Ghent Six-Day organisers have assured spectators and riders that this year’s event will continue to go ahead, despite heightened security fears in Belgium after last Friday’s Paris attacks.

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Additional security will be added to the event at the Kuipke Velodrome, which starts on Tuesday, with spectators asked not to bring bags, particularly travel bags and rucksacks, inside the venue or they may be asked to leave.

“There are different measures for increased monitoring, both by the organisation as well as by the police,” the organisers announced on the Ghent Six website.

“One of these measures is that there will be bag control brought to the entrance. Backpacks, travel bags and the like are not allowed inside. The organisation will provide a location to give it in to be held, after which they can be retrieved when leaving the Kuipke.”

A total of 129 people were killed in the coordinated attacks that took place on Friday in Paris, with French investigators identifying a Belgian jihadi as the leader behind the attacks and another Brussels-born man named as a key suspect.

In response, the Belgian authorities raised the nation’s security threat level to three on Monday night, with the Belgian Football Association shortly after cancelling an international friendly between Belgium and Spain, due to take place at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels on Tuesday night.

Ghent, which is less than an hour’s drive from the capital, will nonetheless press on with the 75th edition of the prestigious Six-Day, which goes on until Sunday (Nov 22).

Organisers have said they will update spectators as soon as possible if the situation changes.

“Everything takes place as planned,” said the Ghent Six press officer Chris Vannoppen. “If there is still another decision, then that will be communicated as soon as possible.”