The Peace Race (German: Friedensfahrt, Czech: Závod míru, Slovak: Preteky mieru, Russian: ????????? ???? (Velogonka Mira), Polish: Wy?cig Pokoju ['v??t??ik p?'k?ju], French: Course de la Paix, Italian: Corsa della Pace, Romanian: Cursa P?cii) was an annual multiple stage bicycle race held in the Eastern Bloc states of Czechoslovakia, East Germany and Poland. First organized in 1948, it was originally created with the intent of relieving tensions existing between Central European countries following the interwar period and World War II.
Maintained by the three states ruling Communist parties' newspapers (Rudé právo, Neues Deutschland and Trybuna Ludu), it was dubbed to be the "world's biggest amateur cycling race" and "Tour de France of the East".
Following the fall of Communism in 1989, the Peace Race was no longer state-sponsored and organizers faced trouble with gathering funds. The event was last held in 2006.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
History
The first Peace Race was held in 1948, when there were two editions connecting cities of Warsaw and Prague. The one to Prague was won by August Prosinek, the other one to Warsaw by Alexander Zoric, both from Yugoslavia. During the Cold War the Peace Race was known as the 'Tour de France of the East'.
Because cyclists from the Eastern Bloc were not allowed to become professional it was an amateur race. It attracted the best cyclists from communist countries, plus guest teams from non-communist countries. Communist-bloc riders tended to dominate the event, but there were exceptions: Briton Ian Steel won the 1952 race, and the British League of Racing Cyclists team also won the team competition - the first time that both classifications had gone to the same nation.
An Indian team took part in the race in 1952, 1954 and 1955. Indian racers were popular with the public, although they were not competitive. In 1954, Supravat Chravati completed the race in 77th position, 19 hours and 16 seconds after the winner. In 1955, Dhana Singh finished 28 hours, 24 minutes and 38 seconds after the winner.
One of the later winners was Sergei Sukhoruchenkov, who also won the gold medal on the Olympic Road Race in 1980.
The most successful riders in the Peace Race were: Steffen Wesemann from Germany who won the race five times; Ryszard Szurkowski from Poland and Uwe Ampler from East Germany each won the race four times. Gustav-Adolf Schur, who won the race twice, was voted the most popular East German sportsman ever in 1989.
After the end of the Cold War the race lost its significance. No race was held in 2005, and the 2006 race turned out to be the last.
In 2006, the 58th edition took place on May 13-20. It started in Austria's Linz and via Czech Republic headed to Germany where it ended in Hannover. No capital city of these countries were crossed during the race.
After 2006, the race has been cancelled from the cycling calendar.
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
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
An Under-23 Peace Race for riders under 23 years was added in 2013. From 2015 the race has been part of the UCI Under 23 Nations' Cup.
Bike Tours Prague Video
List of races
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
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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