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

On 9 April, the Paris-Roubaix one-day classic kicked off this year’s series. The best juniors between Lecelles and Roubaix had 111 kilometres to ride, with eighteen sectors, including the five-star Mons-en-Pévéle and the Carrefour de l’Arbre. Frenchman Matys Grisel, a member of AG2R Citroën’s U19 junior team, was the most up for the challenge, finishing first ahead of his Australian teammate Oscar Chamberlain, with Denmark’s Theodor Storm third.

The Eroica Juniores – Nations’ Cup was held for the first time a few days later in the Siena area. The two-day stage race featured two half stages and a ‘full’ road race stage. The twenty-nine teams competing included the Hungarian national team and Tamás Hancz of Team Auto Eder from Germany. Jörgen Nordhagen from Norway won the overall in a tough race with a trail that resembled a Strade Bianche classic. In the final standings, Italian Simone Gualdi (Lombardia) was second, while Frenchman Paul Seixas (AG2R Citroën U19) was third. Among the Hungarians, only Tamás Hancz was able to finish the race, finishing 60th (+13:48).

At the beginning of May, the Czech Peace Race was held for the fifty-first time. At the end of the five-stage event, Norway’s Nordhagen was also celebrating, beating the American Andrew August and Senna Remijn of the Netherlands. The Hungarian national team also took part in this race, with Zsombor Takács finishing in the best place.

The German LVM Saarland Trofeo, also a five-stage race, was held in early June without Hungarian participation. To the delight of the home team, Louis Leidert took the yellow jersey, followed by Denmark’s Patrick Boje Frydkjaer in second and Britain’s Tomos Pattinson in third.

Less than a month later, the Tour de l’Abitibi in Canada saw a largely North American and French team battle it out. At the end of the six-stage race, the crowds applauded a double home victory, with Matthew Ney taking the overall. His compatriot Ethan Powell and American Alejando Che finished on the other two rungs of the podium.

We continue…