The Junior Peace Race will start on the 4th of May

Terezín/Litoměřice – This year it will be the 46th edition! The worlds best cyclist in the junior category will meet in northern Bohemia in the first week of May. As this Thursday starts the international multi stage race, the Junior Peace Race. Traditionally the first stage and the race starts in Litoměřice and during the following four days the young cyclist will compete for one of the most valued "yellow jerseys" in the world of junior cycling. Almost four hundred kilometers await the racers where they will fight for precious points for the world cup. Who knows, may be there will be an emerging talent like Peter Sagan or Fabian Cancellara in the race again; this duo launched their carriers during the May stages as well.

"I am glad we did not have to make any major changes as compared to last year. In the past few editions we managed to organize everything in such a manner that now we can build on those foundations. In cooperation with the Police of the Czech Republic, we prepared safe, yet exciting routes. We are sure the stages will be appreciated not only by the racers and their caching staff, but the fans and spectators as well. It is challenging to maintain the tradition of the race year after year, its quality and prestige. Nonetheless,  I am proud to announce that also this year we are ready and there is four days of difficult racing ahead of the peloton, which will traditionally end in Terezin.", said Svatopluk Henke, the race director.

In this years edition the cyclists will make their first pedal stroke on Thursday the 4th of May. The grand start will be at the Mírovém náměstí (Piece square) in Litoměřice at 14:40 and after about two and a half hours the same place will host the finish. On Friday the young racers will have to tackle two challenges. firstly, the individual time trial in Třebenice before noon, and the Roudnice stage in the afternoon. "The start will be in the Karlovo náměstí (Charles square) and the finish at the Masarykova třída (Masarik av.), a more attractive location for the race. There will be also the "primes" in Budine, Štětí, and Hoštka." added Henke.

On Saturday the junior cyclists will cross the border to Germany. the start of a very difficult hilly stage will be in Teplice. This stage, dubbed the queen stage, includes the climb to Komáří Vížka, (twice!), and the intermediate sprints in Duchcov and Dibi. The finish is in the German town of Altenberg. The fight for the yellow jersey will culminate in Terezin on Sunday, the well know circuit of Ploskovice - Maškovice - Třebušín awaits the peloton.

The Junior Peace Race is included in the highest level junior competition - the UCI Junior Nation's Cup. The race is one of the nine selected events. Therefore Bohemia will host the best of the world junior riders. Twenty three teams, six riders each, signed up for the race. These are national teams with the exception of the combined Czech-German team "Euroregion" which starts in addition to the Czech and German national selections. "Our diplomatic efforts paid off and we managed to negotiate the participation of a mixed team, three Czech and three German riders. Beside racing the team is meant to draw attention to the excellent cross-border cooperation", commented Svatopluk Henke.

The start will not be without racers who already succeeded on the world scene. One of those is the German Niklas Markl who ended up second on the world championships in Doha. He was third in the last stage in Terezin last year. The second best rider among the ones who just entered the category last year, Jakob Erikkson of Sweden, will be looking to improve on his 16th place from the last edition. The team of the host country will not be without interesting names. Daniel Babor was second on the track world championships in Switzerland in the scratch last season. "Babor should be good for the finishes. Another great result was achieved by Richard Holec in the junior version of Paris-Roubaix where he finished seventh. Vacek and Sedláček should be the rouleurs of our team. I believe this team can make in impact on the race", explained Henke. He was also proud to announce the start of Jan Kašpar from the local village České Kopisty in the Euroregion team. After a gap of few years Kašpar is another of the members of the Terezin cycling club that organizes the race to start in this prestigious event. The last one was Matěj Zahálka, who sensationally managed to get on the podium in 2011 when he sprinted for third place in the Litoměřice stage. "I am looking forward to see how our boys will perform and particularly how Honza will be doing. As this is his first start it will be mostly about gaining experience. I am also interested in tracking the carriers of the cyclists who participated in the race in the past. Often, years later when we meet with those who made it into the pro peloton we talk about how the Junior peace race opened the world of cycling to them and helped the start their carriers. Those are the moments when one realizes that what we do here is important. So lets see what this new edition brings." as Svatopluk Henke is looking forward to the 46th Junior Peace Race.

Because the Junior Peace Race is for years one of the most prestigious events in the category the organizing team from the cycling club CK Slavoj Terezín sought to improve the venue as well. Already last year the race office was moved to "Kavalir 6" where a new museum of cycling is being founded. "We have an excellent cooperation with the town of Terezin and the towns officials and we are putting together a hall of fame and a museum of cycling. Gradually, we acquire rare and valuable items. We have the jerseys of some famous riders who took part in the race, including two world champion rainbow jerseys signed personally by Michal Kwiatkowski and Peter Sagan, both former participants in the race." added the race director Svatopluk Henke.