The 5th International Peace Tour was a cycling race that was held from April 30th to May 13th, 1952.
The fifth edition of the Amateur - Radetappenrennens consisted of twelve individual stages and led to a total length of 2,135 km from Warsaw via Berlin to Prague . Thus, the peace trip was held for the first time on the soil of the GDR .
Overall winner was the Scot Ian Steel , without having won a stage.
A total of 94 drivers from 16 countries started the first stage in Warsaw. 65 of them reached the tour destination in Prague. With Jan Veselý the tour winner from 1949 was at the start. Participating nations were Belgium , Austria , United Kingdom , Bulgaria , Denmark , Finland , France , the Netherlands , Romania , Trieste , Hungary , Poland , Italy , GDR , Czechoslovakia and Albania . In addition, a team with Poles living in France competed. Only one driver started for Albania, the teams from France and those from Poland living in France competed with five drivers, all other teams started with six drivers. Gustav-Adolf Schur was on the squad for the first time for the team from the GDR, who subsequently won the tour twice ( 1955 and 1959 ). The later professional world champion Jean Stablinski (still under his Polish name Jan Stablewski, which he later changed) also started in the team of Poles living in France .
At 38, the Frenchman Eugene Garnier was the oldest participant in the tour.
Two jerseys were awarded during this tour: the yellow jersey for the best overall and the blue jersey for the best team.
At the end of each stage, the winner received a credit of one minute for the overall individual ranking and thus for the yellow jersey.
Furthermore, several bonus evaluations (sprints and / or mountain evaluations) were carried out on the stages. On the territory of the GDR, companies and organizations provided bonuses or honorary prizes for this purpose. For example, on the sixth stage of the evaluation in Vetschau there was a camera from the council of the Cottbus district and at the evaluation in Lübben there was a first prize worth 300 DM from the energy district center VVB Calau.
Stage overview
The tour led in twelve stages over 2135 kilometers from Warsaw via Berlin to Prague . The third stage from Łódź to Chorzów was the longest part of the day at 223 kilometers. After the fifth and after the ninth stage, there was a day of rest. There were eleven different stage winners, only the Pole Jan Stablewski , who lives in France, secured two daily victories .
The first stage of the 5th Peace Tour led over 105 kilometers around the Polish capital Warsaw . Only a few kilometers after the start, the Briton Frank Seel pulled away from the field, gained a lead of up to 40 seconds and was soon swallowed up again by the field. Then the Pole Stanisław Królak , the Dutch Daan de Groot , the French Eugene Garnier and the GDR driver Gustav-Adolf Schur formed a top group of four. After 50 kilometers, they were overtaken by the field. Four Polish drivers suffered material damage a little later and therefore had nothing to do with the outcome of the stage in front of their home crowd. The two Belgians Gustav Verschueren and Joseph Verhelst pulled away from the field, Verhelst fell back shortly before the finish, so that Gustav Verschueren won the first stage of the tour and thus took over the yellow jersey. Three Belgians placed in the top five, and so the Belgian team also took on the blue jersey of the best team.
The second stage led over 139 kilometers from Warsaw to Łódź . After a few unsuccessful attempts, the Pole Wacław Wójcik , the Dane Jörgen Falkbøll and the Bulgarian Ilja Krestew were finally able to break away from the field. The overall leader Gustav Verschueren suffered a defect twice on the stage and nevertheless fought his way up to the top group of 15 with other riders. The decision about the podium was made during the last kilometers in Łódź. The two Czechoslovaks Jan Veselý and Stanislav Svoboda as well as the Belgian Frans van Loveren had a lead of eleven seconds and were the first to reach the stadium. Here Svoboda just beats van Loveren in the sprint. Veselý had paid taxes on the target curve and thus took third place.
In the overall standings Gustav Verschueren was able to defend his yellow jersey and the Belgian team their blue jersey.
The longest stage of the tour led over 223 kilometers from Łódź to Chorzów . The Belgian Frans van Loveren suffered a tire damage shortly after the start. Three of his teammates stayed with him. The illustrated cyclist wrote: This numerous help was tactically completely wrong, because only two of the Belgians leading in the team championship stayed ahead. The ČSR riders took the chance and, driving in the style of a team time trial, sat 100 to 200 meters in front of the front of the main field. The Belgians tried to catch up, but did not make it due to the high speed in the main field. Eventually the Czechoslovak drivers fell back into the field and a larger group pulled away. Heinz Gleinig and Bernhard Trefflich were able to complete the leading group after a chase. A Bulgarian, two Danes, two Dutch, a Hungarian, a Pole, a Belgian, a Pole living in France and four representatives of the GDR drove here. This gave the GDR the chance to take the lead in the team standings and set the pace in the group. Every now and then, the GDR drivers made advances, but the Belgian Gustav Verschueren , driving in yellow, kept bringing the other drivers back. Finally, the Polish Jan Stablewski, who lives in France, managed to break away successfully. At the finish in the Chorzów stadium, he was over a minute ahead, won the stage and, thanks to the one minute time credit, took over the yellow jersey from Verschueren, who finished fourth. The GDR took over the blue jersey. The Belgian team that had been leading up to that point had lost over 20 minutes to the GDR on this stage.
