Swiss team pedals to second place

Bruno Risi (left) and Kurt Betschart (right) before the start of the race in Zurich Keystone

Two Swiss cyclists have pedalled to second place in the opening round of the 49th Zurich six-day race.

Bruno Risi and Kurt Betschart have finished closely behind the Australian/Belgium team of Scott McGrory and Matthew Gilmore, who cycled to the top in the Zurich Hallenstadion on Monday.

After two thirds of the 50 km race, the Swiss team managed to win a lap, however, Risi could not keep up with Gilmore in the closing stages.

The Italian/Swiss team of Adriano Baffi and Christian Weber came fourth behind the Italian/German team of Silvio Martinello and Andreas Kappes, who finished the race in third place.

The Zurich six-day event takes place in the Hallenstadion in Zurich from November 26 to December 1, 2001 with races taking place in the evenings, starting at 7pm.

The racers cycle on an indoor track over six successive evenings and race in teams of two, which means that only one rider needs to be in the race at any one time.

The rider, who is not racing, circles slowly at the top of the track and waits for his partner to throw him into the race by a hand sling.

The race is won by gaining points in sprints that are held every 20 laps and by gaining laps on the other riders.

swissinfo with agencies