The Junior Peace Race celebrates its 50th anniversary

Terezín / Litoměřice - Half a century! The Junior Peace Cycling Festival celebrates its round anniversary. The traditional May stages will take place for the fiftieth time this year! Cyclists will spin their bikes at the most prestigious junior stage race in the Czech Republic next week! And again, the top of the world will come to the north of Bohemia.

Throughout its deep history, the Junior Peace Race has opened the door to the world of great professional cycling for hundreds of cyclists. It has been part of the World Cup for more than a quarter of a century and is still one of the most prestigious companies of its kind in the world. But now he is going through one of his most difficult times. "It simply came to our notice then. Over the last two years, we've had a nice few slaps. While last year we had to cancel the race completely due to covid, last year we postponed the date to August and this year we are returning it to the traditional May date. It costs us an incredible effort. As soon as we got out of the covid, the war in Ukraine came. Many of our partners have been affected and securing funding for a junior bike race, even at a global level, is an almost superhuman feat. But because of the current war, it is extremely important to continue to carry and spread the peace issue. And the Peace Race is this bearer. Fortunately, I have people around me for whom the race is a real matter of the heart, because otherwise we would hardly be able to write this year's round chapter, "said Svatopluk Henke, director of the Junior Peace Race, who has been at the helm for almost thirty years.

The 50th anniversary will eventually be over after all the ups and downs! The race will take place next week, ie in the traditional May term (5-8 May). The four-day race has been included in the most prestigious world series since 1995 and is still part of the so-called Nations´Cup Junior. The peloton, which should be composed of twenty-six teams from nineteen countries, awaits a total of almost four hundred challenging kilometers. The best junior cyclists from all over the world will gather in the Litoměřice region on Wednesday so that they can open the traditional 100-kilometer stage with a start and finish in Litoměřice on Thursday. Young cyclists will initially have to deal with two mountaineering premiums in Lovečkovice and Mukařov. After last year's successful premiere, the peloton will once again drive directly through the historic center of Úštěk, where a speed bonus is being prepared. The second will be waiting for them in Vědlice. The stage starts at 2 pm and spectators can expect a ride back to Litoměřice Square after 5 pm.

The second day of the race will traditionally be divided into two checks. First of all, the program includes the obligatory morning eleven-kilometer time trial in Třebenice, the afternoon starts at 4 pm in Štětí. The afternoon flat road stage with sprints in Hoštka and the goal after less than sixty kilometers again in Štětí is to take the riders into demanding weekend fights for the yellow jersey. Saturday's "royal" stage, which started at 2 pm in Teplice, will take the young competitors to Germany. Before the cyclists reach the destination mountain town of Olbernhau after more than one hundred and twenty kilometers, they will have to fight for a climb of three mountaineering premiums in Cínovec, Mníšek and Seiffen, Germany. "The Saturday stage is the biggest change this year and is rightly called royal. It will be very difficult indeed, "said Director Henke, describing the route modification. "After the start, there will be a classic Duchcov and through Dubí to Cínovec. Down from Dlouhá Louka, however, the peloton will head to Osek, Lom and Litvínov, from where it will ascend to Mníšek and then across the border and to Sayda. Subsequently, there will be a connection to the original track with an exit to the mountaineering in Kurort Seiffen and then along the river to Olbernhau, "he specified the detail of the change.

The final stage is historically connected with Terezín, from where the peloton will start on Sunday at 9 am and the final holder of the yellow jersey will be confirmed here after eleven o'clock. In the last act, however, the cards can still shuffle, mainly thanks to the climbing quartet in Pohořany nad Litoměřicemi. The final almost one hundred kilometers will not be a walk through the rose garden. "One thing is certain. This year's Junior Peace Race will undoubtedly write more dramatic chapters. But the fans will get their money's worth. The race will have a live broadcast, which can be watched online or on regional television, and the future names of the big world of cycling will certainly be present, where young riders often get their ticket thanks to the Peace Race. We don't even have to look so far - after all, Tadej Pogačar, today a two-time winner of the Tour de France, started here six and seven years ago. But there are a number of well-known names that became famous in the professional peloton, and I am convinced that they will also be a part of this year's event, "invites Patrik Pátek, a spokesman for the Junior Peace Race, who reminded the audience that twenty cyclists from nineteen countries. Among them will be nine domestic fighters. The national team will be led by a former elite rider, coach Tomáš Konečný. The three Czech competitors will then ride in the jersey of the mixed Czech-German Euroregion team, for the start of which the organizers again managed to negotiate an exception.