Zesdaagse van Vlaanderen, Gent Six Day 2001 Poster

Striking original poster for the Zesdaagse van Vlaanderen, Gent, the legendary Six Day of Flanders held at the Kuipke velodrome in Citadelpark, Ghent. The design is bold and minimal, built around movement and color rather than cluttered text. At the top, elegant lettering reads “zes 6 daagse van vlaanderen, gent”, with the oversized red 6 dominating the composition and instantly signaling the Six-day format.

The main image is a blurred, almost painterly photograph of two riders hurtling around the steep wooden track. The lead rider, in a white helmet and jersey, is caught low over the bars as he drives out of the banking, while a rival chases in a streak of color behind. The track surface dissolves into bands of orange and yellow, with a deep blue strip along the lower edge that suggests the blue safety band at the bottom of a velodrome. The deliberate motion blur gives the whole poster a sense of speed and noise, perfectly evoking the atmosphere of a packed Six-day night.

Along the bottom, a black band carries the event dates “20–25 NOV” (2001), ticket information, and the venue name KUIPKE, Citadelpark, Gent in clear white and red lettering, with the event website and the Topsport Vlaanderen logo nearby.

This poster relates to the 2001 edition of the Gent Six Day, a classic year in which the team of Matthew Gilmore and Scott McGrory took overall victory, ahead of Bruno Risi with Kurt Betschart and Etienne De Wilde with Andreas Kappes. Gilmore and McGrory were among the dominant Six-day specialists of the early 2000s, adding Gent to a string of wins that season. The Kuipke itself is one of the most famous indoor tracks in Europe, a tight 166.66-meter board track known for its steep banking, intense racing, and intimate atmosphere.

With its clean typography, vivid sense of motion, and direct connection to a classic Gilmore-McGrory victory, this poster is a wonderful piece for any collection focused on Six-day racing.

This poster has been archivally and professionally linen-backed.

Virtually all original vintage posters of this era were viewed as temporary advertising and were printed on fragile, thin paper. While expensive, linen backing is a conservation method used to mount, stabilize, preserve, and protect vintage posters, allowing them to be displayed or framed without compromising their value.

This poster is an original first printing, not a reproduction.