Sadly clashing with the U23 Giro (the last stage kicks off the same day as the Giro’s opening TT), the field for this year’s Peace Race isn’t quite what it was last year, but it makes for a wide open race. 3/4 stages remain the same as always, but Dlouhe Strane has been removed as the summit finish, replaced by a new combo of a pretty hard 10km climb, followed by an easier 8km climb.
Let’s briefly recap last year’s race, before looking at the parcours in-depth, as well as the contenders, which I must stress is based on as much info from team’s as I could gather, as well as guesses based on the provisional start list.
Home rider Mathias Vacek won the prologue, with Sebastian Kolze Changizi (Denmark) and Sam Watson (GB) winning stages one and three in a large bunch and reduced bunch (35 men) finishes respectively. Dlouhe Strane would decide the race, with Belgian Lennert Van Eetvelt winning the sprint to the top on the same time as Alejandro Franco (Spain) and Australian Rudy Porter. Based on bonus seconds, the summit finish time gaps and the opening prologue, Van Etvelt would win by 13 seconds from Porter on GC, and Vacek did enough on the summit finish to limit his losses and take 3rd on GC, 14 seconds behind Van Eetvelt.
Parcours
Prologue: Jesenik (3km)
A fairly simple prologue, essentially like a square, with about 8 turns in the course. Minimal GC gaps, look for good track riders and powerful sprinters/leadout men to do well here.
Stage 1: Jesenik – Rymarov (122.1km)
Despite looking like a sprint on paper at 1800m climbing, we have seen this stage favour breaks in the past, in 2018 and 2019, although it was a sprint in 2021 and 2022. A lot of it comes down to what nations make the break, and with what riders. That will determine the break/sprint battle.
The stage starts with a hard climb of 8km at 5.4%, with a long descent followed by another long climb of 9.3km at 4%, although there are 73km to go at the top. The riders then enter the circuit at 36km to go.
3 laps await of a lump circuit, which features a rise of 800m at 6%, although that’s 8.5km to the finish line, so it will be hard to get away or drop sprinters on that. The sprint field on paper is not massively deep, so a lot will be on Belgium (Jelle Harteel) and Germany (Henri Uhlig) to control. France, Britain and Italy will also want to lend a hand, as they have strong teams who could sniff a win from a move or do well in a sprint.
Stage 2: Bruntal – Cervenohorske Sedlo (127.9km)
The organisers have changed the usual Dlouhe Strane summit finish to a stage that, whilst still 2700m of climbing, certainly feels easier than before. There are two categorised climbs in the first 65km, 3km at 6.6% and 5.2km at 4.7%, as well as an uncategorised rise (2km at 6.3%) with 47km to go.
Another longer rise is again uncategorised with just under 30km to go (4.5km at 5.5%). The final then really kicks off (via the second intermediate sprint of the day) with a real climb at just under 10km in length, average 6.8%, where a real selection can be made. From the top, the riders descent to climb the last 7.7km, but at under 5% average grade. There will be real gaps here, but this combination of climbs feels easier than the traditional double Dlouhe from previous years.
Stage 3: Jesenik – Jesenik (167.3km)
We go back to the traditional formula on the last day, with the Jesenik stage, which packs in just under 2500m of climbing, and in the past, has seen real GC action, and on other occasions, a reduced sprint.
The first 55km or so offers nothing other than two intermediate sprints, which will make the fight for the break very hard if the GC is close. At just under 100km to go, the riders tackle the day’s first climb, 6.8km at 6.2%, swiftly followed by an uncategorised climb of 4.6km at 5.6%.
A long descent is followed by 2.1km at 8.5% with about 72km to go, and another climb of 4km at 4.7% with 62km to go. The road is mostly uphill after that, with the next categorised climb coming quite deep in the final, 4.2% for 6km, summit at 22.5km to go.
After a short downhill, the last uncategorised rise appears, which is 6.2% for 2.5km at 16.5km to go. From there, it’s mostly downhill all the way to the line. Will we see another sprint, or can a GC guy make the difference?
