The ten-round Nations’ Cup series included both one-day and multi-day events, with Hungary hosting a three-day race, including events such as the legendary junior classic Paris-Roubaix and one of the most popular youth stage race, the Czech Junior Peace Race.

On 27 March, the 2022 series kicked off with the Gent-Wevelgem classic. The cyclists had 123.9 kilometres to go around Ieper in Belgium, with five key mountains making progress difficult, namely the Baneberg and two/two Montebergs and Kemmelberg. As expected, the peloton fell to pieces, with three riders sprinting for victory, of whom the Italian Thomas Capra was the best.

The 111-kilometre Paris-Roubaix followed in mid-April, with eighteen stages, including the five-star Mons-en-Pévéle and the Carrefour de l’Arbre. Luxembourg’s Niels Michotte, who won the blue jersey for the best young rider in the 2021 Hungarian race and is now part of AG2R Citroën’s U19 junior team, was the most up for the challenge and finished first.

The 50th anniversary edition of the Course de la Paix Juniors took place from 5 to 8 May and was won in a huge battle by Germany’s Emil Herzog, who outsprinted his rivals at just seventeen years old, so it is no coincidence that the Bora-hansgrohe WorldTeam has already signed up.

Following the Czech race, the 2022 Nations’ Cup series continued in France with the Trophée Centre Morbihan (21-22 May), which saw Belgium’s Jens Verbrugghe take the win.

And at the halfway stage, the Tour du Pays de Vaud in Switzerland, with one prologue, two full stages and two half stages, was scheduled for 26-29 May, with Jan Christen triumphing to the delight of the home crowd.

We continue…