The new route will be challenging and adventurous for all, but not too difficult.Continue reading
The route of the 2024 Tour de Hongrie was officially unveiled on Tuesday, reports Index. The cyclists will also visit Kékes, Hungary’s highest mountain, this year.
Five stages, 854 kilometers, almost 8,000 meters of ascent, 10 categorized climbs, two classic sprinter stages, and two iconic mountain finishes await the participants of the 45th Tour de Hongrie. The stages of the multi-day race were presented on March 5 in the Budapest Music Center, with live television coverage.
Source: Facebook/Tour de Hongrie
In his speech, Máriusz Révész, Minister of State for an Active Hungary, said: “When we relaunched the Tour de Hongrie, we never imagined that it would become the strongest cycling race in the region, with world stars competing.
It is almost unbelievable, but some of the stages of the Tour de Hongrie will see the same people who will be fighting for victory in the Tour de France a month and a half later.”
Károly Eisenkrammer, the race’s chief organizer, shared a memory with the audience: “In the years following the successful relaunch of the Tour de Hongrie, we ourselves were surprised at how quickly we had moved up the international ladder of the sport (…). In the year of our first step up, when the International Cycling Union gave us the 2.1 category instead of the 2.2, we started to dream bigger and bigger. I remember joking with our race director (…) in 2017, that one day the world champion Mark Cavendish would sprint here in the Hungarian Tour. Although we ourselves smiled at that unrealistic idea at the time, we are now at the point where
the 34-time Tour de France stage winner will indeed be riding on the banks of the Danube alongside three-time world champion Peter Sagan.”
The gala also saw the biggest stars of the 2024 race make their debuts, with Dutch sprinter Dylan Groenewegen’s return to the Tour made official, and Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan welcoming the event’s participants and Tour fans in a video message. Epronex – Hungary Cycling Team cyclist Zsolt Istlstekker and two-time Hungarian champion Viktor Filutás of Karcag Cycling took to the stage.
The line-up for the 2024 Tour de Hongrie will consist of 120 cyclists from 20 teams – eight WorldTeam, eight ProTeam, three Continental Teams, and the Hungarian national team.
Via Index, Featured image: Facebook/Réti Zsolt