Junior Peace Race celebrates 25 years as part of the UCI Nations’ Cup

Terezín/Litoměřice – Just a day after the anniversary of the end of the World War II the Junior Peace Race (Course De La Paix Juniors) will be launched in the Peace square (Mírové náměstí) in Litoměřice. The best of the worlds’ junior cyclist will battle for four days (9. - 12.5) in Northern Bohemia. This is the 48th edition of the race and 25th as part of the prestigious UCI Nations’ Cup series - precious UCI points to be won. The overall winner will be decorated on Sunday in Terezín after almost 390 kilometers of racing.

Pouhý den po výročí konce druhé světové války odstartuje na litoměřickém Mírovém náměstí

“It is 25 years since we joined the UCI Nations’ Cup. Unbelievable, how the time flies. Better not to think about it. Indeed, it is 45 years since I, at the time still active rider just after finishing “big” Peace Race, was giving the prices to the youngsters here.”, Svatopluk Henke, the race director since 1993, recalls some history.

During the history of the race many exceptional talents participated in the race, to become famous professionals later. The race fans were able to witness the beginning of great riders, such as Zdeněk Štybar, Peter Sagan or Fabian Cancellara. “I believe that this year again we will see here some riders who later we will be watching on the TV broadcasts from big races. And I am confident the riders of our national team will be successful in the race as well.”, comments Mr. Henke.

On May the 9th, after the initial ceremony in the Peace square (Mírové náměstí) in Litoměřice, the riders will begin the race. The start is scheduled for 2:40 p.m. and the finish, which is at the same place, is expected some two and a half hours later. On Friday, there are two challenges ahead of the riders. Before noon there is the individual time trial in Třebenice and in the afternoon the Roudnice nad Labem road race stage. Thursday will be a difficult day, the queen stage to tackle. The riders will start in Teplice, the climb to Vitíška twice during the day and finish in Altenberg, Germany. The race will end with a stage starting and finishing in Terezín. “Last year we had a really nice final stage from Benešov nad Ploučnicí to Terezín. It was made possible thanks to the support of a great cycling enthusiast Filip Ušák. At the time he was a mayor in Benešov, but he is not in office anymore. We did not manage to get enough support for the race without him. therefore we moved back to Terezín for a traditional punchy stage in the hills around Pohořany.”, Mr. Henke describes the stage changes in this year's’ edition.

The junior “may stages” are one of the nine selected races of the UCI Nations’ Cup. Twenty teams, six riders each, signed up for the race - 19 national squads and a mixed Czech-German “Euroregion” team. “We are very happy we were allowed to include the Euroregion team again. The team consists of three Czech and three German riders and helps promote the cross-border collaboration.” clarifies Patrik Pátek, the race spokesman.

Among the rider to participate in the race is also the last years best young rider Antonio Tiberi of Italy. Last year he was third in the queen stage to Germany and sixth overall. He will be very motivated to improve that result this year. Andrea Piccolo, the third man in the ITT in the junior world championships is also on the provisional start list. The French rider Hugo Toumire, who finished second in the junior Paris-Roubaix earlier this year, hopes to sell his excellent form. There will be nine Czech riders in the race, six of them under the leadership of than national team coach Tomáš Konečný, who notes: ”We will try to be among the best for sure, we will try to actively make the race the way we want it to develop. In the past years, despite having a strong team, we underestimated the initial stage. Therefore, we will focus on avoiding costly mistakes. The team is well motivated, they are capable of winning a stage. In the GC we would like to be in the top five”. The main prospects of the team being Mathias Vacek and Pavel Bittner. “For both of them it is the first year in this category, nonetheless, they are very capable riders, so much so that they can be team leaders. It all depends how strong will be the competitors - the Danish are traditionally very strong; Belgium, Germany and Italy will have strong teams as well. It will be difficult race, but I believe we can make the other squads suffer and show a good performance of our team.”

The Junior Peace Race is not only an integral part of the most prestigious junior series in the world, but also part of the “Family silverware” (Rodinné stříbro) support program of the Usti nad Labem region. “I am really happy about the level to which we managed to elevate the race in the past years. A large credit goes to the sometimes invisible members of the race organization. The people who build the fences, the ones dealing with the administration, accomodation, catering. And I have to mention the exceptionally good cooperation with the Czech Police and the towns on the route. Each year it is a very challenging task to prepare this race for the young riders. Later, when I see some of them become successful professionals thanks to races like our, which helped start their careers … yes, it is worth it.” concludes the race director Svatopluk Henke.    

48th - Junior Peace Race 2019 - facts and numbers:

Organizer: CK Slavoj Terezín

Date: 9. 5. - 12. 5. 2019

Director of the race: Svatopluk Henke

Route commander: Jan Sedlák

President commisaires: Andreas Gensheimer (GER)

Anti-doping commisaires Tihomir Jureša (CRO)

Total length: 388.5 km

Budget: 1.7 M CZK

Medial partners: ČT, ČT Sport, Deník, Český rozhlas, TV Litoměřicka, PatRESS.cz, Litoměřicko24.

Under the auspices of the Usti nad Labem region Oldřicha Bubeníček.

Honorary directory of the race – Mgr. Jaromír Kníže, ředitel policie Ústeckého kraje

Patron of the race – Gustav-Adolf Schur

Partners: MŠMT, Český svaz cyklistiky, Euroregion Elbe-Labe, Ústecký kraj, Santini, Changroup, Cross, Vars, Intersport Litoměřice, TÜV SÜD Czech, Potraviny Krátký, Airsprings, Vinařství Podrábský, WK Servis, Staw Wurm, SBS Cargo, RUPA, Tiskárna Cyklos Š+Š, Sanilit.

Etapa    Dat.    Start    Cíl    Místo    Typ    Km    

1.    9.5.     14.40    -    17.15     Litoměřice      road race       100.7 km

2.a    10.5.      9.00    -    12.00    Třebenice    ITT           11.2 km

2.b     10.5.     16.00    -    17.50    Roudnice n./L.    road race           80.4 km

3.    11.5.    13.30    -    16.00    Teplice - Altenberg    road race         99.8 km

4.    12.5.       9.00    -    11.15    Terezín     road race           964 km

                                       388.5 km

Foreign teams:

20 six-member teams representing the country confirmed: Belgium, Belarus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Croatia, Italy, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Sweden, Ukraine.

Czech participation: For the fourth time in the UCI series, a mixed Euroregion team has started. Six Czech drivers led by coach Tomáš Konečný and three competitors in the Czech-German Euroregion team will start the race.

Czech National Team: Mathias Vacek, Pavel Bittner, Jakub Ťoupalík, Jakub Bouček, Jakub Hník, Filip Řeha.

Czech riders in mix Euroregion: Bruno Štoček, Josef Čekal, Lukáš Kolařík.