International Peace Tour 1969

The 22nd International Peace Tour (Course de la paix) was a cycling race that took place from May 12th to 25th, 1969. Because of the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops in Czechoslovakia and the suppression of the " Prague Spring " in 1968, the stage race could not lead over the territory of Czechoslovakia for the first time. Only a 105 kilometer long section ran on the Czech side in the Polish-Czech border area. The tour started in Warsaw and ended in East Berlin . The Frenchman Jean-Pierre Danguillaume won the individual competition , while the GDR won the team competition .

Attendees

97 drivers from 14 countries took part in the 22nd Peace Tour. It was the lowest number of teams since 1957. New compared to the previous year, teams from Algeria , Yugoslavia , Morocco and Mexico took part . For the first time the teams competed with seven drivers, only Belgium had nominated only six athletes. The following teams were represented:

The GDR had nominated the following active members: Klaus Ampler , Manfred Dähne , Dieter Gonschorek , Dieter Grabe , Bernd Knispel , Dieter Mickein and Axel Peschel .

mode

In addition to increasing the number of drivers to seven per team, the scoring in the team competition has also been reorganized. Previously, the time of the top three was decisive, but in 1969 the placement of the top four in each team decided on the rank in the team ranking. The leader in the mountain classification wore a pink jersey for the first time on the 22nd Peace Tour. The points ten, seven, five and three were awarded for each of the four mountain ratings. After the last mountain classification, the five best climbers received 60, 40, 30, 20 and 10 seconds credit. The most active driver was awarded the purple jersey again and there were time credits like in the mountain classification.

route

Because of the political upheavals in Czechoslovakia, the 1969 Peace Tour was only carried out in Poland and the GDR. Between Warsaw and East Berlin , 2,036 kilometers had to be covered, which were divided into 15 stages. At 250 kilometers, the sixth stage between Jakuszyce and Breslau was not only the longest of this tour, but also in the history of the Peace Tour so far. On this part of the day, 105 kilometers ran in the Czech border area, and there was also the first mountain classification. Others followed between Cottbus and Dresden and two on the route between Dresden and Gera . Three stages were designed as individual time trials. A special feature of the route were the four bridges between the destination and the next starting point. Wałbrzych and Jakuszyce (5th / 6th stage, 80 km) and Gera and Leipzig (14th / 15th stage, 100 km) were particularly far apart .

Race course

In the first six stages there was still no contender for the overall victory, the wearer of the yellow jersey changed daily . After that it looked like the Pole Ryszard Szurkowski could win the tour. He had already won the second stage and then took over the overall lead for one day. On the mammoth stage to Breslau, Szurkowski drove to third place with an eleven-man leading group, which had a lead of almost eight minutes at the finish, and took over the yellow jersey with a lead of 1:08 minutes. He was able to expand this to over two minutes on the following sections of the day. In the individual time trial of the eleventh stage from Guben to Cottbus, the hour of the Frenchman Jean-Pierre Danguillaume struck . He completed the 58 kilometers in 1:22:01 hours, while Szurkowski took 1:53 minutes longer. Thanks to the time credit of one minute for the day's victory, the Frenchman took over the overall standings, which he was able to successfully defend on the four stages that followed. For a long time, the battle for the blue jerseys in the team competition was fought between the teams of the GDR and the Soviet Union. On the third stage, the GDR drivers took the lead from the Poles who had been leading up to that point and wore the blue jerseys for two days. Then the Soviet Union passed and led to the eighth stage. In the individual time trial on the ninth day of the race, the GDR team regained the lead and already achieved the overall victory on the eleventh day, another time trial, when it took another 15 minutes from the Soviet Union. The lead could be expanded even further as far as East Berlin , and in the end the GDR team was in the front with a plus of 20:51 minutes.

