Mark Cavendish and Iljo Keisse up to third after Memorial Patrick Sercu Madison win at Ghent Six Day 2019

Mark Cavendish and Iljo Keisse moved up to third at the Ghent Six Day 2019 with victory in the Patrick Sercu Madison, dedicated to the late Six Day legend.

On the fourth day of racing their gap to leaders Robbe Ghys and Kenny De Ketele slightly increased by three points, though, as the Belgian duo defended the hard fought lead they had taken at the halfway stage of the competition.

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The overall standings were turned on their head, as pairs who had been on the podium lost laps to their rivals. Jan-Willem van Schip and Yoeri Havik slipped from second to fifth after losing a lap, but still hold the third highest points total.

Otto Vergaerde and Jules Hesters, who had been third, lost three laps and only took twenty points after a disappointing evening. They now sit in sixth place.

The Lotto duo of Tosh Van der Sande and and Jasper De Buyst rose two places to second after De Buyst once again emerged victorious in the points race and super sprint. They now pose the greatest threat to their compatriots lead, hovering just 13 points behind De Ketele and Ghys.

In the women's races 19-year-old Shari Bossuyt won the points race, with two days remaining in the Ghent Six Day 2019.

Patrick Sercu died in April at the age of 74. Sercu won 1,206 races on the track and is considered the greatest track cyclist of the past century. He won Olympic gold in the 1km time trial at the 1964 Tokyo Games and won three track world championship titles throughout the sixties.

Results

Ghent Six Day 2019 - after four days of racing

1. De Ketele/Ghys (Belgium) – 197 pts

2.De Buyst/Van der Sande (Belgium) – 184 pts

3.Keisse/Cavendish (Belgium/Great Britain) – 172 pts

4. Kluge/Reinhardt (Germany) – 121 pts

5. Van Schip/Havik (Netherlands) – 178 pts and 1 lap

6. Vergaerde/Hesters (Belgium) – 155 pts and 3 laps