured. The race resumed with sixty laps to go and Jackie and I now had to collect ourselves and focus on trying to move up into fourth place. In a momentary lapse of concentration, we let a group go coming into the second to last sprint and the team in fourth took second place points. This meant that in the final sprint we had to win the sprint or finish second and have the fourth place team miss out on collecting any points. The race was going into the final laps when Jackie attacked off the front coming into three laps to go. He threw me in with just under two laps to go and, as I heard the bell for the final sprint, I kicked hard and open a gap on the rest of the teams. I crossed the line two bike lengths clear of second and secured fourth place for the event.

The racing had been as fast as any six day. The first place and second place teams, Kenny De Ketele/Tim Mertens and Steve Schets/Igmar De Poortere, are both racing the professional six days at Gent as well as preparing for the World Cups and 2008 Olympics. It was nice to be up there with that caliber of rider and to know that I am not far off from that very top level. Next up is the Geneva 3 Days followed by the Gent UIV Cup. Both will be important events and hopefully we can maintain the form that garnered us a fourth place on Sunday and give us some more exposure to the professional six day promoters over here in Europe.

David

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