Stage overview
stage	Start finish	Stage length	Stage winner	Time (h)	km / h
01	Around Warsaw	112 km	Zygmunt Hanusik (Poland)	2:29:45	44.8
02	Warsaw - Łódź	164 km	Ryszard Szurkowski (Poland)	3:40:32	44.5
03	Łódź - Piotrków (individual time trial)	042 km	Axel Peschel (GDR)	0:59:34	42.0
04th	Piotrków - Gliwice (Gliwice)	158 km	Dieter Mickein (GDR)	4:14:50	38.3
05	Kędzierzyn - Wałbrzych	202 km	Dieter Mickein (GDR)	5:34:20	36.1
06th	Jakuszyce - Wroclaw	250 km	Dieter Gonschorek (GDR)	6:17:12	39.7
07th	Wroclaw - Poznan	203 km	Daniel Ducreux (France)	5:03:22	39.9
08th	Poznan - Zielona Góra	123 km	Dieter Gonschorek (GDR)	2:57:24	40.9
09	Zielona Góra - Świebodzin (individual time trial)	039 km	Jan Magiera (Poland)	0:50:03	45.9
10	Świebodzin - Eisenhüttenstadt	100 km	Michel Roques (France)	2:31:46	39.2
11	Guben - Cottbus (individual time trial)	058 km	Jean-Pierre Danguillaume (France)	1:21:01	42.0
12	Cottbus - Dresden	133 km	Dieter Gonschorek (GDR)	3:12:05	41.3
13	Dresden - Gera	168 km	Arthur Van De Vijver (Belgium)	4:19:17	38.8
14th	Around Gera	090 km	Willy Scheers (Belgium)	2:19:45	38.6
15th	Leipzig - East Berlin	194 km	Andrzej Bławdzin (Poland)	4:57:39	38.9

Final results

Individual evaluation
	driver	team	time
01.	Jean-Pierre Danguillaume	France	51:19:25 h
02.	Ryszard Szurkowski	Poland	+ 00:42 min
03.	Dieter Gonschorek	GDR	+ 01:58 min
04th	Yuri Dmitriev	Soviet Union	+ 07:35 min
05.	Dieter Mickein	GDR	+ 07:57 min
06th	Klaus Ampler	GDR	+ 11:02 min
07th	Charles Rouxel	France	+ 12:50 min
08th.	Andrzej Bławdzin	Poland	+ 13:41 min
09.	Gainan Saidchushin	Soviet Union	+ 13:59 min
10.	Axel Peschel	GDR	+ 14:52 min
0...
15th	Bernd Knispel	GDR	+ 22:35 min
18th	Dieter Grabe	GDR	+ 25:52 min
34.	Manfred Dähne	GDR	+ 49:19 min
0...
67.	Bouchaib Morssaline	Morocco	+ 6:59:43 h

Team ranking
	team	time
01.	GDR	205: 52: 49 h
02.	Soviet Union	+ 20:51 min
03.	Poland	+ 21:54 min
04th	France	+ 36:05 min
05.	Denmark	+ 2:34:46 h
06th	Bulgaria	+ 2:40:30 h
07th	Hungary	+ 2:58:57 h
08th.	Belgium	+ 3:34:58 h
09.	Romania	+ 3:54:28 h
10.	Mexico	+ 7:11:09 h
11.	Morocco	+ 13:47:59 h
	eliminated: Algeria Finland Yugoslavia

Mountain classification (pink jersey)
	driver	team	Points
01.	Dieter Gonschorek	GDR	15th
02.	Gainan Saidchushin	Soviet Union	12
03.	Arthur Van De Vijver	Belgium	10
04th	Jesus Sarabia	Mexico	10
05.	Vladimir Cherkassov	Soviet Union	10
0...

Most active driver (purple jersey)
	driver	team	Points
01.	Yuri Dmitriev	Soviet Union	26th
02.	Zygmunt Hanusik	Poland	25th
03.	Arthur Van De Vijver	Belgium	21st
04th	Jean Ronsmans	Belgium	21st
05.	Dieter Mickein	GDR	20th
0...

literature

Klaus Ullrich. Every time in May . Sportverlag Berlin, 1987, ISBN 3-328-00177-8 . Pp. 284-290
GDR sports newspaper Deutsches Sportecho , issues May 1969
XXII. International Peace Trip 1969. New Germany, Berlin 1969, 34 pages