A team of six riders will head to Czechia in early May to take on the Junior Nations Cup event, the 53rd Course de la Paix Juniors.

The five-stage race will take place across four days, starting out on May 8th with a 110km course leaving the town of Litomerice, and finishing in Úštek. Day 2 will consist of a 9km Individual Time Trial, before a 58km stage in the afternoon. Day 3 and 4 will see stages of 113km and 102km respectively, bringing the race to a total of 392km.

Max Fitzgerald with his father Mehall - Picture Peter Purfield

Philip O’Connor and Max Fitzgerald will both represent Ireland on the road again. The pair just recently rode in green at the Belgian Track International. Fitzgerald has found himself as top Junior rider and in the overall top 10 in several National Grade events domestically already this season. O’Connor, having had a busier start to 2025, beat out some top level competition for the win at the Galway Classic and took second in the Sliabh Luachra Clasaici, and has two stage races under his belt for this year already.

Curtis McKee will be riding in green once again. The Spellman Dublin Port rider has been cleaning up on the domestic road racing front already this year, with several wins and recently rode Rás Mumhan for Ulster.

Lucan’s Matthew Walls has been making a name for himself as a breakaway artist of late, including a break with 100km to go at Taça de Portugal Júnior - Troféu José Poeira race in Portugal. His 6th place finish in Portugal is in addition to top 10 finishes in all but one domestic National Grade event so far in 2025.

Matthew Walls (Lucan CRC) - Picture Peter Purfield

David Gaffney has been plying his trade abroad to start 2025, and has found himself on the podium and inside the top 10 in GC standings and Mountain Classifications regularly.

Double Junior Cyclo-cross National Champion Conor Murphy rounds out the Irish contingent for the race. The European Youth Olympic Festival silver medallist and Junior TT National Champion got his 2025 off to a solid start with a podium in his first race of the year on the Costa Blanca, and has continued his strong performances across Spain since. He will no doubt look forward to the time-trial on Stage 2A of this edition of the Junior Nations Cup.

Three of the team rode at last year’s Junior Nations Cup in Hungary, where the team took the overall prize.



For more information on this year's race - click here