92 more riders started for the fourth stage over 189 kilometers from Katowice to Wrocław . At kilometer 34, Jan Stablewski , who wore the yellow jersey, started an advance with Englishman John Greenfield , Bulgarian Dimitri Kolew , Dane Gunnar Røpke and Finn Veikko Kasslin . After a five-kilometer pursuit, the runaways from the field were recovered under the leadership of Gustav Verschueren . After 66 kilometers, Gustav-Adolf Schur , the Austrian Franz Deutsch , the Bulgarian Dimitri Bobzew , the Dane Jörgen Falkbøll and the Pole Stanisław Królak pulled out of the closed field and had a lead of up to seven minutes. Franz Deutsch fell out of the top group due to a broken frame and Stanisław Królak due to a front wheel damage. The race to catch up initiated in the field by Gustav Verschueren and Jan Veselý reduced the lead of the three outliers to two minutes, but the leading trio was the first to reach the Wrocław stadium. Jörgen Falkbøll got on Dimitri Bobzew's rear wheel on the lap of the stadium and fell. In the final sprint, Dimitri Bobzew finally won ahead of Gustav-Adolf Schur.
The fifth stage was the last on Polish soil and ran for 180 kilometers from Wrocław via Środa Śląska , Prochowice , Legnica , Złotoryja , Lwówek Śląski , Lubań and Zgorzelec to the GDR and ended in the city of Görlitz . 84 drivers were still at the start. After 100 km, a 12-kilometer, freshly paved and gritted road led to tire damage for 22 drivers. Four drivers from the GDR team were also affected. In the main draw, Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Great Britain then made pace. The four Germans tried together to catch up with the field. 30 kilometers from the finish, the yellow jersey wearer Jan Stablewski and the Bulgarian Milko Dimow started a successful advance. Milko Dimow prevailed in the finish sprint and secured the second Bulgarian stage win of this tour. The GDR team successfully defended the blue jersey.
After a day of rest in Görlitz, the sixth stage led from Bautzen via Cottbus to Berlin . Ten kilometers after the start, the three GDR drivers Rudi Kirchhoff , Heinz Gleinig and Paul Dinter pulled away. Another ten kilometers later, she had swallowed up the field that was taking up the chase. At kilometer 50, the two Austrians Franz Deutsch and Karl Cerkovnik advanced. Both were behind in the overall standings due to defects on the previous stages, so the field did not adjust. They were three minutes ahead. Then Karl Cerkovnik could no longer follow his teammate Franz Deutsch and let him tear down. Franz Deutsch covered a total of more than 100 kilometers alone and secured the stage victory. The Belgian Frans van Loveren finished second with 50 seconds ahead of the field, while the Austrian Alfred Sitzwohl secured third place in the sprint. There were no changes in the jersey ratings. Jan Stablewski defended the yellow jersey and the GDR team the blue jersey.
The start of the seventh stage took place on Berlin's Stalinallee and was carried out by Walter Ulbricht . From the GDR team leading in the overall standings, two drivers quickly lost touch with the main field. Thus Horst Gaede still hampered by his fall injuries on the fifth stage, and Heinz Gleinig suffered from an upset stomach. When a top group of 13 finally formed, there were three drivers from Great Britain, but only Rudi Kirchhoff from the GDR. In the sprint in the Bruno-Plache-Stadion in Leipzig , the Pole Jan Kuznicki, who lives in France, prevailed ahead of the Bulgarian Milko Dimow and secured the day's victory. The Czechoslovak Jan Veselý fell on the way to the stadium, but took over the yellow jersey and displaced the previous leader Jan Stablewski to second place in the overall standings. The British team took 22 minutes from the GDR in the daily team standings and thus took the lead in the overall team standings.
69 drivers still tackled the ninth stage from Chemnitz via Freiberg , Kesselsdorf , Dresden and Heidenau to Bad Schandau . At 117 kilometers, it was the second shortest on this tour. Piro Angjeli , the only Albanian in the field, no longer competed on medical advice. Immediately after the start we went into the mountains and the field split up into many small groups. The Belgian Joseph Verhelst made an advance on the Flöhaer Berg and was able to drive out onto the field for a minute. Eventually, the yellow jersey wearer Ian Steel , the Bulgarian Petre Dimitrov , the Czechoslovak Jan Veselý and the Pole Stanisław Królak broke out of the field and took up the chase. After ten kilometers they reached the leading Belgian. The field was now more than two minutes behind. At the exit from Dresden the quintet already had a five-minute lead over the main field, which still comprised 32 drivers. Jan Veselý increased the pace in the leading group and tried to make a decision a few kilometers from the finish with a few attempts. However, the other four did not let him escape. In the final sprint, Veselý finally secured the stage win and relegated Stanisław Królak and Joseph Verhelst to their places. The first pursuers crossed the finish line almost five minutes later.
