The Irish pair of Mark Downey and Felix English have had an impressive start to the prestigious Italian six-day race, the 6 Giorni Delle Rose in Fiorenzuola d’Arda (Piacenza).

Downey and English, who won the Madison at the UCI Track World Cup in Los Angeles earlier this year, sit in third place after the first day of competition at the Velodromo “Attilio Pavesi” where they face strong competition.

The duo are in the podium position thanks to their third place in the Flying Lap which was won by the British pair of Steven Burke and Kian Emadi in a time of 21.384″ with Downey and English setting a time of 22.141″.

Christos Volikakis of Greece who is paired with the Czech Republic’s Lukem Lichnovsky took second place.

Amongst those who finished further down were Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie) who is paired with Kévin Reza (FDJ), the Australian pair of Cameron Meyer and Callum Scotson and the World Madison champions Morgan Kneisky and Benjamin Thomas from France. The other Irish pair of Fintan Ryan and Marc Potts finished in 19th position.

Amongst those who have taken victory in the past at the 6 Giorni Delle Rose which has been running since 1998 are Mario Cipollini, Giovanni Lombardi, Iljo Keisse with Elia Viviani partnering Michele Scartezzini to victory last year.

General Classification after day 1

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