CQ27_FINAL_SPREADS (1)

Five days later Aleksandr Zorić
wins in Warsaw. Two days after
that August Prosinek does the
same in Prague. Two Yugoslavs.
One Serb, one Slovenian. By today’s
borders, that is. Prosinek,
in fact, was born in the Austro-Hungarian
Empire. So many
things to explain.
Let’s all say “Welcome” to the
Peace Race. Or Závod miru, in
Czech. Or Wyścig Pokoju, in
Polish.
The name came the following
year. That was the first true
edition, the one that united two
capitals of the east. Later, as
we will see, it becomes three.
In 1949 it went from Prague to
Warsaw. The jerseys make their
debut. Yellow for the leader.
Blue for the team classification
(though it will be white with a
red stripe from 1948-1950, and
completely white the year after
that). We are Marx’s children,
Engels’s friends. In other words,
it is important to see which
collective wins. And by the way,
remember that here we are
competing in national teams,
not those grotesque commercial
outfits that exist in the capitalist
west. No, that’s professional
sports. Our sport is an integrated
education for all citizens. It
is team spirit that is important,
not individual victory. The taking
part, not the winning. Many
times, we will give priority to the
blue jersey over the yellow one.
Oh, and they were all finished
off with Pablo Picasso’s dove.
The symbol of peace, no less.
Jan Veselý, a Czech building his
palmarès, carried that unmistakeable
icon of fraternity and
concord through a Central
Europe that was still in ruins.
Scattered rubble. So many
wounds. There in the middle, a
guy pedalling. Wearing a jersey
the colour of the sun. And the
dove.
There, in the middle, is hope.
The first page of the rules is
clear. “The Peace Race expresses
the will of all participants to
defend lasting peace, security
and cooperation between the
peoples of all continents of our
planet . . . It deepens international
solidarity among athletes
while popularizing amateur cycling.”
Let’s say the timing was
good: pacifist rhetoric was on
the march throughout Europe
(quite rightly – we know where
that came from). As late as 1950
the so-called Congress of Peace
Advocates was held in Stockholm.
There, during its third
session, the famous Stockholm
Appeal was issued. In essence . .
. no nuclear weapons. Throughout
the Eastern Bloc, half a
billion signatures were collected
in support of a nuclear ban.
In 1950 the Germans joined the
Peace Race. This was controversial:
the Germans were still
regarded with hatred in those
places. But while, yes, these
were Germans, they were good
Germans. It’s better to call them
comrades. Yes, perfect, comrades.
Welcome.
129