The first stage dominated by Norway

Litoměřice– The riders from Norway dominated the first stage of the 19th edition of Junior Peace Race. A duo of Nordic riders finished in the first two places and the winner, Stian Edvardsen-Fredheim, took the yellow jersey. Best among the Czech riders was Matyáš Kopecký at 10th place.
 
"We want to be the bast team here. We came in good shape and we are committed to show this in the race. Personally, I'm not the rider for GC, but my team mates certainly are. Per Strand Hagenes is definitely the best of us and I believe we have the chance to win the yellow jersey and prove that this year we are the strongest team." commented Stian Edvardsen-Fredheim.
 
The first stage was the longest in this year's edition, some 100km in the hilly terrain north of Litoměřice. the peloton took of from the Peace square in Litoměřice, and finished there after two and a half hours of racing. From the very start racing was on, attack after attack, the peloton was in bits and pieces. Norway was very active at the front, Trym Brennsater was in a long breakaway but was caught at the end. The finish was affected by the rain, there were few crashes, which slit the bunch a bit. For the win there were three riders sprinting, Stian Edvardsen-Fredheim and Per Strand Hagenes of Norway and Pierre Gautherat from France, the Norwegian ridsers played their cards well and the above was also the order in which they crossed the line.
 
"The decisive moment was the decent in the last kilometers, it was raining heavily and I attacked." Stian Edvardsen-Fredheim describes the moment when he broke away from the main bunch of 45 riders. Matyáš Kopecký was also in that group and Tomáš Konečný, the Czech coach, describes the situation: "The last decent some 6km before the finish the wet roads were really slippery and everybody was going very carefully. We were five men strong in that group, I think a good position for us. We managed to finish this stage quite OK. There were gaps because of he rain, but the time loses are minimal. In the past in this race it happened we lost one and half minute in similar situations. I urged the guys to stay up front not to miss the splits. They did well."
 
Tomorrow there will be two challenges for the riders, first ITT in Třebenice in tho morning and in the afternoon a shorter stage in Štětí.

 
 
Results – Stage 1. (Litoměřice – 100,8 km):
 
1. Stian Edvardsen-Fredheim (NOR) 2:30:16
 
2. Per Strand Hagenes (NOR)
 
3. Pierre Gautherat (FRA)
 
4. Vlad van Mechelen (BEL) +0:11
 
5. Romain Grégoire (FRA) +0:13
 
10. Matyáš Kopecký (CZE) +018

1st stage photos