Mayrhofer from Germany won the first stage

Litoměřice – Marius Mayrhofer won the first stage of the 47th Junior Peace Race. He won the sprint of an eight riders strong escape, which brought an early suprize twist in the race, as they succesfully atacked and stayed away.

            „It was very hard in the last kilometers, when we created a gap we were all pushing to stay away and I had a fantastic sprint.“said the happy winner, whose reaction after he crossed the line did not leave any doubts about his emotions. His winners shout still resonates in the streets of the old town of Litomerice, where was todays start and finish.

            This was the longest stage of this years edition. Usually, the first hundred kilometers are more or less for worming up and in the past years there were no significant gaps at the end of the first stage. This time the weather was very windy and echelons formed, causing time losses which are very unpleasant for some of the riders. Karel Vacek, of the Czech national team, could tell you about it, as he is one of the favorites on paper, who finished minute and half down. In general, this stage was not very successful for the home riders. "The Danes were obviously the strongest team today. They tore it to peaces. And then I was left there alone, I could not do anything about it." commented the visibly disappointed Karel Vacek. Nonetheless, as a real leader he is not giving up easily, "To have lost so much time in the beginning of the race is certainly a complication, but I'm convinced the race can be still won. Tomorrow is another day, wil see."

            There were 142 riders at the start from 23 nations. Among them the local rider Jan Kašpar, who had a bad day and arrived about ten minutes after the winner. The race continues for another three days. Tomorrow, there is the time trial in Třebenice before noon and in the afternoon a road race stage around Roudnice nad Labem. During the weekend the real mountains will come. "I am more of a sprinter, but I got over the hills alright today. I will try to stay in yellow, but the time trial seems to be a hard one." concluded the race leader Mayrhofer.