From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Peace Race

Bicycle race

Summary

Bicycle race

Field	Value
name	Peace Race
image	Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1987-0104-004, Friedensfahrt, Logo.jpg
image_caption	Logo of the 1987 edition. Although the design changed during the years, it usually featured a white dove, representing peace.
date	1 – 9 May
region	Czechoslovakia / the Czech Republic
East Germany / Germany
Poland
english	Peace Race
localnames	Friedensfahrt
Závod míru
Preteky mieru
Wyścig Pokoju
Course de la Paix
discipline	Road
competition	UCI Europe Tour
type	Stage-race
organiser	Rudé právo, Neues Deutschland
and Trybuna Ludu (until 1989)
first
number	59
last
firstwinner	August Prosinek
mostwins	Steffen Wesemann (5 wins)
mostrecent	Giampaolo Cheula

East Germany / Germany
Poland Závod míru Preteky mieru Wyścig Pokoju Course de la Paix and Trybuna Ludu (until 1989)

The Peace Race (, , , (Velogonka Mira), , , , ) was a cycling race that was established as the largest event in Eastern Europe after the Second World War. It ended in 2006. A competition resembling the original was reactivated in the Czech Republic in 2013.

History

At the outset, due to the political situation, it was a nominally "amateur" event, which therefore excluded participation of Western cycling stars. Nevertheless, the organisers were able to give the event an international character thanks to the start of competitors from the Eastern Bloc sphere. Workers' organisations from Italy, France and Finland also sent their representatives. In Prague, forty-five years after the first edition of the Tour de France, seven teams set off to Poland, and ten from Warsaw.

The race was officially called Slavjantour and took place between Prague and Warsaw. It was actually two races. A seven-stage race starting in Prague and a five-stage race from Warsaw. That first year, 53 competitors set off from Prague to cover 1,106 kilometres; 39 of them reached Warsaw after the seven stages. In the opposite direction, the course measured 880 km and 65 riders attempted to cover the five sections, although only 52 arrived in Prague. The winner's yellow jersey, modelled on the Tour de France, was claimed by Yugoslavs in both destination cities: in Prague Alexander Zorič (35:53.16 hours and an average speed of 30.7 km/h), in Warsaw Augustin Prosenik (26:52.25 hours, 32.4 km/h).

It was not until 1950 that the official name was changed to the Peace Race.

Gradually, the race gained in popularity and repute, although it remained open only to amateurs and state-funded Soviet Bloc cyclists. From 1952, East Germany was added to the host countries and the races took place between Prague, Berlin and Warsaw. The opening stage starting locations and the finish line of the final stage alternated. In the eighties, the then Soviet Union was also included in the list of host countries.

After the break-up of the Czechoslovak Federation in the spring of 1993, the race remained almost exclusively in the territory of the Czech Republic. Thirteen years later the final edition of the Peace Race took place. Financial problems caused the collapse of the organisation.

Steffen Wesemann of Germany has the most victories in the history of the Peace Race. However, his five triumphs date to the period after 1989, when the Velvet Revolution took place in Czechoslovakia. Pole Ryszard Szurkowski and German Uwe Ampler can each boast four victories in the Peace Race.

German Olaf Ludwig was the absolute king among the sprinters, and he dominated the points competition eight times. Ryszard Szurkowski won three overall victories. In the mountain climbing competition, the best with three victories each are Sergej Suchoruchenkov from the then Soviet Union, Uwe Ampler and Czech competitor, Jaroslav Bílek.

Czech and Czechoslovak cyclists have also left an indelible mark in history of the Peace Race. Victory was celebrated by Jan Veselý (1949), Jan Smolík (1964), Vlastimil Moravec (1972), Ján Svorada (1990), Jaroslav Bílek (1993), Pavel Padrnos (1995) and Ondřej Sosenka (2002).

Rostock]], [[Mecklenburg]]) making an English-language sign to be used to greet riders in the 1961 Peace Race.

