Hagenes wins the junior peace race

Terezín – Romet Pajour from  Estonia wins the stage in a sprint from a reduced group, Per Strand Hagenes from Norway wins the race overall.

Before the final stage of the 49th edition of the Junior peace race the gaps were still small and nothing was decided yet. The GC leader Per Strand Hagenes of Norway had only nine seconds lead over Emil Herzog form Germany. The Norwegian team was clearly set to controll the race, winning already the first sprint on kilometer 25.
 
"We new we had to take the important bonus seconds on the first sprint and we managed that with good teamwork. Then there was the bereakaway of the day, which was good news for us, as there were no GC riders there and we coul therefore controll the race better." Per Strand Hagenes reveals the team tactics.
 
The break of the day formed just after the sprint, with two riders from the home country. "It was a bit of coincidence that we managed to ride away with Milan. After a crash yesterday I lost time in the GC so for me there was nothing to lose today. I wanted to go from the very start, but the Norwegians we pulling the bunch for the sprint. I saw then going for the sprint and then sit back, ideal moment for a breakaway." commented Adam Seeman, who followed the attack of his compatriot Milan Kadlec, the fresh European champion in the points race on the track. "I want with the Danish rider and Adam and one Estonian joined." Soon we had half a minute advantage and it was growing. I told myself, tahat the bunch will have hard time catching us on the laps. It was fast decent and up again all the time, there was no place to set steady tempo and reduce our advantage", describes the decicive monet Milan Kadlec.
 
The quartet Milan Kadlec, Adam Seeman, Simon Dalby (DEN) and Romet Pajour (EST) had an advantage of two minutes at one point. The gap was reduced to 45 seconds at the finish, but they managed something that we haven't seen for long time in this stage - to bring the break all the way to the finish. Romet Pajour wan the stage infront of Adam Seeman and Milan Kadlec, Simon Dalby was fourth.  
 
The yellow jersey finished 18th in the main bunch, smiling, he knew he had won the race. Except after the first stage, when the yellow belonged to his teammate Stian Edvardsen-Fredheim, he kept it for the whole race. "When we started the race I believed we could make a good result here. The team was working very well. And thanks to this we managed to win the race. for me this is a great win as there were very good riders in the peloton." says Per Strand Hagenes
Second overall was Emil Herzog from Germany and third Cian Uijtdebroeks from Belgium. The final day in the breakaway meant that Milam Kadlec was the best Czech rider, two and a half minutes behind the winner and Adam Seeman won the polka-dot jersey for the best climber. The white jersey for the point competition went to Stian Edvardsen-Fredheim and the green for the best sprinter to Emil Herzog. the best team was the national team of the Netherlands.
 
This years edition of the Junior peace race is over, this time exceptionally organized in August, next to come is the anniversary 50th edition. "We had a good race, with nice active racing and as the former trainer of the junior national team I am particularly glad that out boys had nice results. There were no serious incidents, so I am hapy with the race. Every year it is a huge effort to organize the race and I would like to thank all the people who helped us and our partners - without them we would not be able to keep the race among the best in the category. We are already planing the next edition, which should be in May as this is trhe traditional place of our race in the calendar." summed up the race director Svatopluk Henke.

Results – stage 4. (Terezín - 98,8 km):
1. Romet Pajour (EST) 2:19:08
2. Adam Seeman (CZE)
3. Milan Kadlec (CZE)
4. Simon Dalby (DEN) – všichni stejný čas
5. Stian Edvardsen-Fredheim (NOR) +0:42
 
Overall:
1. Per Strand Hagenes (NOR) 8:48:07
2. Emil Herzog (GER) +0:10
3. Cian Uijtdebroeks (BEL) +0:28
4. Romain Grégoire (FRA) +0:32
5. Joost Brinkman (NED) +1:01
15. Milan Kadlec (CZE) +2:29

Stage 4 photos