The tenth stage of this tour was the first on Czechoslovak soil. After a day of rest it led on a mountainous route over 210 kilometers from Hřensko to Plzeň . The field quickly disintegrated into small groups. Jan Stablewski broke away from the leading group ten kilometers before the finish . By the time he reached the Sokol Stadium in Plzeň, he had run out of more than 40 seconds and clinched his second stage win. Franz Deutsch and Gustav-Adolf Schur followed on the other places .
66 riders started the penultimate stage over 152 km from Plzeň to České Budějovice . The neutralized start took place in front of the city's Škoda plants . After a short race, the field split into three groups. After 25 kilometers, Heinz Gleinig from the GDR and the Pole Wacław Wójcik pulled away, but were caught up again after six kilometers in a chase. At kilometer 42 the Pole Wacław Wójcik and the Belgian Joseph Verhelst tried it . They quickly had two and a half minutes ahead. After more than 30 kilometers, Verhelst stayed behind due to material damage. The Belgian Joseph Bauwens caught up with Wójcik. Later both fell back into the main field. The Italian Luigi Federici and the Dutch Daan de Groot advanced 40 kilometers from the finish . They drove almost three minutes to the finish, the Sokol stadium in České Budějovice. Daan de Groot won the sprint against Luigi Federici.
The twelfth and last stage of the 5th International Peace Tour led over 195 kilometers from České Budějovice via Třeboň , Soběslav , Tábor and Votice to the Czechoslovak capital Prague . After a good 25 kilometers, Paul Dinter from the GDR, the Pole Wacław Wójcik , the Bulgarian Dimitri Kolew and the Czechoslovak Stanislav Svoboda pulled away. They were able to hold on to the front for 40 kilometers and were eventually swallowed up again by the field. Svoboda and Dinter stormed off again immediately and achieved a lead of over a minute and a half. A chase group pursued the two. When the pace increased in the main field, everyone fell back into the field. After Tábor an almost 25 km long ascent began. The Czechoslovak Josef Skořepa and GDR driver Gustav-Adolf Schur competed on the last steep climb . With 50 kilometers to go, they both had a lead of almost two minutes, and they extended their lead to Prague. One kilometer before the finish, Schur paid taxes on a narrow gate passage and lost contact with Skořepa. Thus, the Czechoslovak won the day in the Sokol Sparta Stadium.
There was no change in the overall individual ranking. Jan Veselý , the runner-up, tried repeatedly to break out of the peloton, but Ian Steel always stayed on his rear wheel. In the team standings, the GDR was able to oust the Belgians from third place.
During the 5th International Peace Tour there were four different people wearing the yellow jersey. Jan Stablewski and Ian Steel each wore it for four stages. Gustav Verschueren drove two stages in yellow, Jan Veselý one stage. Ian Steel took it over after the eighth stage and defended it until the end of the tour.
A total of 65 drivers reached the tour destination in Prague. 29 were eliminated during the tour: Karl Cerkovnik and Franz Skrucny (Austria), Robert Raymond (Belgium), Ilja Krestew (Bulgaria), Christian Pedersen, Finn Christoffersen and Jörgen Falkbøll (Denmark), Veikko Haaga and Sulo Punkinen (Finland), Eugene Garnier, Andre Laurent, Robert Jonet and Gabriel Audemard (France), Albertus Donkert, Johannes van Ingen and Andre van Neerden (Netherlands), Nicolae Maxim (Romania), Giuseppe Bordon, Enrico Sossi and Merano Mallich (Trieste), Pal Kuscera and Gyula Domjan (Hungary), Edmondo Galotta and Francesco Parisini (Italy), Lubomir Puklicky (Czechoslovakia), Henryk Salyga, Ryszard Kruszyna and Konrad Lipka (Poles living in France) and Piro Angjeli (Albania).
Team classification (blue jersey)
14 of the 16 teams that started came into the team classification. France and the Poles living in France reached the tour destination in Prague with only two drivers and thus fell out of the ranking.
The Belgian team initially fought for the blue jersey and wore it for two stages. She lost it at the end of the third stage to the GDR, which then held it for four days of racing. The United Kingdom took over the blue jersey from the GDR after the seventh stage and defended it until the end.
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Yellow jersey
Best team
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GDR
Christian Pedersen
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Constantin Sandru
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Luigi Federici
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Hungary
Finland
