The international competition was first held in 1925.Continue reading
Dutch cyclist Danny van Poppel won the opening stage of the 46th Tour de Hongrie road cycling race on Wednesday, while János Pelikán is the best Hungarian rider after the first stage. The 100-year-old race runs from Wednesday to Sunday, with riders setting off from Szent Gellért Square in Budapest on Wednesday, M4 Sport reported.
Wednesday’s stage was the longest since 2008: after covering 210 kilometers and climbing 1,042 meters, passing through Etyek, Mór, and Győrújbarát, and climbing the Pannonhalma hill, the field finished at ETO Park in Győr (northwestern Hungary).
Four riders broke away during the day, including János Pelikán (United Shipping), the Hungarian champion in both time trials and road races, Belgian Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Cibel Clementines), the defending world cup series champion in mountain biking, Italian cyclist Matteo Ambrosini of MBH Bank Ballan CSB, which has a Hungarian sponsor, and last year’s Tour de Hongrie red jersey winner, Belgian Siebe Deweirdt (Flanders-Baloise).
Many people had turned out to greet the cyclists around midday.
In Sóskút, near Budapest, school and kindergarten groups formed a spectacle on a hill.
In Etyek, cyclists formed a live picture.
In Biatorbágy, also near Budapest, volunteer firefighters welcomed the passing field with room bikes posed on the top of their vehicles.
Furthermore, children lined the road in Etyek, and a bicycle suspended over the road by a crane was also visible at one point.
Pelikán came in second in the Etyek mountain sprint and won the Mór sprint.
He failed to score any points on the Pannonhalma climb, but was the fastest in the Győrújbarát sprint. Meanwhile, the field set a calm pace, with crowds of spectators watching the cyclists in many towns: people stood in dense rows at the Mór sprint, but there were also huge crowds in Pusztavám, for example. In Győr, the field passed in front of the 125-year-old town hall, catching up with the breakaway riders five kilometers before the finish line.
In the sprint finish that decided the winner, Van Poppel was the fastest, ahead of Germany’s Tim Torn Teutenberg and the Netherlands’ Dylan Groenewegen. Pelikán will wear the white jersey as the best Hungarian in the overall standings.
The race continues on Thursday with a 178-kilometer stage between Veszprém and Siófok (Lake Balaton region). The peloton will cover a total of 875 kilometers before reaching the finish line in front of the Basilica in Esztergom on Sunday.
Via M4 Sport, Featured photo via MTI/Máthé Zoltán