Twenty-year-old Noah Hobbs from Great Britain dominated the mass sprint finish of Sunday's fourth stage of the U23 Peace Race, which took the peloton on a 118-kilometre route from Jeseník to Šumperk. The overall winner of the second event in the Nations Cup series is Spain's Pau Martí, with Tomáš Přidal, in fourteenth place, being the best Czech rider in the general classification.
"It was a bit of a crazy stage today right from the start; there were quite a few attacks, plus there were three tough climbs, but I had really strong team support today, they were great and we had the whole stage under control. Even though it was tough, it worked out pretty well, and of course, I'm happy," said overall winner Martí after the stage. "I'm quite confident now; I have my final preparations for the U23 Giro ahead of me, I'd like to succeed there, ideally win," he added.
The winding stage from Jeseník to Šumperk included 1883 metres of elevation gain and, as expected, was a showcase of breakaway attempts. Kristian Egholm from Denmark was the first to try to escape the main peloton right after the first climb to the Rejvíz KOM (King of the Mountains) prime, building a lead of up to fifty seconds. However, after fifteen kilometres of solo riding, he was reeled in by the peloton.
Even Peter Oxenberg, also a member of the Danish squad, was unsuccessful in his next breakaway attempt. The main field kept a close eye on the nineteen-year-old cyclist, not letting him get more than ten seconds ahead. Many attacks occurred in the middle part of the stage, but none were successful, even though the peloton split several times into two or three large groups. It was clear that the winner of the final act of the U23 Peace Race would be decided by a mass sprint finish.
In the sprint in Šumperk, British cyclist Noah Hobbs showed the greatest speed. Mathieu Kockelmann from Luxembourg crossed the finish line second, and Adrian Stieger from Austria sprinted to third. The best Czech cyclist in the fourth stage was Daniel Mráz in sixth place.
The final act did not change the overall winner: the champion of the 2025 Peace Race is Pau Martí from Spain, who moved into the lead after the third act. He completed the four stages in 13:42:26 hours. Second place went to the winner of Saturday's queen stage, Simon Dalby from Denmark, who had already finished silver in the general classification in the 2023 season. At that time, he was four seconds behind the victorious Huby from France; this year, he lost two seconds to the Spanish conqueror.
The best Czech cyclist is Tomáš Přidal in fourteenth position, 53 seconds behind the winner. Twenty-seventh Václav Ježek also made it into the top thirty, with a deficit of 2:49 minutes. The winner of the points classification was Italy's Simone Gualdi, who is also the best cyclist in the U21 Peace Race. The climbers' jersey went to Italy's Riccardo Lorello, and the best team of this year's edition is Belgium.
"As a team, we are satisfied; we rode together, helped each other in all stages," said Přidal, the best Czech in the general classification. He was a bit disappointed that he couldn't get into the elite top ten in the overall standings. "Unfortunately, that didn't work out; it's always a milestone of success, but even though we did everything for it, it didn't happen," he stated. He liked the mountain stages. "But today's stage didn't suit me at all, especially that descent to the finish," he added.
The president of the Peace Race and Czech Tour, Robert Kolář, was pleased that the weather turned out well. "That's always important," he said. "And it shows that participants from previous years' races are making their mark on World Tour teams. In the past, this included, for example, Slovenia's Tadej Pogačar or France's Julian Alaphilippe. This year, it's the example of Mexican Isaac del Toro, who shined at the Giro this year, even though he was eighth here last year," he pointed out. He's looking forward to the Czech Tour, which will newly start from Prague. "All stages will be on ČT sport and Eurosport; the international reach will be significant this year."
