Six Day Racing

[Zinoviev Letter]

Serious question, given that most full time trackie professionals are Brits or Australians, and given that there can be good money in six day racing, why aren't the six day races overrun with riders from the only two countries where Olympic style track racing is a relatively big deal?

 

[ciranda]

Maybe there are fewer that need to make a living from it like others do? Mediocre english-speaking cyclists like Bobridge, Howard, Sergent can get road contracts with good teams anyway so they are not hungry. They don't need to dedicate themselves to velodromes which is hard as sport and not a very comfortable living. Also there is skill involved, you have to be more than just a solid 4000m pursuit team cyclist.

 

[timmers]

Re:

Serious question, given that most full time trackie professionals are Brits or Australians, and given that there can be good money in six day racing, why aren't the six day races overrun with riders from the only two countries where Olympic style track racing is a relatively big deal?

But aren't you incorrect. Are there any full time track pros any more? Don't all the good 6 day riders ride for road teams as well. Isn't the best Aussie since Danny Clark Mathew Gilmore who became Belgium?
They only country that seems to have a well paid (i.e. pro) program is GB due to lottery funding. The endurance Aussie track rider ride road for Budget Forklifts a conti team I think to make ends meet.
I would have thought Bobridge Dennis and even Wiggins are unlikely to be 6 day stars!
Is there really good money in 6 days? It appears to me and from what I have heard it a good bonus payday not enough to live on for the year?
Cheers

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

Serious question, given that most full time trackie professionals are Brits or Australians, and given that there can be good money in six day racing, why aren't the six day races overrun with riders from the only two countries where Olympic style track racing is a relatively big deal?

But aren't you incorrect. Are there any full time track pros any more? Don't all the good 6 day riders ride for road teams as well. Isn't the best Aussie since Danny Clark Mathew Gilmore who became Belgium?
They only country that seems to have a well paid (i.e. pro) program is GB due to lottery funding. The endurance Aussie track rider ride road for Budget Forklifts a conti team I think to make ends meet.
I would have thought Bobridge Dennis and even Wiggins are unlikely to be 6 day stars!
Is there really good money in 6 days? It appears to me and from what I have heard it a good bonus payday not enough to live on for the year?
Cheers

British and Australian trackies are, as I understand it, basically full time professional track riders, living off Olympic grants etc. Those of them who ride endurance events also normally have a road team, but, with a few exceptions, they are mostly riding for Conti teams like Team Wiggins or Budget Forklifts or An Post. They ride for those teams because they get a chance to try the road, learn it at a reasonably high level and see if they have a chance to go on to a potentially more lucrative road career, and those teams will allow them to be track riders first and road riders very much second. They don't ride for those teams because there's any significant amount of money in it, because at that level there certainly isn't. Their core money is in the state funding.

What I meant by "good money" in the six day context was precisely that it's a very nice bonus for someone who is already making a reasonable living as a full time trackie. Not that they pay anything like enough for someone to rely on them for a living.

I suppose my question could be better phrased: "Why aren't six day races considered an obvious way to make a few extra quid, for say a lottery funded British trackie?" I realise that there are skills and intricacies to six day races that ciranda's example of some random team pursuiter won't start out with a grasp of, but there will obviously also be a lot of transferable elements.

Ciranda's suggestion that the issue may be precisely that the Brit and Australian Olympic programme trackies are already comfortable enough not to need to seems possible.

 

[timmers]

I guess It comes down to what you think "well paid" is but I understand that the Australian set up has changed significantly from days gone by. Which is why they have to ride for conti teams on low money. Of the endurance team for the next World Cup i think only Glenn O'Shea has ridden six days but he was wanting to turn pro with Cannondale but mssed out so is back in Aussie riding for Budget on road and aiming at Rio on the track. Hepburn is with Orica/Greenedge and Bobridge is going to Trek next year. Luke Davison and Mitchell Mulhern look like they are with Budget again. With the way Track World Cups are now held in northern winter it is very difficult to do 6 days and World Cups with the travel requirements/costs. I imagine that a guaranteed Aus$60-70k on the track programme is something that you can't turn down for some riders. But is that well paid for a two year contract and no guarantee of riding in Rio?

 

[RedheadDane]

Just jumping in here to say that Rasmussen and Mørkøv - pair no. 7 - won the Copenhagen Six Days.
Jesper Mørkøv that is.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Going into the final 2 days at Rotterdam, we have a fairly open field at the top end. I expect real action tonight, but lets get rid of the white part of the track ffs.,