141 competitors from all over the world will start the 51st edition of the Course de la Paix Juniors

Litoměřice/Terezín - Exactly 141 competitors from 24 teams and 21 countries will start this year's 51st edition of the Junior Peace Race. This time there will be 12 Czech athletes at the start, including even Terezín-born Štěpán Zahálka, who wears the Czech tricolour on his jersey. The race will start at the Mírové Square in Litoměřice on Thursday and will finish on Sunday in Terezín.

           

The six athletes wearing the Czech tricolor will be led by sports director Petr Kubias.

The six athletes Martin Bárta (1), Kryštof Král (2), Pavel Šumpík (3), Adam Pešek (4), Štěpán Zahálka (5) and Jan Bitner (6) were selected for the national team. This is a young line-up, which last year only Bárta and Bitner rode the Course de la Paix Juniors. "We definitely have the highest goals. Bárta has experience from abroad, and Šumpík has also got a lot of experience, as he finished silver at West Bohemia as a first-year rider this weekend. These two will compete for the role of leader. Kryštof Král is also one of the fastest sprinters in Europe, so we will be looking for a stage win with him. So we will definitely try to speak for the overall standings," believes Petr Kubias, who also has another Czech six on hand. This year at the Course de la Paix Juniors, the organizers have managed to field two mix teams - the Belgian Cannibal B Victorious and the Czech R. Kreuziger Cycling Academy, made up of riders Josef Vlk (109), Richard Kobr (110), Robert Kobr (111), Vaclav Jezek (112), Jan Podařil (113) and Jan Faltýnek (114). Another exceptional team is the Saxony regional team. They will be joined at the start by twenty-one national selections from around the world. Among them are two medalists from last year's World Track Championships in Tel Aviv, Israel - a member of the silver German pursuit team Leon Arenz and the silver medalist Theodor Storm of Denmark.

However, this year's start will not be without last year's bronze medalist in the overall classification, Norwegian Jorgen Nordhagen, or the eighth overall Dutchman Mees Vlot. "The starting field is undoubtedly very full. In the peloton is also American Adrew August, who last weekend sovereignly won the 3rd edition of the prestigious junior Grand Prix West Bohemia race of the UCI 1.1 category in Kyšice near Pilsen. So we can expect attractive battles," noted Svatopluk Henke Sr., who has been leading the Course de la Paix Juniors for almost thirty years and this year passed the baton to his son.

            Not only him, but also other local fans will surely want to make happy the offspring of the organizing team CK Slavoj Terezín, Stepan Zahalka, brother of the reigning elite national champion Matej. "I'm a bit nervous, but once the race gets underway, it will definitely subside. I am really looking forward to it. My brother and I are making fun of each other. He's my role model, but I want to be better than him here, so we're getting a little bit better. But I have no commitment, I can only surprise here," said with a smile Štěpán Zahálka, who, like the whole peloton, is aware that the Course de la Paix Juniors can be a ticket to the world of "big" cycling. Examples from recent years include the double winner of the Tour de France in 2020 and 2021, Slovenian Tadej Pogačar, or last year's Vuelta winner, Belgian Remco Evenepoel, who became the youngest rider in the UCI World Tour professional series a year after his victory at the 2018 edition of the Tour de France when he signed a contract with the Deceuninck-Quick-Step team.

            Twenty-seven years later, the Canadian national team, which last raced here in 1996, arrived, followed by the Swiss after 15 years and the United States of America after 5 years. After a one-year break, the Ukraine team will also be part of the May stages.

            This year's 51st edition of the Course de la Paix Juniors will start on Thursday at 2:40 p.m. at the Peace Square in Litoměřice and will end after almost four hundred kilometers and four stages with Sunday's finish in Terezín. This year, the spectators will be able to watch it again live in an on-line broadcast.

51. ročník – Závod míru juniorů 2023 - fakta a čísla:
Pořadatel: CK Slavoj Terezín
Termín: 4. 5. - 7. 5. 2023
Ředitel závodu: Ing. Svatopluk Henke, Ph.D.
Velitel trati: Jan Sedlák
Hlavní rozhodčí: Coccioni Sandro (ITA)
Celková délka: 388,7 km

Pod záštitou hejtmana Ústeckého kraje Ing. Jana Schillera.
Čestný ředitel závodu – Mgr. Jaromír Kníže, ředitel policie Ústeckého kraje
Patron závodu – Gustav-Adolf Schur, čestný člen CK Slavoj Terezín.

Hlavní partner: Sazka, Národní sportovní agentura

Partneři: AŽD, Starmon, Monzas, Škoda, Český svaz cyklistiky, K+P Stavební výroba, Vars,
Cross, Pojišťovna Slavia, SBS Cargo, Cyklostar, Mondi, Tiskárna Cyklos Š+Š, Iveco bus,
Potraviny Krátký, Praktická elektronika, RVS Chodov, Sanilit, Ústecký kraj.

Mediální partneři: ČT, ČT Sport, Deník, Český rozhlas, TV Litoměřicka, PatRESS.cz,
Litoměřicko24, Techniserv IT, Roadcycling.cz,

Etapa Dat. Start - Cíl Místo Typ Km
1. 4. 5. 14.40 - 17.15 Litoměřice silniční závod 102,8 km
2.a 5. 5. 9.00 - 12.00 Třebívlice časovka jedn. 8,8 km
2.b 5. 5. 16.00 - 17.20 Roudnice - Štětí silniční závod 61,4 km
3. 6. 5. 14.00 - 17.15 Teplice – Olbernhau silniční závod 117,4 km
4. 7. 5. 9.00 - 11.20 Terezín silniční závod 98,3 km
388,7 km

Zahraniční týmy:
Potvrzeno 24 šestičlenných týmů reprezentujících zemi: ČR, Belgie, Dánsko, Estonsko,
Francie, Itálie, Kanada, Lucembursko, Maďarsko, Německo, Nizozemsko, Norsko, Polsko,
Rakousko, Slovensko, Slovinsko, Srbsko, Švédsko, Švýcarsko, Ukrajina, USA.

Reprezentace ČR: Martin Bárta (1), Kryštof Král (2), Pavel Šumpík (3), Adam Pešek (4),
Štěpán Zahálka (5) a Jan Bitner (6).