Legacy

In April/May, 2012 Alan Buttler organised a re-run of the 1955 Peace Race as a tribute to his father, Alf Buttler, who was the GB cycling team mechanic for many events in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. He was joined by former peace riders including Gustav-Adolf Schur, Geoff Wiles, John Woodburn, Alan Jacob, and Axel Peschel.

There is a museum in Kleinmühlingen in Germany dedicated to the Peace Race.

Junior Peace Race

Main article: Peace Race Juniors

A Junior Peace Race was first held in 1965 and held again the following year. After a hiatus it was revived in 1974 and has been held every year since, continuing after the senior race was no longer organised. Several riders who won the junior race have gone on to senior success, including Roman Kreuziger Sr., Roman Kreuziger Jr., Denis Menchov, Fabian Cancellara, Peter Velits, Tanel Kangert and Michal Kwiatkowski.

Peace Race U23

Main article: Course de la Paix U23 – Grand Prix Jeseníky

2013 saw a revival of the race, but in a completely different format. It became a race for national teams of cyclists under 23 years old. Since the 2015 season it has been part of the prestigious Nations Cup series.

Initially the race had just three stages, but this was expanded to four stages in the fourth year of the race. Past years have seen stars of the current world peloton, such as Tadej Pogačar, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Julian Alaphilippe and Marc Hirschi, lined up at the start of the race.

The Peace Race U23 is ridden over exceptionally demanding courses in the Jeseníky hills, which makes it the perfect proving ground for World Tour candidates.

"Every year we see young talents on the Peace Race who will soon appear on the rosters of elite division teams. Individual national teams send their best cyclists to the Peace Race. The stages of our race are regularly praised for revealing the strengths of the riders. Without exaggeration, we can say that it is a race comparable to those somewhere in the Pyrenees or the Alps," says Leopold König, director of the Under-23 Peace Race.

List of races

[[Olaf Ludwig]] (East Germany), [[Morten Saether]] (Norway), and [[Uwe Raab]] (East Germany) on the podium during the 1987 edition

