Peace Race

Peace Race

Race details
Date	May
Region	The Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia before 1993) Germany (East Germany before 1990) Poland
English name	Peace Race
Local name(s)	Friedensfahrt (German) Závod Míru (Czech) Wyścig Pokoju (Polish) Course de la Paix (French)
Discipline	Road
Competition	UCI Europe Tour
Type	Stage-race
History
First edition	1948 (1948)
Editions	59 (as of 2006)
First winner	August Prosinek (YUG)
Most wins	Steffen Wesemann (GER) (5 wins)
Most recent	Giampaolo Cheula (ITA)

The Peace Race (German: Friedensfahrt, Czech: Závod Míru, Russian: Велогонка Мира (Velogonka Mira), Polish: Wyścig Pokoju, French: Course de la Paix, Italian: Corsa della Pace) is a cycling event held in May. It traditionally took place in Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia (since 1993 the Czech Republic), though it also included other countries, especially in recent years.

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 Ryszard Szurkowski from Poland and Uwe Ampler from East Germany who each won the race 4 times and Steffen Wesemann from Germany who won the race 5 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 rapidly lost importance. For 2005 the race was cancelled, but its tradition resumed again in 2006.

Friedensfahrt 1955 poster

Peace Race 2006

The 2006, 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.

List of Peace Races

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

P=prologue, E=epilogue

Statistics

Most 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

Teams competition:

• 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

External links

• Unofficial site, in English