Five top cycling pictures, three renowned photographers and a charity project, the proceeds of which will go to support sports for children from socially disadvantaged families.
If you love cycling and also care about children who want to do sports but are prevented from doing so by lack of funds, you have an ideal opportunity to combine enjoyment with being helpful.
On the website dobrobot.cz is an auction of five selected cycling photos from the charity exhibition PELOTONIE, The best of Cycling Photography, which includes fifty images.
You can bid here.
The exhibition coincides with the Czech Tour, the largest domestic road race, whose general partner is Sazka. The photographs of Markéta Navrátilová, who documented the Tour de France for twenty-five years, are accompanied by images from Jan Brychta and the official photographer of the Czech Olympians, Barbora Reichová. The exhibition takes place in Prague's Bořislavka and is free of charge.
Which photos are included in the auction, the proceeds of which will go to the Czech Olympic Foundation?
In the first picture, Karel Vacek is pulling his younger brother Mathias uphill on Dlouhé Stráně. It is a shot taken by Markéta Navrátilová from the Peace Race 2022, when both brothers fought in the jersey of the national team. Although Karel Vacek had a signed contract at the time, Mathias was without a contract and was fighting for his future.
The next photo is also from Markéta Navrátilová's camera. It captures the stretched peloton at Paris – Tours 2005. It is a race covering over 200 kilometres and one of the most important one-day events of the season. Victory went to Erik Zabel, the six-time Points classification winner on the Tour de France.
This renowned Czech photographer has a further photograph among the five being auctioned. It is a photo from the Tour de France 2018. In the 18th stage from Sallanches to Megeve, with Chris Froome riding a seventeen-kilometre mountain time trial among the enthusiastic English fans. The native of Kenya won his third overall victory at the Tour de France.
The fourth picture being auctioned was taken by Jan Brychta. During the Under-23 Peace Race in 2015 between Albrechtice and Krnov, he captured the peloton with a helicopter making a low fly-by and traffic policemen ensuring safety.
The final photo in the auction was taken by Barbora Reichová during the Sazka Tour 2022, when the peloton was descending from Pustevny. "I was crouched in the bushes by the side of the road and suddenly it was as if a tornado swept over... What is fascinating about road cycling is the speed of the riders combined with the grace of movement, which often creates surreal images," describes the photographer.
The proceeds from the auction will go to the Czech Olympic Foundation, which supports children who want to play sports, but are prevented from doing so by a lack of funds. They are young athletes from socially disadvantaged families, children placed in foster care, or children from children's homes. It is not about a child’s talent, but rather the possibility to play sports at all.
