Peace Race

Peace Race
	250px Logo of the 1987 edition. Although the design changed during the years, it usually featured a white dove, representing peace.
Race details
Date	1 May – 9 May
Region	Czechoslovakia / the Czech Republic; East Germany / Germany; Poland
English name	Peace Race
Local name(s)	Friedensfahrt (German); Závod míru (Czech); Preteky mieru (Slovak); Wyścig Pokoju (Polish); Course de la Paix (French)
Discipline	Road
Competition	UCI Europe Tour
Type	Stage-race
Organiser	Rudé právo, Neues Deutschland; and Trybuna Ludu (until 1989)
History
First edition	1948
Editions	59
Final edition	2006
First winner	August Prosinek (YUG)
Most wins	Steffen Wesemann (GER) (5 wins)
Final winner	Giampaolo Cheula (ITA)

The Peace Race (German: Friedensfahrt, Czech: Závod míru, Slovak: Preteky mieru, Russian: Велогонка Мира (Velogonka Mira), Polish: Wyścig Pokoju [ˈvɨɕt͡ɕik pɔˈkɔju], French: Course de la Paix, Italian: Corsa della Pace, Romanian: Cursa Păcii) 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"^[1] 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.^[2]

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.

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.^{[citation needed]}

After the end of the Cold War the race lost its significance.^{[citation needed]} No race was held in 2005, and the 2006 race turned out to be the last.

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-81646-0001, Tessin, Anfertigen von Schildern für Friedensfahrt.jpg

German schoolgirls in Tessin (Rostock, Mecklenburg) making an English-language sign to be used to greet riders in the 1961 Peace Race.

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.^[3] An Under 23 Peace Race was added in 2013.^[4]

Peace race U23

An Peace race U23 for riders under 23 years was added in 2013.^[4] From 2015 is in UCI Under 23 Nations' Cup category.^[5]

