We won’t know until Sunday whether Lindsay De Vylder and Robbe Ghys will win the Lotto Zesdaagse Vlaanderen-Ghent for the third time in a row, but the defending champions got off to a good start on Tuesday. They finished the first day as leaders, but six other teams are on the same lap.
After the bard of Ghent Koen Crucke sang Ghent’s ‘national anthem’ ‘t Vliegerke’, joined by a fairly tone-deaf Jules Hesters making a guest appearance, former winner Kenny De Ketele, Ghent Councillor for Sport Sofie Bracke and Federal Minister of the National Lottery Vincent Van Peteghem were invited to push the official start button for the 83rd edition of the Lotto Zesdaagse Vlaanderen-Ghent.
The top favourites immediately dominated. In the first points race, Lindsay De Vylder made it ahead of Jules Hesters and Benjamin Thomas. In the second points race, Thomas’ teammate Fabio Van den Bossche took the victory flowers, ahead of Aaron Gate, who is teaming up with Hesters this week.
Van den Bossche and Thomas were in the lead after those two points races, but after De Vylder won the elimination and De Vylder and Ghys’ finished in second place in the track lap, the defending champions moved into the lead. They would consolidate that lead position for the rest of the evening.
De Vylder/Ghys also won the first Madison … ahead of Thomas/Van den Bossche. Thomas did get to cheer in the first Derny series. More French success in the Scratch, which was won by Valentin Tabellion. The Netherlands got to cheer in the elimination (Philip Heijnen) and in the second Derny series (Yoeri Havik).
However, the Belgian fans got to go wild several times in the sold-out Kuipke. Noah Vandenbranden/Gianluca Pollefliet beat De Vylder/Ghys in the track lap and the 500 metres time trial was won by young debutants Matijs Van Strijthem/Nolan Huysmans.
The second Madison of the evening, the final event, was a triumph for Jules Hesters and his New Zealand companion Aaron Gate. All favourites finished at the top of the scoreboard. That makes for very exciting standings after day 1. De Vylder/Ghys lead with 66 points. That’s 5 more than Thomas/Van den Bossche, 8 more than Havik/Hoppezak and 9 more than Hesters/Gate.
Dorenbos/Van Schip (27 points), Stewart/Heijnen (21 points) and Kluge/Reinhardt (8 points) are also still on the same lap.
