Belgian rider Kamiel Eeman completed his dominant campaign at the 13th edition of the Peace Race by winning Sunday’s final stage from Krnov to Šternberk, securing overall victory in the Czech Republic’s most prestigious U23 stage race. Václav Ježek of Team Kasper crypto4me impressed with third place in the concluding stage, while Alberto Monti, racing in the colours of the Czech national team, held on to fifth place in the final general classification.
“I think we witnessed a fantastic edition of the race. Expectations were confirmed that the move to the UCI Europe Tour 2.2U category would change the character of the event, and that the participation of development teams from elite squads would raise the quality and bring stronger competition. The traditional finale on the Ecce Homo circuits in Šternberk was a perfect finishing touch,” said the Peace Race President Robert Kolář after the awards ceremony.
The opening part of the stage belonged mainly to the Slovak national team, which was determined to defend the mountains classification jersey of Samuel Novák. The 21-year-old rider from Bratislava reinforced his position at the first mountain prime in Zátor, taking the maximum six points. Even before the final climb of the race, it was already clear that no one would be able to overtake him in the mountains classification.
At kilometre 20, Emil Nymand Nielsen of the Danish national team and Patrik Toman of Team Kasper crypto4me launched a breakaway. The pair crossed the mountain prime in Moravice in the order of Nielsen followed by Toman, while the final two mountain points once again went to the polka-dot jersey holder Novák. The gap gradually grew to four minutes, forcing the Belgian-led peloton into action. After three stages, Nielsen trailed Eeman by 2 minutes and 25 seconds and had therefore moved into the virtual overall lead.
Seventeen kilometres later, at the intermediate sprint, the leading duo still held an advantage of 3:15, with Toman taking the most points. Britain’s Ben Wiggins, son of 2012 Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, crossed the line in third place.
However, as the riders entered the first of five finishing circuits in Šternberk, the leaders’ advantage had shrunk to just twenty seconds. Their breakaway was finally brought back 32 kilometres from the finish. The battle for both the stage victory and the overall classification would therefore be decided by a group of around thirty riders, including yellow jersey holder Eeman.
The decisive moments came nine kilometres from the finish. Eeman and Ireland’s Adam Rafferty, second overall, entered the final lap with a ten-second advantage over a chasing group of fifteen riders. Czech rider Václav Ježek then attacked from the chase group and bridged across to the leaders. The move did not last long, however, and all three riders were caught again on the final ascent of Šternberk’s cobbled climb.
The relentless Rafferty launched one final attack, but Eeman refused to relinquish his grip on the race lead. The Irishman was ultimately named the most combative rider of the final stage, while Eeman claimed both the stage victory and the overall title. In Šternberk, he crossed the line ahead of Rafferty, with Václav Ježek taking third place, four seconds behind.
“After winning on Dlouhé Stráně, we wanted to control the race comfortably, but the other teams had different ideas, so it turned into a really tough day. I even launched an attack in Šternberk on what I thought was the penultimate lap, only to discover there was still one more to go. My team did an outstanding job and deserves enormous credit. This is my first overall victory in the U23 category and I’m absolutely delighted,” said the 20-year-old Belgian talent at the finish.
“Unfortunately, the first two riders were a little stronger than me, but on the final lap I managed to ride at my own pace and it was enough for third place. There was some tactical racing ahead of me towards the finish, so perhaps victory wasn’t completely out of reach. But after the problems I had on Saturday, I’m absolutely satisfied with third place,” said Ježek, a former cyclo-cross specialist who has only been fully focused on road racing since the start of this year.
Thanks to the bonus seconds he collected, the Belgian winner extended his lead over Rafferty to ten seconds in the final general classification. Slovakia’s Richard Riška completed the overall podium in third place.
The Czech team also achieved its goal of placing a rider inside the top ten. Alberto Monti was the highest-placed Czech rider, finishing fifth overall after taking 13th place in the final stage in Šternberk.
“The finale was even harder than Saturday’s climb to Dlouhé Stráně. I was on the limit on every rise. But I’m very happy with the result and consider it probably the biggest achievement of my career so far. And I was amazed by the incredible atmosphere on the cobbles in Šternberk,” said the 22-year-old Monti.
Foto: Jan Brychta, Markéta Navrátilová