List of races

Year	Route	Length (in km)	Stages	Overall winner	Winning team
1948	Warsaw - Prague	1104	7	August Prosinek	Poland I [1/9]
1948	Prague - Warsaw	842	5	Alexander Zoric	Poland I [2/9]
1949	Prague - Warsaw	1259	8	Jan Veselý	France II
1950	Warsaw - Prague	1539	9	Willi Emborg	Czechoslovakia [1/5]
1951	Prague - Warsaw	1544	9	Kay Allan Olsen	Czechoslovakia [2/5]
1952	Warsaw - Berlin - Prague	2135	12	Ian Steel	United Kingdom
1953	Bratislava - Berlin - Warsaw	2231	12	Christian Pedersen	East Germany [01/10]
1954	Warsaw - Berlin - Prague	2051	13	Eluf Dalgaard	Czechoslovakia [3/5]
1955	Prague - Berlin - Warsaw	2214	13	Gustav-Adolf Schur [1/2]	Czechoslovakia [4/5]
1956	Warsaw - Berlin - Prague	2212	12	Stanisław Krolak	Soviet Union [01/20]
1957	Prague - Berlin - Warsaw	2220	12	Nencho Khristov	East Germany [02/10]
1958	Warsaw - Berlin - Prague	2210	12	Piet Damen	Soviet Union [02/20]
1959	Berlin - Prague - Warsaw	2057	13	Gustav-Adolf Schur [2/2]	Soviet Union [03/20]
1960	Prague - Warsaw - Berlin	2290	13	Erich Hagen	East Germany [03/10]
1961	Warsaw - Berlin - Prague	2435	13	Yuriy Melikhov	Soviet Union [04/20]
1962	Berlin - Prague - Warsaw	2407	14	Gainan Saydkhushin	Soviet Union [05/20]
1963	Prague - Warsaw - Berlin	2568	15	Klaus Ampler	East Germany [04/10]
1964	Warsaw - Berlin - Prague	2246	14	Jan Smolík	East Germany [05/10]
1965	Berlin - Prague - Warsaw	2318	15	Gennady Lebedev	Soviet Union [06/20]
1966	Prague - Warsaw - Berlin	2340	15	Bernard Guyot	Soviet Union [07/20]
1967	Warsaw - Berlin - Prague	2307	16	Marcel Maes	Poland [3/9]
1968	Berlin - Prague - Warsaw	2352	14	Axel Peschel	Poland [4/9]
1969	Warsaw - Berlin	2036	15	Jean-Pierre Danguillaume	East Germany [06/10]
1970	Prague - Warsaw - Berlin	1976	15	Ryszard Szurkowski [1/4]	Poland [5/9]
1971	Warsaw - Berlin - Prague	1895	14	Ryszard Szurkowski [2/4]	Soviet Union [08/20]
1972	Berlin - Prague - Warsaw	2025	14	Vlastimil Moravec	Soviet Union [09/20]
1973	Prague - Warsaw - Berlin	2076	P, 16, E	Ryszard Szurkowski [3/4]	Poland [6/9]
1974	Warsaw - Berlin - Prague	1806	14	Stanisław Szozda	Poland [7/9]
1975	Berlin - Prague - Warsaw	1915	P, 13	Ryszard Szurkowski [4/4]	Soviet Union [10/20]
1976	Prague - Warsaw - Berlin	1974	P, 14	Hans-Joachim Hartnick	Soviet Union [11/20]
1977	Warsaw - Berlin - Prague	1648	13	Aavo Pikkuus	Soviet Union [12/20]
1978	Berlin - Prague - Warsaw	1796	P, 12	Alexander Averin	Soviet Union [13/20]
1979	Prague - Warsaw - Berlin	1942	P, 14	Sergei Sukhoruchenkov [1/2]	Soviet Union [14/20]
1980	Warsaw - Berlin - Prague	2095	P, 14	Yuriy Barinov	Soviet Union [15/20]
1981	Berlin - Prague - Warsaw	1887	P, 14	Shakhid Zagretdinov	Soviet Union [16/20]
1982	Prague - Warsaw - Berlin	1941	P, 12	Olaf Ludwig [1/2]	East Germany [07/10]
1983	Warsaw - Berlin - Prague	1899	P, 12	Falk Boden	East Germany [08/10]
1984	Berlin - Prague - Warsaw	1689	P, 11	Sergei Sukhoruchenkov [2/2]	Soviet Union [17/20]
1985	Prague - Moscow - Warsaw - Berlin	1712	P, 12	Lech Piasecki	Soviet Union [18/20]
1986	Kiev - Warsaw - Berlin - Prague	2138	P, 15	Olaf Ludwig [2/2]	Soviet Union [19/20]
1987	Berlin - Prague - Warsaw	1987	P, 14	Uwe Ampler [1/4]	East Germany [09/10]
1988	Bratislava - Katowice - Berlin	2008	P, 13	Uwe Ampler [2/4]	Soviet Union [20/20]
1989	Warsaw - Berlin - Prague	1927	12	Uwe Ampler [3/4]	East Germany [10/10]
1990	Berlin - Slušovice - Bielsko-Biała	1595	P, 11	Ján Svorada	Czechoslovakia [5/5]
1991	Prague - Warsaw	1261	P, 9	Viktor Rakshinsky	Poland [8/9]
1992	Berlin - Karpacz - Mladá Boleslav	1348	P, 9	Steffen Wesemann [1/5]	Germany
1993	Tábor - Nový Bor	1342	P, 9	Jaroslav Bílek	Czech Republic [1/2]
1994	Tábor - Trutnov	1354	P, 9	Jens Voigt	Czech Republic [2/2]
1995	České Budějovice - Oberwiesenthal - Brno	1379	P, 10	Pavel Padrnos	Poland [9/9]
1996	Brno - Żywiec - Leipzig	1703	P, 10	Steffen Wesemann [2/5]	Team NE Telekom
1997	Potsdam - Żywiec - Brno	1629	P, 10	Steffen Wesemann [3/5]	Team Deutsche Telekom [1/2]
1998	Poznań - Karlovy Vary - Erfurt	1591	10	Uwe Ampler [4/4]	Team Mroz [1/3]
1999	Znojmo - Polkowice - Magdeburg	1613	10	Steffen Wesemann [4/5]	Team Mroz [2/3]
2000	Hannover - Kudowa Zdrój - Prague	1608	10	Piotr Wadecki	Team Nürnberger
2001	Łódź - Plzeň - Potsdam	1611	10	Jakob Piil	no competition
2002	České Budějovice - Chemnitz - Warsaw	1470	10	Ondřej Sosenka	Team Mroz [3/3]
2003	Olomouc - Wałbrzych - Erfurt	1552	9	Steffen Wesemann [5/5]	Team CCC Polsat
2004	Brussels - Wrocław - Prague	1580	9	Michele Scarponi	T-Mobile Team [2/2]
2006	Linz - Karlovy Vary - Hannover	1283	8	Giampaolo Cheula	Team Unibet.com