Ghent opening to include tribute to De Fauw

The 69th edition of the Six Days of Ghent opens tonight, but before the beer flows and the frites are dipped in mayo, organizers of the race will pay tribute to Belgian Six Day great Dmitri De Fauw, who committed suicide just days after racing in the Six Days of Grenoble.

The ceremony will open with the reading of a text followed by a slideshow.

The race will also serve as a farewell to Bruno Risi, who will contest his last Six Days of Ghent. The legendary Swiss rider won last week in Munich and would like a win in Ghent to close out his career. He last won the event seven years ago.

Last year’s race included some celebrities from the road world in the persons of Erik Zabel, Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins. Those stars are not appearing this year, but the race does see the return of Belgium’s Iljo Keisse, who, while the defending champion, spent the last year (successfully) battling a positive test for performance enhancing drugs that came after last year’s race.

Tags: Bradley Wiggins, Bruno Risi, Erik Zabel, Iljo Keisse, Mark Cavendish, performance enhancing, six days of ghent