Leigh Howard and Cameron Meyer won The Berlin Six Day
Leigh Howard and Cameron Meyer helped Australia with the victory at the 101st edition of the Berlin 6 race. The duo was impressive in front of a massive crowd of 12,000 and claimed their first six-day victory at the event.
It was only their second appearance in the race but the pair knew just the strategy to occupy the top spot.
Australians have normally struggled at the race and there is only a handful amount of cyclists who managed to occupy the top podium position.
The Australian team was at the fifth position with a deficit of one lap just before the start of the final night.
Belgian riders, Iljo Keisse and Kenny De Ketele of Team Techem were the race leaders with 213 points.
The Germans were also amongst the favourites with 204 points at the second place. Leif Lampater and Roger Kluge of Team Schultheiss were representing the German side.
The Australians were 22 points behind at the fifth position after the fifth round. The reigning world Madison champions, Meyer and Howard played defensively during the first five days of the race and launched the attack on the final day.
Howard briefed, "It's the best six-day race in the world with the most electric backdrop. We wanted this victory and it should be a good omen for a third World Championship victory in a row at home in Melbourne”.
He further added, “If we succeed, we want to show off the rainbow jersey at the next Six Days in Berlin again".
Both the cyclists achieved the top position with 263 points after the final race. Franco Marvulli and Silvan Dillier of Switzerland were 9 points behind at the second position.
Belgian pair of Iljo Keisse and Kenny De Ketele finished third with 254 points.
The home team finished at the fourth position with Leif Lampater and Roger Kluge of Team Schultheiss, securing 239 points after the final stage.
Meyer and Howard are the only Australians in the last two decades to succeed in Berlin after Denny Clark in 1988. Alfred Strom, Reginal Arnold, Reggie McNamara and Jack Clark were the previous winners of the race.
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