Contenders (BASED ON PROVISIONAL START LIST)
Winner Candidates: Gal Glivar (Slovenia), Davide De Cassan (Italy), Enekoitz Azparren Spain)
Podium Contenders: Simone Raccani (Italy), Alejandro Franco (Spain), Simon Dalby (Denmark)
Outsiders: Louis Rouland (France), Pierre-Pascal Keup (Germany), Goncalo Tavares (Portugal)
Jokers: Moritz Kretschy (Germany), Lars Boven (Netherlands), Mateusz Gajdulewicz (Poland), Cedric Bakke Christophersen (Norway), Pavel Novak (Czech Republic), Jack Rootkin-Gray (GB)
Given the race’s clash with the U23 Giro, sadly there are some big name riders who have been unable to make the trip here, but the race still has a strong startlist. The man to start off the winner candidates list needs to be Gal Glivar. The Slovenian third-year has been flying, wrapping up the GCs at both Carpathian and Orlens GP. Racing in this part of Europe suits him, as he can get over the short, steep climbs, as well as the longer, shallower gradient hills too. He’s also got a sprint that can net him bonus seconds as well. I think he suits all the road stages, and even if his national team isn’t the strongest here, that didn’t stop him in a stronger field in Orlens.
Picking the other top favourites was hard, as form is a bit out of the window. I’ve went with Simone Raccani (Italy) and Enekoitz Azparren (Spain). Italy certainly don’t have their best team here, but Davide De Cassan arrives in good form, with 8th at Carpathian, 7th at the Upper Austrian Tour (I cannot even attempt the race’s real name, sorry) and won GP Gorenskja, managing to drop Glivar on the climb to the line. He has EOLO pro Simone Raccani with him, although his form is unknown, as he hasn’t raced for two months and probably wants a harder summit finish.
Azparren is a Euskaltel pro, but the summit finish being a bit easier than last year probably suits him. He was in the top 25 at l’Avenir last season and 11th at Paris-Camembert this year, and I have a good feeling about him for this race. He has Alejandro Franco, a Burgos pro, with him too. He was great at this race last year, coming 2nd on the summit finish and 5th on GC. But with an easier summit finish, six weeks with no racing and form up in the air, he joins Raccani as a podium contender only for me.
I’ll end the podium contenders section with Denmark’s Simon Dalby joining Franco and Raccani. Anders Foldager is on the provisional start-list, but for me, no way he’s not at the Giro. Dalby should lead here, and was 10th overall last season, as the future Uno-X pro produced his best GC race of the season, as he did basically all the U23 stage races, from here to Giro to Aosta to l’Avenir to Isard. I’d expect him to do better than 10th this year, whilst his team also support Josh Gudnitz, maybe the fastest sprinter here and was climbing terrifically in Orlens GP.
Louis Rouland was 8th here last season and appears to be rounding into form for a strong France side, with 5th on GC at the recent Tour de la Mirabelle. That was only his first of two UCI races this year, but he used that same formula last season to great success. I’m not sure if the easier final climb suits him or not, but I expect him to do well. Provisionally, he’s joined by Nolann Mahoudo. 2md at Tour de Bretagne, who could also be a good GC shout, as well as Axel Huens, strong all season, and TT star Eddy Le Huitouze.
Pierre-Pascal Keup has had an injury-interrupted season so far, but looks to be back in shape in time for the stage races, with 10th at the brutal Fleche Ardennaise and 7th at Runde um Koln, the only non-pro in the front group. I’m backing him to continue his good shape at this race for the German team, as he tries to stake a claim for a spot at l’Avenir later this year.
Finally, I will highlight first-year climber Goncalo Tavares from Portugal. Often in Morgado’s shadow, Tavares, also at Hagens Berman Axeon, has the ability to do well in a race like this, with some strong GC rides already in his debut season at this level. I’m really curious to see how he will perform here.
My jokers, of which there are many, include riders who could go for stages, could be supporting other riders or have GC potential, even if they are yet to fulfil it. Peruse the list of six, hopefully I’ve not missed too many names!
U23 Cycling Zone 