Jan Veselý

In the years after the war Jan Veselý became one of the best cyclists in Czechoslovakia, winning multiple national titles in races on both the road and track. In 1946 Veselý won the road race at the national championships and the Praha–Karlovy Vary–Praha one-day race, with him going on to dominate in both. Over the next eight years he won eight more national titles on the road, along with seven victories in the Praha–Karlovy. Adding to his haul of national titles, he was also a two-time champion in the pursuit on the track (1948, 1951) and won two cyclo-cross championships (1953, 1954).

Veselý had an impressive record at the annual Peace Race, which had stages running through Czechoslovakia, Poland, and East Germany. As well as winning the 1949 edition of the race he also won 16 individual stages from 1948 to 1955. Veselý also competed at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and won both the overall classification and points classification at the 1955 Tour of Slovakia. In 2014 Veselý was posthumously inducted into the Czech Cycling Union’s Hall of Fame.