This is something that I've had in mind for a while, but it's taken me some time to get into a position to have one to post. This is a route for a classic race now little seen in the history books, a race more or less lost to time, or so it would seem... the
Friedensfahrt, Course de la Paix, Závod Miru, Wyścig Pokoju, or as it may be best known on this Anglophone forum, the
Peace Race.
Starting in 1948 and running through 58 editions before the money ran out after the 2006 edition, the
Tour de France of the East was the most prestigious, important and legendary cycling event behind the Iron Curtain until its fall. Originally an amateur event competed for by national teams, it swiftly tailed off in importance as the fall of Communism rendered it somewhat obsolete, with its former "amateur" riders heading west in search of better pay and performing in those races they'd never been able to before.
The general template for the Peace Race was a race of around 2 weeks in length, racing between Prague, Berlin and Warsaw in various orders. It was originally just Prague and Warsaw for the first five editions of the race, but in 1952 (there were two editions in 1948) Ostberlin joined the party, and the race in its classic form was born. Early editions of a week expanded, and soon the race would typically fluctuate between 12 and 16 stages. This template was only deviated from occasionally - 1953's race substituted Bratislava for Prague, though the Czech capital featured on the route; 1969's edition bypassed Czechoslovakia as a punishment for the uprisings; 1985's edition began with a prologue in Prague before three stages in Moscow before returning to Prague; 1986 decided against the double air transfer and started in Kiev before returning to its traditional homes, and 1988's edition ran from Bratislava to Katowice to Berlin. In the post-Communist era, the race continued to run between the three (four) countries (it typically only used the modern day Czech Republic, though of course stages in modern Slovakia are not unknown) but seldom used the capitals as the prestige of the race dwindled. Now, the Czech cycling authority has the rights to the name and organises a junior edition, which has a stellar list of past winners including Roman Kreuziger and Fabian Cancellara.
The race also had its own share of heroes, heroes which often go unheralded in discussions of the great cyclists of the past. Obviously winners of the later, professional era are often familiar to us (Steffen Wesemann, Jens Voigt or Pavel Padrnos, for example, though in the later days when the race was dying off even a young Michele Scarponi and Giampaolo Cheula won editions), and those of the time of the
Wende later made names for themselves in the professional péloton of the West (Uwe Ampler, Zbigniew Spruch, but more successfully Djamolidine Abdoujaparov and Olaf Ludwig, both winning the Tour de France points competition). But the exploits of the great Polish cyclist Ryszard Szurkowski, the former Olympic champion and talented climber Sergej Suchorutschenkow (father of recent Olympic bronze medallist Olga Zabelinskaya) and of course icon of the DDR Täve Schur are often forgotten.
History lesson over, sort of.
I've always hoped for a return of the race in some form, although I suspect it would need some kind of special occasion for a probable one-off situation. Maybe 2015, to celebrate 25 years since the fall of Communism. Remember the days when El Pistolero was cooing over video of the Ávila finish in the Vuelta and wondering if we could ever see a real all-rounders' GT, with real opportunities for the Classics specialists to win? This may be their best chance. Many flat stages punctuated the Peace Race, as you might imagine bearing in mind how flat most of Poland and the DDR are/were. My personal edition of the race posted here is 15 stages long, in the direction Warsaw-Prague-Berlin. I have attempted to include some sops to tradition whilst simultaneously reflecting the changes that have gone on in the sport since the days of the Friedensfahrt as a major event. I have included a wide range of challenges, to try to keep things interesting. Nevertheless, there are lots of things that I would have liked to have included but simply didn't have room for - for example, a really long stage through eastern Brandenburg taking in a large number of
Kopfsteinpflasterstraßen wouldn't have gone amiss. With tradition in mind, I have started and finished the race with a sequence of stages in relay form, i.e. with no transfers, but there are a number of them in the middle, especially as we move through the mountains, of which there are more than in a typical Peace Race route of the Iron Curtain era, to reflect the changing nature of the péloton.
As per Peace Race tradition, the following jerseys are available:
Yellow Jersey - General Classification: the usual. Time bonuses of 10, 6 and 3 seconds for the top 3 positions on non-TT stages.
Violet Jersey - Combativity Classification: instead of a true points classification, the Peace Race had something combining intermediate sprints and the Giro's Trofeo della Fuga, known as the "Aktivster Fahrer". 3, 2 and 1 points awarded for each intermediate sprint, but also 3 points would be awarded for every member of a breakaway group numbering fewer than 10 riders, that finished more than 1'30 ahead of the next group on the road. A further point would be awarded for each 30" greater the advantage is, so an advantage of 2'30 would net the members of the break 5 points.
Green Jersey - Mountains Classification: the usual, though worthy of note is that the Peace Race only had two categories of mountain; cat.1 would be applied to any climb greater than 250m in ascent and 5km in length; cat.2 would apply to all others. Cat.1 climbs would offer 7, 5, 3, 2 and 1 points, cat.2 would offer 5, 3 and 1.
Pink Jersey - Combination Classification: scored like a true points classification. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points would be awarded to the top 10 on each stage; then, the sum total of all a rider's points in the mountains and combativity classification would be added.
Furthermore, I will be awarding blue numbers to the leading team; they used to wear blue jerseys, but this is a practice that has died out. The old-fashioned points classification (based on adding up placements and the lowest total winning) and youth classification shall not be jersey-paying in my Course de la Paix.
Right! After all that, let's get on with the stages...
I'd like to give thanks to Michał Książkiewicz on this one, for his
website covering Polish climbs for all bikes, road, 'cross or MTB, has been of great interest, as Poland doesn't feature too heavily on Quäl dich! or Altimetrias.
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