Nilesen retains the yellow jersey and wins the 40th Course de la Paix Juniors

The danish rider Magnus Nielsen made it. He was the only one in this years 40th edition of the race to keep the yellow jersey for more than one stage and that meant for him first place overall. The man in yellow was not absent in the final group sprint in Terezin, where the fastest was Danny Van Poppel from the Netherlands.

"I'm so happy, it is unbelievable. Of course the only thing I wished for was to be able to keep the yellow jersey. I know it changed its owner after each stage, but I hoped I could make it. Again I could rely on my legs, in this hard stage they stood the brunt. It was beautiful, but very difficult race with many surprises, namely the challenging climbs. Therefore I'm glad it was me to be victorious in the end, but I have to thank my team mates, who helped me a lot," said after the finish the happy Dane Magnus Nielsen, who is actually a student of cycling mechanics in his home country.

The final stage with finish traditionally in Terezin was completely new this year. It definitely was not supposed to be an easy stage and many were surely thinking about how to overturn the GC. Indeed, the Czech Vojtěch Nipl was very close to the podium positions. Although he was almost sure winner of the climbers jersey, he was "only" fourth in the GC. "A miracle would had to happen to cause me to loose the polka dot jersey. The German rider would had to win on all climbs while I would had to stay without a single point and that was not probable. Therefore we concentrated with the couch on the bonification seconds and the GC. We didn't quite manage, but we can definitely be pleased with our performance. And also "my boys" - so to say - helped me a lot. Even 4th place is a great success in this competition." The young Czech was happy with how the race went, but one could also see he wanted more and having in mind his performance it would be a well deserved award.

Although the peloton was chasing someone almost all the time in the last stage, with just three kilometers to go all escapes were wiped out and it was clear at this point that the whole bunch will be sprinting for the finish. The Dutchman Danny Van Poppel showed his sprinting skills and he took the most prestigious win in the race. In the sprint he defeated Andersen from Denmark (two stage wins in the race) and Cigala from Italy. Vojtěch Nipl crossed the line as fifth. The front of the GC remained with no changes. Josef Černý, before the stage 13th overall, was disappointed. "Nay, I hate these hills. If they are long I'm fine, but if a steep one comes, even if a short one, I feel my legs don't like it. Today, after these difficult days, I ran out if steam, I'm disappointed." admits after the finish Josef Černý, who moved down in the GC to 32nd overall.

Magnus Nielsen from Denmark won the anniversary 40th edition of the race, leaving behind the excellent Russian rider Aleksei Ribalkin and the current world champion, the French Olivier Le Gac. The best Czech Vojtěch Nipl finished fourth overall. Matěj Zahálka, another Czech finished 25th. "I think we can be satisfied with the result. Two second places in the stages, fourth place overall, the polka dot jersey, and most important, points for the Nations cup (these are important for the world championship). We, the organizors, can be happy about that, on top of it we received positive reactions from the rides, the couches and the experts as well." concludes the race director Svatopluk Henke.

Results – 5th stage: 1. Danny Van Poppel (Netherlands) 2:39:00, 2. Soren Andersen (Denmark), 3. Matteo Cigala (Italy), 4. Olivier Le Gac (France), 5. Vladislav Belevantsev (Russia), 19. Vojtěch Nipl, 22. Daniel Turek, 43. Matěj Zahálka – all in the same time, 70. Tomáš Zechmeister, 73. Adam Valeš, 81. Josef Černý all +2:49 (all CZE).

Overall: 1. Magnus Nielsen (Denmark) 13:34:55, 2. Aleksei Ribalkin (Russia) +1:03, 3. Olivier Le Gac (France) +1:09, 4. Vojtěch Nipl (Cze) +1:15, 5. Silvio Herklotz (Germany) +1:17, 25. Matěj Zahálka +4:04, 32. Josef Černý +5:43, 43. Adam Valeš +21:02, 56. Daniel Turek +28:52, 75. Tomáš Zechmeister +45:20 (all CZE).