Dutchman Remijn wins in Terezín, Nordhagen keeps the yellow

Terezín - Senna Remijn dominated the mass finish of the final stage of the 51st edition of the Junior Peace Race. Thanks to this, the Dutch representative also jumped to the overall bronze at the last moment. This year's overall winner was Norwegian Jorgen Nordhagen. The Czech riders did not disappoint either.

           "A dream has come true. It is probably my biggest victory, moreover in such a big stage race. I am extremely happy. Many young cyclists dream of winning this race and becoming a pro. It's definitely a great start to my career as well, despite the fact that it wouldn't change anything about my signing for Jumbo-Vismo, but it's part of the development. I won and it wasn't easy at all. In the last stage we had to fend off and dispose of a lot of breakaways. I'm enjoying my time in yellow all the more now," Norwegian Jorgen Nordhagen was extremely happy at the finish, knowing that he would not be deprived of the leader's jersey.

            But nothing was certain for the Northman. The final stage, according to tradition, starts and finishes in Terezín, a city that can be considered not only a symbol of the race, peace, effort and suffering, but also a bastion of cycling in general. The race also marks the anniversary of the end of World War II. This time, the last sporting battles awaited the cyclists in the final hundred kilometres, which included five hill climbing premiums in Chudoslavice. Before them, the cyclists sprinted to the sprinters' premium in Hrdle, right in front of the building of the Emco company, the race partner, which produces the popular muesli, and then in Terezín. A number of individuals and groups then tried to escape. "That's why it was a very hard race. My team and I were able to repel every attack in the end, but it took a lot of strength," said the victorious Jorgen Nordhagen.

            At the very end, the Czech national team formed a tricolour train at the head of the peloton, which set up a position for their speedster Krystof Kral. The main field was rushing into Terezín together. In a thrilling finish, the Dutchman Senna Remijn had the most strength, leaving behind the second Dane Theodor Strom and the third Slovenian Anže Ravbar. Kryštof Král finished fifth and the peloton also included Terezín-born Štěpán Zahálka.

            The bonifests ended up shuffling the standings. Thanks to them, the winning Dutchman Remijn jumped to the final bronze position. In addition, Senna Remijn won the best young rider competition as a first-year rider and just missed the green jersey of the sprinters' competition. This was won by Denmark's Albert Philipsen, who also won the white jersey of the points competition. The polka-dotted jersey for the best climber belongs to Belgian Jarno Widar. The most prestigious yellow jersey was won by Jorgen Nordhagen, who was followed by American Andrew August in the overall classification by only fifteen seconds. The Norwegian did not lend the leader's jersey to anyone this year. He put it on after winning stage 1 in Litoměřice and took it all the way to Terezín. "The first stage was a turning point. But the time trial was great for me and from then on we just controlled everything," described the decisive moment of the race for Nordhagen, who kept the same distance from the American since the time trial.

            Pavel Šumpík finished tenth in the overall classification, one minute behind the winner Nora. Another minute behind was the reigning Czech champion and the second best Czech Martin Bárta in thirty-eighth position. "We can sum up the race as a good one. The winning stage was the icing on the cake and Pavel Šumpík's tenth place overall is not bad at all. The competition was great. The Norwegian and the American are a bit different, but I am not afraid to say that they did not show anything great today. However, they can ride very well as a team and our guys can learn a lot. It's a great experience for them. After all, most of them were cadets last year who had never ridden a race like this. But for me, our team worked great. The guys know how to put themselves together, they listen to instructions. When I saw Martin Šumpík at the finish line, I could see that he gave his life here. It suited him. We have a young team, which is a positive for next year," said coach Petr Kubias, satisfied with the performance of the Czech team.

Štěpán Zahálka, a watched domestic rider, who suffered an unpleasant crash before the opening stage, finished the race in seventieth place overall. "It's definitely not the result I went into it with. I messed it up, but I promised myself that I would finish the race even if I was going to be injured in any way, and I did. I am at the finish line," concluded the 51st edition of the race happily but with mixed feelings the North Bohemian rider Štěpán Zahálka.