On the television show "Wetten, dass....?" on 3 October 2009, the Swiss Daniel Markwalder (38) won the following bet against Jens Voigt: He bet that he would be faster in a sprint over 200 metres on his 99-year-old, 27-kilogram original Swiss military bike "Göppel" with just one gear than the professional cyclist Jens Voigt, who is the same age, on his current racing bike. He achieved this with an impressive performance by a narrow margin - and also became the "competition king".
On Saturday 30 January 2010, there was to be an opportunity for revenge against Voigt as part of the Berlin six-day race: Markwalder once again competed on his military bike, whereby the advantages seemed to be even more in favour of the Berlin-based professional cyclist than on "Wetten Dass...?", because: Voigt has the home advantage there, having come straight from the training camp, and the incline of the wooden oval with 45-degree banked turns is unfamiliar to the Swiss rider, who had, however, prepared himself with the help of Swiss national track coach Markus Nagel.
After the popular betting show in October, many had said that Voigt could have won the race if the course had been 50 metres longer - in Berlin, at 250 metres, it was presumably the more favourable length for the professional cyclist. 13,000 spectators watched the renewed duel in the Velodrom on Saturday and the atmosphere was boiling.
The two likeable sportsmen already made it clear during the interview that it was going to be a lot of fun for them, but of course with serious intentions to win. Surprisingly, Markwalder once again came out on top with his military bike: His "projectile" - once set rolling - was again the first to cross the finish line.
Jens Voigt proved to be a fair sportsman and well-wisher, the audience celebrated both of them on the lap of honour - also impressed by how quickly the "Alpenblitz" had conjured a Swiss flag out of his saddlebag. As friends, the two rivals crossed the finish line again a little later to give the starting signal for the subsequent KIA chase.