Year	Route	Length
(in km)	Stages	Overall winner	Winning team
1948	Warsaw—Prague	1104	7	Yugoslavia August Prosenik	Poland Poland I [1/9]
1948	Prague—Warsaw	842	5	Yugoslavia Aleksandar Zorić	Poland Poland I [2/9]
1949	Prague—Warsaw	1259	8	Czechoslovakia Jan Veselý	France France II
1950	Warsaw—Prague	1539	9	Denmark Willi Emborg	Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia [1/5]
1951	Prague—Warsaw	1544	9	Denmark Kaj Allan Olsen	Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia [2/5]
1952	Warsaw—Berlin—Prague	2135	12	United Kingdom Ian Steel	United Kingdom United Kingdom
1953	Bratislava—Berlin—Warsaw	2231	12	Denmark Christian Pedersen	East Germany East Germany [1/10]
1954	Warsaw—Berlin—Prague	2051	13	Denmark Eluf Dalgaard	Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia [3/5]
1955	Prague—Berlin—Warsaw	2214	13	East Germany Gustav-Adolf Schur [1/2]	Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia [4/5]
1956	Warsaw—Berlin—Prague	2212	12	Poland Stanisław Królak	Soviet Union Soviet Union [1/20]
1957	Prague—Berlin—Warsaw	2220	12	Bulgaria Nentcho Christov	East Germany East Germany [2/10]
1958	Warsaw—Berlin—Prague	2210	12	Netherlands Piet Damen	Soviet Union Soviet Union [2/20]
1959	Berlin—Prague—Warsaw	2057	13	East Germany Gustav-Adolf Schur [2/2]	Soviet Union Soviet Union [3/20]
1960	Prague—Warsaw—Berlin	2290	13	East Germany Erich Hagen	East Germany East Germany [3/10]
1961	Warsaw—Berlin—Prague	2435	13	Soviet Union Yury Melikhov	Soviet Union Soviet Union [4/20]
1962	Berlin—Prague—Warsaw	2407	14	Soviet Union Gainan Saidkhuzhin	Soviet Union Soviet Union [5/20]
1963	Prague—Warsaw—Berlin	2568	15	East Germany Klaus Ampler	East Germany East Germany [4/10]
1964	Warsaw—Berlin—Prague	2246	14	Czechoslovakia Jan Smolík	East Germany East Germany [5/10]
1965	Berlin—Prague—Warsaw	2318	15	Soviet Union Gennady Lebedev	Soviet Union Soviet Union [6/20]
1966	Prague—Warsaw—Berlin	2340	15	France Bernard Guyot	Soviet Union Soviet Union [7/20]
1967	Warsaw—Berlin—Prague	2307	16	Belgium Marcel Maes	Poland Poland [3/9]
1968	Berlin—Prague—Warsaw	2352	14	East Germany Axel Peschel	Poland Poland [4/9]
1969	Warsaw—Berlin	2036	15	France Jean-Pierre Danguillaume	East Germany East Germany [6/10]
1970	Prague—Warsaw—Berlin	1976	15	Poland Ryszard Szurkowski [1/4]	Poland Poland [5/9]
1971	Warsaw—Berlin—Prague	1895	14	Poland Ryszard Szurkowski [2/4]	Soviet Union Soviet Union [8/20]
1972	Berlin—Prague—Warsaw	2025	14	Czechoslovakia Vlastimil Moravec	Soviet Union Soviet Union [9/20]
1973	Prague—Warsaw—Berlin	2076	P + 16 + E	Poland Ryszard Szurkowski [3/4]	Poland Poland [6/9]
1974	Warsaw—Berlin—Prague	1806	14	Poland Stanisław Szozda	Poland Poland [7/9]
1975	Berlin—Prague—Warsaw	1915	P + 13	Poland Ryszard Szurkowski [4/4]	Soviet Union Soviet Union [10/20]
1976	Prague—Warsaw—Berlin	1974	P + 14	East Germany Hans-Joachim Hartnick	Soviet Union Soviet Union [11/20]
1977	Warsaw—Berlin—Prague	1648	13	Soviet Union Aavo Pikkuus	Soviet Union Soviet Union [12/20]
1978	Berlin—Prague—Warsaw	1796	P + 12	Soviet Union Aleksandr Averin	Soviet Union Soviet Union [13/20]
1979	Prague—Warsaw—Berlin	1942	P + 14	Soviet Union Sergei Sukhoruchenkov [1/2]	Soviet Union Soviet Union [14/20]
1980	Warsaw—Berlin—Prague	2095	P + 14	Soviet Union Yuri Barinov	Soviet Union Soviet Union [15/20]
1981	Berlin—Prague—Warsaw	1887	P + 14	Soviet Union Shakhid Zagretdinov	P + Soviet Union Soviet Union [16/20]
1982	Prague—Warsaw—Berlin	1941	P + 12	East Germany Olaf Ludwig [1/2]	East Germany East Germany [7/10]
1983	Warsaw—Berlin—Prague	1899	P + 12	East Germany Falk Boden	East Germany East Germany [8/10]
1984	Berlin—Prague—Warsaw	1689	P + 11	Soviet Union Sergei Sukhoruchenkov [2/2]	Soviet Union Soviet Union [17/20]
1985	Prague—Moscow—Warsaw—Berlin	1712	P + 12	Poland Lech Piasecki	Soviet Union Soviet Union [18/20]
1986	Kiev—Warsaw—Berlin—Prague	2138	P + 15	East Germany Olaf Ludwig [2/2]	Soviet Union Soviet Union [19/20]
1987	Berlin—Prague—Warsaw	1987	P + 14	East Germany Uwe Ampler [1/4]	East Germany East Germany [9/10]
1988	Bratislava—Katowice—Berlin	2008	P + 13	East Germany Uwe Ampler [2/4]	Soviet Union Soviet Union [20/20]
1989	Warsaw—Berlin—Prague	1927	12	East Germany Uwe Ampler [3/4]	East Germany East Germany [10/10]
1990	Berlin—Slušovice—Bielsko-Biała	1595	P + 11	Czechoslovakia Ján Svorada	Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia [5/5]
1991	Prague—Warsaw	1261	P + 9	Soviet Union Viktor Rjaksinski	Poland Poland [8/9]
1992	Berlin—Karpacz—Mladá Boleslav	1348	P + 9	Germany Steffen Wesemann [1/5]	Germany Germany
1993	Tábor—Nový Bor	1342	P + 9	Czech Republic Jaroslav Bílek	Czech Republic Czech Republic [1/2]
1994	Tábor—Trutnov	1354	P + 9	Germany Jens Voigt	Czech Republic Czech Republic [2/2]
1995	České Budějovice—Oberwiesenthal—Brno	1379	P + 10	Czech Republic Pavel Padrnos	Poland Poland [9/9]
1996	Brno—Żywiec—Leipzig	1703	P + 10	Germany Steffen Wesemann [2/5]	Team NE Telekom
1997	Potsdam—Żywiec—Brno	1629	P + 10	Germany Steffen Wesemann [3/5]	Germany Team Deutsche Telekom [1/2]
1998	Poznań—Karlovy Vary—Erfurt	1591	10	Germany Uwe Ampler [4/4]	Poland Team Mroz [1/3]
1999	Znojmo—Polkowice—Magdeburg	1613	10	Germany Steffen Wesemann [4/5]	Poland Team Mroz [2/3]
2000	Hannover—Kudowa-Zdrój—Prague	1608	10	Poland Piotr Wadecki	Germany Team Nürnberger
2001	Łódź—Plzeň—Potsdam	1611	10	Denmark Jakob Piil	no competition
2002	České Budějovice—Chemnitz—Warsaw	1470	10	Czech Republic Ondřej Sosenka	Poland Team Mroz [3/3]
2003	Olomouc—Wałbrzych—Erfurt	1552	9	Germany Steffen Wesemann [5/5]	Poland Team CCC Polsat
2004	Brussels—Wrocław—Prague	1580	9	Italy Michele Scarponi	Germany T-Mobile Team [2/2]
2006	Linz—Karlovy Vary—Hannover	1283	8	Italy Giampaolo Cheula	Netherlands Team Unibet.com

