The 36-year-old Belgian got his season off to a winning start.
Tuesday night, Iljo Keisse celebrated the 30th victory of his career in a six-day race, which came in Bremen, where he had previously won twice before this year, in 2008 and 2017, on each of these occasions teaming up with German riders, Robert Bartko and Marcel Kalz, respectively.
This time, Iljo rode together with countryman Jasper De Buyst, and wrote a small page of history at the century-old competition, as they became the first ever Belgian pair to take the laurels. Keisse and De Buyst showed their intentions early, a series of strong rides putting them into the hot seat in the first part of the Six Days of Bremen, before conceding the lead on the penultimate evening.
This setback didn’t dampen their spirits, prompting instead a fantastic comeback on the final day, where the two managed not only to score a considerable haul of points, but also put at least two laps into their main opponents, Marc Hester – Theo Reinhardt and Simone Consonni – Tristan Marguet, who rounded out the podium at the 56th edition.
For Iljo Keisse, this was the second victory of the season on the velodrome, after the one he captured at his beloved Six Days of Gent, last November, together with Deceuninck – Quick-Step teammate Elia Viviani.
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen/ Getty Images
