Andersen from Norway won the 46th edition of the Junior Peace Race

published on 8. May 2017 - 10:55

Terezín – Finished! In this years 46th edition won Idar Andersen, a member of the Norwegian national team. The "Norse" arrived to the finish town wearing yellow in the main field, therefore with no time loss and he could start celebrating. In the bunch finish the German sprinter Niklas Märkl was the fastest.

"This win is a huge thing for me. At the beginning no one believed it could be done. Especially the stage on Saturday was very hard, but the whole team was a great help for me. We fought hard to reclaim the yellow jersey and when we did we were confident we could hold to it. I think we proved to be the strongest team and we deserve to be the leading team in the UCI Nations' Cup. The Junior Peace Race is my biggest win so far." commented the young Norwegian Idar Andersen.

Usually, In the final stage, almost 100 km with start and finish in Terezín, we do not see an successful escape group. On the other hand an error can lead to a significant time losses. Unfortunately that was the case for Madsen Hindsgaul of Denmark, who was involved in a mass crash few kilometers before the finish. Sadly, instead to the podium he went to the hospital and the race was over for him. Despite the numerous attacks during the last stage the peloton stayed together and approached Terezín at high pace. In the final mass sprint won Niklas Märkl, who was second last year at the world championships in Doha. The German crossed the finish line in front of Masotto of Italy and Van Tricht of Belgium. Daniel Babor, the best in this stage among the Czech riders sprinted for sixth place.

Idar Andersen became the first Norwegian to win the race and he is taking home the most valued jersey of the Junior Peace Race. His teammate Andreas Leknessund, second overall, undelined the dominance of the Norwegian team. Third overall was the Italian Bagioli. Just below the podium ended up Karel Vacek, member of the Czech national team, who excelled in the queens stage on Saturday, where he successfully turned a solo escape into a beautiful win. This made him the best rider among the ones racing in this category for the first year. "I was not far from the podium and now I know I am among the elite, I know I can do it. I came here and my goal was to be in the top seven. This is extra bonus and I am glad I made it. I am content with the result, I am not aware of anything to regret. Sure, there are things to improve, and I am determined to work hard to show even better performance next year." said the best Czech rider Karel Vacek.

This years 46th edition of the race is over. at he start there were 138 riders from 22 national teams and one mixed team, 114 of them made it to the finish in Terezín. Unfortunately, the rider from the organizing tema CK Slavoj Terezín was not present, he abandoned the race during the final stage. "Another edition of the race is behind us. I am glad we avoided any major problems. Crucial is no one suffered serious injury. Overall the race went without problems, and for that I have to thank all the people participating in the organization. I appreciate the excelent work of the police, my team, and all the partners. Thanks to them we saw exciting racing in difficult stages. And when I consider the performance of the Czech team I have to be more than happy. I believe also next year we will add another chapter to the great history of the Junior Peace Race." concluded the race director Svatopluk Henke.

Results – 4th stage (Terezín, 96,4 km):

1. Niklas Märkl (Ger) 2:14:57

2. Giulio Masotto (Ita)

3. Stan van Tricht (Bel)

4. Davide Ferrari (Ita)

5. Filippo Magli (Ita)

6. Daniel Babor (Cze) all in the same time

DNF Jan Kašpar (Cze)

Overall:

1. Idar Andersen (Nor) 9:12:21

2. Andreas Leknessund (Nor) +0:41

3. Andrea Bagioli (Ita) +1:15