The Eroica Juniores – Nations’ Cup was held for the first time. The two-day event included two half stages and a “full” stage. The Hungarian national team (Bálint Feldhoffer, Bálint Kárpáti, Koppány Gergely, András Pakot, Péter Takács, Márkó Tóth) and Tamás Hancz of the German Team Auto Eder were among the twenty-nine teams competing.
The race started on 21 April with an 11.8 km team time trial in the morning, which won by the Italian team (13:54 – 50.93 km/h), the Hungarian national team finished in twenty-fifth place.
The afternoon was a 76.3-kilometre stage with only one categorised climb, which favoured the sprinters. The bunch sprint was won by Czech Krystof Kral (Team Auto Eder) – the best Hungarian was Márkó Tóth, who finishing in 25th place, the same time as the winner. The overall leader was Renato Favero (Italy), who finished second.
The following day, a 109-kilometre mountain stage decided the winner, and the route also included a couple of macadam sectors known from the Strade Bianche, so it was a very tough selection. The stage and the race were won by Jörgen Nordhagen from Norway. In the final classification, 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 in 60th place.
The Nations’ Cup series continues from 4 to 7 May with the Czech Peace Race.
There will, of course, be another home Nations’ Cup Youth World Cup in 2023, which, as originally planned, will be the tenth stop of the eleven-round series on 16-17 August.
