 He was selected for the Junior World Cycling Championships in Vienna, Austria, where, he placed 3rd in the Junior Points race.At 16 years of age, Peiper (after the World Junior Cycling Championships) in Austria travelled to Ghent, Belgium,
to live and race in the daily Kermiskoersen.In that first season (1977) in Flanders, he won one race, but finished second 39 times.