Six-day race in Stuttgart, sometime in the early 90s. The clock is approaching midnight, but the stands in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle are still packed. Sixdays were extremely popular at the time, with road cycling stars and famous track aces coming together on the oval track to put on a thrilling show for the spectators. At the time, Stuttgart was regarded as the most demanding six-day race in terms of sport, mainly due to the very long 285 metre track, which hosted the 1991 and 2003 World Track Cycling Championships.
The great era of the Sixdays
The names of the cyclists still evoke memories of entertaining cycling and exciting races for many cycling fans today: Urs Freuler, Etienne De Wilde, Kurt Betschart and Bruno Risi, Rolf Aldag, Danny Clark, Tony Doyle - and Michael Hübner.
Hübner, a track cycling sprinter from Chemnitz, experienced the peak of his career in those years. When the amateur, who had already been successful in the GDR (sprint world champion in 1986), was offered the chance to turn professional after reunification, he seized it. Between 1990 and 1992, he won three world championship titles in the keirin and two in the sprint. In 1995, he added another title in the team sprint with Jan van Eijden and Jens Fiedler. For many years, Michael Hübner was one of the most popular guest stars on the Japanese keirin scene.
Michael Hübner - the giant from Chemnitz
On this evening in Stuttgart, "the fat man", as many friends from the scene called him, is on a break. Preliminary heats have taken place, the finals of the fastest men on the track will follow late at night. Michel Hübner is leaning against the rail; among the often rather slight Sixday pros, the giant from Chemnitz stands out like a beacon from the crowd scurrying around inside. 100 kilos of muscle, thighs like tree trunks, 67 centimetres in circumference. The conversation with the sprint star a good thirty years ago has long been forgotten; it will have been about his chances of winning, his toughest opponents, the special demands of the "miserably" long Stuttgart track. But the atmosphere is still there. Hübner was the type, a likeable chatterbox, charming and eloquent. In 1996, Michael Hübner ended his long career at the age of 37. Together with Jens Fiedler and Sören Lausberg, he managed to win a silver medal at the World Track Cycling Championships in Manchester, Great Britain.
A lifelong connection to track cycling
After his active career, he remained involved in track cycling. Until 2022, the Chemnitz native was the sporting director of the track cycling team Theed Projekt Cycling (formerly Team Erdgas), which included greats such as Kristina Vogel, Maximilian Levy, Lea Sophie Friedrich and his son Sascha Hübner. Michael Hübner passed away on 12 November 2024 after a serious illness.
Thomas Musch
Publisher
