The 879km race has the participation of 22 teams, and today on May 11 the Tour de Hongrie continues with a 175-km-long sprint stage between Zalaegerszeg and Keszthely.

The event’s chief organiser Károly Eisenkrammer told us that Italy’s Elia Viviani, who won the Giro d’Italia race in 2018, is among top cyclists competing.

He attributed the event’s star power to the cooperation of Hungary’s cities and public road operators, the police and sponsors, thanks to which the 44th Hungarian circuit is part of the ProSeries of the UCI international confederation.

Dutch sprinter from Jayco AlUla, Dylan Groenewegen won 1st stage in Szentgotthárd

In the westermost town of Hungary an enthusiastic crowd welcomed the grande start of the Tour de Hongrie yesterday.

The five national champions of the competition (Emil Dima from Romania, Ahmed Madan from Bahrain, Itamar Einhorn from Israel, Luke Plapp from Australia and Emils Liepins from Latvia) and the reigning European champion, Fabio Jakobsen lined up in front at the start line.

Following that, the State Secretary for Sports, dr. Ádám Schmidt; Gábor Huszár, mayor of Szentgotthárd and stage patron; Stephen Roche, legendary cyclist and international ambassador of the Tour de Hongrie; Péter Princzinger, the president of the Hungarian Cycling Association, and Károly Eisenkrammer, the chief organizer cut the start ribbon, and then Stephen Roche waved the flag to start the 44th Tour de Hongrie.

It didn't take long for the first breakaway to form: five competitors, including two Hungarians, left immediately after the start. Péter Szijártó (Hungarian national team) and Balázs Rózsa (Epronex - Hungary Cycling Team) were joined by Ward Vanhoof (Belgian, Flanders - Baloise), Charles Planet (Team Novo Nordisk) and Matus Stocek (Slovak, ATT Investments).

The first mountain climb took place on Farkasfa, where Stocek reached the top of the third category climb first. A few kilometers later, Stocek was also the first one to roll through the Őriszentpéter intermediate sprint, while Soudal Quick-Step and Jayco AlUla tried to control the distance at the head of the peloton.

Stocek's form has not weakened until the Magyarlak intermediate sprint, however, he was overtaken by Planet for the second GPM at Farkasfa. This resulted in a tie in the mountains classification - Stocek took the red jersey with a better overall ranking. Thanks to the bonus seconds, Stocek moved up to 2nd in the general classification.

It was quite clear for everyone that a bunch sprint would decide the fate of the stage victory. The sprinter teams (especially BORA, Jayco and Soudal Quick-Step) constantly controlled the breakaway, the gap never increased above 3 minutes, and the attackers were caught 25 kilometers from the finish line.

There was a disturbing fall within the last 3 kilometers of the etape, also involving Egan Bernal, the Tour de France winning Colombian superstar, who could fortunately continue the race. Later, a photo finish decided the stage: although Danny van Poppel led his teammate, Sam Bennett out perfectly, Dylan Groenewegen crossed the finish line earlier.

"The end of the race became hectic due to the fall, otherwise it was a simple and fast stage that my teammates led perfectly. I hope that the stage tomorrow will have a similar outcome" - said Groenewegen after the stage.

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