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Tour de Hongrie Is on the Move

Hungary Today 2023.05.10.

The 44th Tour de Hongrie starts with a 168-kilometer leg starting from Szentgotthárd, in West Hungary. The five-day Hungarian cycling tour will cover 879 kilometers, finishing in front of the Császár-Komjád swimming pool after a Budapest loop on Sunday, MTI reports.

Nine of the world’s top eighteen WorldTeam-rated professional teams are in Hungary, and among the 132 riders is Colombia’s Egan Bernal, winner of the 2019 Tour de France and the 2021 Giro d’Italia.

Fact

Of the three big cycling tours, the Tour de France was first held in 1903, the Giro d’Italia in 1909, and the Spanish Tour of the Vuelta in 1935, but the Tour de Hongrie also has a long history. On June 27, 1925, the first Hungarian Tour started at 4 a.m. from the Gellért Hotel in Budapest and covered 250 kilometers to Szombathely in the first stage of the three-day race. Károly Jerzsabek, who won the first stage and then the overall, completed the Budapest-Szombathely-Győr-Budapest distance in 22 hours, 10 minutes.

The Hungarian Tour, with a precision and conscientiousness that is unique in the history of the sport of cycling in Hungary, not only organized the sporting part of the meeting with a thoroughness that could stand up to any criticism, but also took into account its propaganda value,”

wrote contemporary publication National Sport.

Although the Hungarian Tour was held in 1942 and 1943 during the Second World War, the peloton always went where the mines were being dug up. There were plenty of years when the race was not held, and from 1966 to 1993, the event was in a state of suspended animation for a long period. But since 2015, it has been held every year- this year for the 44th time. Last year, the Tour de Hongrie went up a level, as eleven of the world’s top eighteen WorldTeam professional teams competed in the Giro, starting from Budapest. After the Giro finishers had been airlifted to Sicily where they were met by support vehicles, the vehicles that were left behind were used to serve the Hungarian riders. As the top teams employ 25-30 riders, it was no problem to start six or more in the Hungarian Tour.

This year, the Tour de Hongrie, which is now one of the ProSeries races that earns world ranking points, will finish in the capital again. However, the 879-kilometer caravan will not go to Mátra this time, as the 2023 route will focus on Western Hungary. Today’s first stage starts from Szentgotthárd, the westernmost town in the country, and will end here, presumably with a sprint finish. On Thursday, the sprinters will take to the track again in the Zalaegerszeg-Keszthely stage, before the mountain runners’ days are over. The Kaposvár-Pécs and Martonvásár-Dobogókő stages will almost certainly decide the overall race. And on Sunday, the Tour de Hongrie will finish in style with a 150-kilometer tour of Budapest, which is 150 years old.

The route of this year’s Tour de Hongrie, Photo: Facebook/Tour de Hongrie

“We are taking it up a level, that is the slogan we chose for this year’s race, primarily because of the move into the ProSeries category,” said Károly Eisenkrammer, Tour de Hongrie’s chief organizer. “The fact that the race will finish on a beautiful circuit in Budapest is also a huge improvement. Although we have had stages in Budapest in previous years, not in such a beautiful location as this year. This year is a real step up in terms of professionalism, appearance, and media coverage.”

Photo: Facebook/Tour de Hongrie

It is worth mentioning that since 2019, there will be a Hungarian team at the start again, the Epronex-Hungary Cycling Team, and the Hungarian national team will also be on the start line. A 44. The 44th Hungarian Tour will include participation by 132 cyclists from 29 nations, including 15 Hungarians: six of the national team (Zétény Szijártó, Viktor Filutás, Dániel Sidló, Bálint Orosz, Ádám Pápai, Norbert Hrenkó), five of the Epronex-Hungary team (Ádám Karl, Balázs Rózsa, Gergely Szarka, Márk Valent, Kristóf Árvai), two each for Romania’s Sofer-Savini Due (Antal Lepold Zoltán Antal, Olivier Móré-Gosselin), one each for the Czech ATT Invesments (Márton Dina) and Novo Nordisk (Péter Kusztor).

The leader of the overall classification will again be awarded a yellow jersey, the sprinters’ points leader a green jersey, the leader of the mountain points classification a red jersey and the Hungarian who takes the best overall position a white jersey. All stages of the Hungarian Tour will be broadcast in full on M4 Sport.

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Via MTI, Featured Image: Facebook/Tour de Hongrie


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