• 2024-03-05
• Tour de Hongrie

The route of Tour de Hongrie 2024 has been revealed!

Five stages, 851 kilometres, almost 8,000 metres of climbing, 10 categorised climbs, two bunch sprints and two iconic summit finishes await the participants of the 45th Tour de Hongrie. The official route of Hungary’s biggest cycling race was presented on 5 March at Budapest Music Center with live national TV coverage.

Some interesting facts about the route:

• The five-day-long ProSeries event includes two flat stages, one hilly stage, one medium-mountain stage and one mountain stage.
• In addition to the capital, the competition covers nine counties: Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, Hajdú-Bihar, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Heves, Pest, Fejér, Somogy, Tolna and Baranya.
• The caravan will cross 81 municipalities: 9 of them will host a stage start or finish, while 12 of them will host intermediate sprints.
• There will be 10 categorized climbs along the route. Besides the 1st category climb of Kékestető, cyclists will have to tackle four 2nd and five 3rd category climbs.
• Over the 854 km of the race, the riders will have to face 7871 m of elevation – the most since the race’s return to the international calendar in 2015! It’s the same as the height of the 20th tallest mountain in the world.

The 45th edition of Tour de Hongrie will feature eight WorldTeams, eight ProTeams, three Continental Teams and the National Team of Hungary. You can find the list of the participating teams here.

The official route:

8 May 2024 – Stage 1

Karcag – Hajdúszoboszló (166 km, flat stage)

The field of the 45th Tour de Hongrie will start from Karcag, the capital of Nagykunság, on 8 May 2024. The caravan will pass Lake Tisza and Hortobágy National Park before arriving to Hajdúszoboszló, where it will complete three laps of a circuit of almost 20 kilometres. The stage includes 3 intermediate sprints, but almost no elevation gains. The first yellow jersey of the race will most likely belong to a sprinter.

Karcag has already welcomed the Hungarian Tour ten times - most recently in 2022, when the second stage started from the largest town in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county. Karcag has hosted two stage finishes in its recent history, with German Manuel Porzner winning in 2015 and Lithuanian Gediminas Kaupas in 2016.

Hajdúszoboszló, the city of spas, is a returning guest in the history of Tour de Hongrie, and this year it is a special participant of the event. This is the fifth time since 2018 that a stage will be held in the town of the , with the winners so far being Andriy Bratashchuk (2018), Alois Kankovsky (2019), Jakub Mareczko (2020) and Fabio Jakobsen (2022).

9 May 2024 – Stage 2

Tokaj – Kazincbarcika (162 km, flat stage)

The second stage starts from the heart of Hungary's most famous wine region. After the start in Tokaj, the peloton turns first to Zemplén and then to Kazincbarcika. The stage includes two categorised climbs and 1,000 m of ascent. The hilly terrain provides excellent attacking opportunities for breakaways, but the biggest favourites of the stage will again be the sprinters.

Tokaj will host a stage start for the first time in 30 years. The last time the peloton rode past the confluence of the Tisza and Bodrog rivers was in 2022, when Fabio Jakobsen won one of the most exciting echelon stages in the race’s history.

Kazincbarcika will be a well-established participant in the Hungarian Tour with its sixth stage finish since 2006. Due to the proximity of the Slovakian border and the participation of Peter Sagan, the organisers are expecting many Slovak fans in the city of colours.

10 May 2024 – Stage 3

Kazincbarcika – Gyöngyös-Kékestető (183 km, mountain stage)

The Queen Stage of the race starts where we left off: in Kazincbarcika. The riders will pass through Eger before arriving to the foot of the Mátra Mountains and finishing at the top of Kékestető after 2700 metres of elevation. On Hungary's most iconic climb, the GC favourites will battle it out for victory.

For the fifth time, „Kolorcity” will be the home of a stage start and a finish in the same year. The last time this happened was in 2022, when Dylan Groenewegen triumphed on the streets of the city. Kazincbarcika will host the Tour for the twelfth time in total.

Kékestető is the most well-known and most difficult climb of Hungary. From Mátrafüred, the 11 km, 5.5% climb will be tackled for the thirteenth time in our race’s history. The exceptionally steep last three kilometres gave us many historic moments in the last few years, including the last-minute overtake of Antonio Tiberi against Eddie Dunbar in 2022, or Attila Valter’s frenetic victory in 2020.

11 May 2024 – Stage 4

Budapest – Etyek (167 km, hilly stage)

A particularly tricky stage awaits the peloton on 11 May. From Heroes' Square, the caravan will head towards Andrássy Avenue, Chain Bridge and Várkert Bazaar before leaving the capital and heading towards the hills of Etyek via the Budapest-Balaton Cycle Route. Three categorised climbs, 1500 m of elevation and a slightly uphill finish will make the stage unpredictable.

The capital of Hungary will host a stage start for the 39th time – a unique record in the history of Tour de Hongrie. The local fans will be able to observe the first kilometres in Budapest, before the race heads towards „the Heart of Pannonia”.

Etyek is the only new finishingcity this year, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t already had a taste of the Tour: GPMs and intermediate sprints were held here in 2022 and 2023. The final 1,5 km; 6,1% climb can be a problem for the pure sprinters, but it’s too easy for the climbers, making this finish especially exciting.

12 May 2024 – Stage 5

Siófok – Pécs (173 km, medium-mountain stage)

Tour de Hongrie 2024 will be decided on the mountains of Mecsek. The riders will start the stage from Siófok, before climbing more than 2300 metres of elevation and arriving in front of Zoo Pécs – just like in 2023. The riders must tackle the infamous Bárány road (1,9 km; 11%) three times before the winner of the General Classification is crowned.

The City of Summer on the shores of Lake Balaton, Siófok will host the caravan for the 19th time. The race has passed the foot of the famous Water Tower three times during Grand Departs: the first stage of Tour de Hongrie started here in 2018, 2019 and 2021.

Tour de Hongrie returned to Pécs in 2023 after an absence of almost twenty years, and in no uncertain terms: the stage that ended with Marc Hirschi's victory was one of the highlights of the race in every aspect. The final circuit will be shorter this time, but the most important part will remain the same: Bárány road will be a worthy home for the final chapter of the 45th Hungarian Tour.