Friedensfahrt lives again

The Friedensfahrt will live again this year after being cancelled due to financial problems in 2005. The tour was presented this week in Meerane, Germany, and will run in eight stages from Linz, Austria, to Hannover, Germany, starting May 13. Team Milram will be the only the only ProTour outfit participating in the 1274 kilometre-long event, amongst 17 other squads.

"We would have liked to have had more top teams at the start, but we didn't know until January that the Friedensfahrt would take place. The top teams like T-Mobile finish their racing plans in November," said tour director Herbert Notter. Well-known riders expected to participate include Baden Cooke (Unibet), Danilo Hondo (Lamonta) and Filippo Simeoni (Naturino).

The following teams will be at the start: Milram, Vorarlberg, Wiesenhof-Akud, Acqua & Sapone, Elk Haus-Simplon, Unibet.com, Naturino-Sapore de Mare, Miche, Barloworld, Health Net, Ceramica Flaminia, Intel Action, Dukla Prag, Sparta Prag, Lamonta, Heinz von Heiden Hannover, Whirlpool Hradec Kralove, notesbookbilliger.de

The stages of the 58th Friedensfahrt outline as follows:

Saturday, May 13 - Stage 1: Linz - Schrems, 139 km
Sunday, May 14 - Stage 2: Schrems- Ceske Budejovice, 177,3 km
Monday, May 15 - Stage 3: Beroun-Karlovy Vary, 167,1 km
Tuesday, May 16 - Stage 4: Karlovy Vary-Teplice, 176,5 km
Wednesday, May 17 - Stage 5: Bilina - Altenberg, 140,8 km
Thursday, May 18 - Stage 6: Dippoldiswalde-Meerane, 172 km
Friday, May 19 - Stage 7: Delitzsch - Thale, 192 km
Saturday, May 20 - Stage 8: Wernigerode-Hannover, 132 km