With Lucy Garner (Great Britain), Julie Leth (Denmark) and Mieke Kröger (Bielefeld), three junior world champions were at the start of the Sparkasse Bremen Grand Prix. Nevertheless, the cycling experts on the sidelines found it difficult to pick a favourite, and this was certainly due to the regulations. The best of the day were determined in four qualifying competitions (scratch, points race, elimination race, Australian elimination race), which determined the overall winner in a 50-lap derny final.
In the very first competition, the foreign guests showed that they had not brought any gifts to Bremen. Julie Leth and Lucy Garner had already competed at the Sixdays in Rotterdam and gave their opponents no chance in the scratch. Danish champion Amalie Dideriksen finished just ahead of Russia's Alina Bondarenko in third place.
When asked at the riders' briefing at lunchtime which of the participants had already ridden derny races, not all fingers went up. And the one with probably the most derny experience, the British derny champion Hannah Walker, had not been able to qualify for the final.
In the Derny final, road world champion Lucy Garner set a fast pace and already looked like a sure winner when a rare stroke of bad luck robbed her of her chances of victory with 15 laps to go. Her pacemaker Joop Zijlaard's engine burst with a loud bang.
He was able to quickly switch to a replacement but Lucy Garner had lost her rhythm and was unable to get back into the race.
Now the way seemed clear for Julie Leth. But five laps before the end, Daniela Gass launched a surprise attack. Julie Leth's counterattack came too late. She came onto the home straight at high speed, but Daniela Gass was able to hold on to a narrow lead to the finish. Russia's Alina Bondarenko gave herself a nice present on her 19th birthday with third place
The sporting director of the Sixdays Bremen, Erik Weispfennig, was highly satisfied with the women's Sixdays debut: "It was great fun to watch. These women can cycle really well and didn't give anything away. It was a well-balanced field with two outstanding athletes. We will be hearing a lot more about Julie Leth and Lucy Garner in the coming years. There was a standing ovation at the final. The women proved that they had every right to be at the Sixdays."
British Derny champion Hannah Walker was also satisfied: "It was great to ride in Bremen. So many spectators, such an atmosphere, great music during the competitions - unfortunately we don't have anything like that in England. I really want to come back next year. Can I register now?"
Info: www.sixdaysbremen.de
