De Buyst and Ligthart take reins in Amsterdam Six-Day

by Anna Magrath | Oct 24, 2014

Amsterdam, 24 October 2014
De Buyst and Ligthart take reins in Amsterdam Six-Day

Jasper De Buyst and Pim Ligthart convincingly claimed the lead in the 22nd Amsterdam Six-Day on Thursday. The Belgian-Dutch duo held an extraordinary high pace throughout night four and pushed Leif Lampater and Nick Stöpler out of the lead. The Dutch-German duo is now second overall. They are on the same lap as the leaders, but their points total is significantly lower: 244 versus 168.

Danish riders Alex Rasmussen and Marc Hester sit third, one lap down. They have 190 points, but feel the hot breath of home favourites Niki Terpstra and Yoeri Havik (185 points) on the backs of their necks.

Millimetre sprint
De Buyst and Ligthart, teammates at Lotto-Belisol next year, started the fourth evening with two second places. In the spectacular first Madison they couldn’t prevent Rasmussen and Hester from taking the win in a millimetre sprint.  Terpstra and Havik outsprinted the two in the elimination race.

De Buyst and Ligthart followed up with two victories. First, the Belgian member of the duo triumphed in the first derny race and immediately after, the Dutch half claimed the victory in the first of two keirin races. 

Clash
As expected, the final Madison was a clash among the four strongest teams. Attacks followed each other in rapid succession, but as the race wore on, no other team was able to handle the speed of De Buyst and Ligthart. 

Island 200
The Americans of Island 200 showed their strongest form during Thursday’s racing. Daniel Holloway won the second derny race in phenomenal style, while his friend and teammate, Guy East, received flowers for taking the second keirin race.