![]() ![]() ![]() In fairness, it works out in the long run the intention was a stage something like Proposal 2 in my Nordic Series post on the city - however if starting in Prague, this would simply be too long even with the second lap of the closing circuit excised. In my original design, I had intended to circle around Liberec and include the Smědava climb, but that would have resulted in a much longer stage that would have not been in keeping with the traditions of the Friedensfahrt, with only a couple of real long stages, and I already had those ones in the bank and not really amendable. It's 3,4km 6,0% with a toughest kilometre at 7,8% so not a killer but a decent enough leg-tester to start the day. Not that this is an especially difficult stage the first climb, above Křižany, takes us into the small bowl valley that Liberec sits in, between the range on which its Hausberg, Ještěd, sits, and the Riesengebirge/Krkonoše part of the Sudeten mountain range. The stage remains, however, resolutely flat-to-rolling until a good 50km later, as all of the climbs are crammed into the final 65km. This then takes us into the Kokorínsko nature reserve, which takes its name from the Kokorín castle we do not pass the castle as it's on the southeasternmost protrusion of the reserve and we enter from the southwest, but still, there is some real fairytale scenery here - enchanted forests and dramatic rock formations proliferate. Situated at the confluence of the Vltava and the Elbe, two of the most important rivers of the region, it is therefore a strategically-located city known for both the decadent and capitalist wine-making and the rugged workers of the major freshwater port. ![]() ![]() Our first landmark is the chemical plant at Neratovice, but perhaps more interesting is the castle of the Lobkovic dynasty, confiscated by the Communists in 1945, at Mělník. Rudé Pravo's leadership of the Czech part of the race organisation have deigned to have us move northward at this stage so as to make the GC contestants alert from the word go, with this potentially tricky hilly stage. There are some, as we shall see, but this stage is more about the thing that the Czechs do have an abundance of compared to their Peace Race neighbours - hills. Now, in terms of the Peace Race's traditional cobbles and Plattenwege, the Czech Republic has a little less to offer on the surface than either East Germany or Poland, as many of those roads were either already paved back in the pre-war days or have been sufficiently repaved with tarmac that it is very rare to see lengthy stretches of cobbles remaining, at least in the west of the country where we are at present. The opening of the stage will allow the riders to see a little more of the beautiful and historic city of Prague than they did in the opening circuit race, as we'll start right in the heart of the city, which is difficult to incorporate into a circuit due to the tramlines, but in a neutralised section that shan't be a problem. Instead we're heading northward from Prague towards the tristate border northwest of Liberec. While railxmig may have reasons for their concerns - indeed I do rather have a fascination for all things Deutsche Demokratische Republik, the former East Germany need not concern us yet as we're getting this race kicked off through the former Czechoslovakia (for the record, this edition of the Friedensfahrt will stick entirely to the modern day Czech Republic for its Czech stages, this is for two reasons: 1) the real life race did, mostly, too, owing to the country's shape and the need for a comparatively even split between the three countries making many of the mountains of Slovakia - and the unfortunate southern locations of a couple of the biggest cities, namely Bratislava and Košice - difficult for the race to incorporate with any regularity, and 2) in this universe, the region may have had a few stages in recent years to capitalise on the popularity of Peter Sagan, but he is now plying his trade in the west and so appeasing his home audience in Slovakia is no longer of as much importance to the organisers. ![]()
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