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Six-Day racing back in London to a thunderous welcome

Invented in London in 1878, Six Day racing is a perfect fit for London’s Olympic Velodrome. The stars turn up, with Kate Archibald and Mark Cavendish shining bright this year, the clubby atmosphere vibrates, with DJs and moody lighting, and the crowd erupts to shake the roof at every climax.  

Since the revival of Six Day racing on its home territory five years ago, the (yes, six day) event has become an essential part of the London cycling calendar along with Freecycle, the family event invented by LCC’s own David Love, Ride London, Freecycle’s professional offshoot, the challenging London to Brighton and the candle–lit Dunwich Dynamo, valiantly serviced by Southwark Cyclists. 

This year’s Phynova Six Day was an ideal opportunity for Britain’s Kate Archibald to show her skills alongside her team partner Neah Evans and British rivals Laura Kenny and Elinor Barker– the Archibald/Evans duo triumphed across the (Siberian pine) board.

On the final day Mark Cavendish grabbed victory in the Derney race (paced by motorbikes) but, with partner Owain Doull, was narrowly beaten by Italian rivals Elia Vivianni (world champion on a gold plated bike) and Simone Consonni in the Madison race that finished the meeting in an up-to-the-end nail-biter.  Madison racing, a US invention once patronisedby the likes of Sinatra and Capone, is effectively a concatenation of all the Tour de France sprints squeezed into a single hour, in a single location, with a single winning pair. All done at a breath-taking speed.

Aside from Vivianni’s gold bike we spotted the long-lived London brand, Holdsworth, a couple of world champion’s vests  and slew of British team strips.

You can catch up with the racing on BBC iPlayer and on twitter @sixdaycycling.