P = prologue
E = epilogue

Most individual wins

Cyclists with three wins at least listed

Overall:

5 wins: Steffen Wesemann
4 wins: Ryszard Szurkowski, Uwe Ampler

Sprinter competition:

8 wins: Olaf Ludwig
3 wins: Ryszard Szurkowski

Mountain climbers competition:

3 wins: Sergei Sukhoruchenkov, Uwe Ampler, Jaroslav Bílek

Most team wins

20 wins: Soviet Union
10 wins: East Germany
9 wins: Poland
5 wins: Czechoslovakia
3 wins: Team Mroz

Winners by country

Individual overall competitions were won by cyclist from following countries:

12 wins: East Germany
10 wins: Soviet Union
7 wins: Poland, Germany
5 wins: Denmark
4 wins: Czechoslovakia
3 wins: Czech Republic
2 wins: SFR Yugoslavia, France, Italy
1 win: United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Belgium

References

. ["Winners list"](http://zmj.cz/en/winners).

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

defunct-cycling-races-in-germany cycle-races-in-slovakia defunct-cycling-races-in-the-czech-republic cycle-racing-in-east-germany uci-europe-tour-races recurring-sporting-events-established-in-1948 1948-establishments-in-czechoslovakia 1948-establishments-in-germany 1948-establishments-in-poland recurring-events-disestablished-in-2006 eastern-bloc cold-war czechoslovakia–poland-relations international-cycle-races-hosted-by-czechoslovakia czechoslovakia–east-germany-relations east-germany–poland-relations czech-republic–germany-sports-relations czech-republic–poland-sports-relations germany–poland-relations international-cycle-races-hosted-by-germany international-cycle-races-hosted-by-poland international-cycle-races-hosted-by-the-czech-republic international-sports-competitions-hosted-by-east-germany international-sports-competitions-hosted-by-slovakia defunct-cycling-races-in-slovakia

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Peace Race — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report