Tour de Hongrie

Bittersweet double - van Poppel wins in Siófok

The sprinter of Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe, Danny van Poppel won Stage 2 of the centenary Tour de Hongrie and kept his lead in the General Classification, but three of his teammates abandoned after a serious crash.

The second stage of the ProSeries event started at 11:50 a.m. in cloudy, windy weather. Gyula Porga, Mayor of Veszprém and the patron of the stage; Péter Ovádi, Member of Parliament; Péter Princzinger, Managing Director of Visit Balaton 365 Nkft. and Károly Eisenkrammer, Tour de Hongrie General Director cut the ribbon at Óváros Square in Veszprém. A 178-kilometre stage awaited the field on the eastern shore of Lake Balaton, with a finish in Siófok. Although the first half of the stage had its ups and downs, the sprinters were the favourites. The stage was contested by 125 riders, with Britain's Nathan Smith (Team Novo Nordisk) the only one not to start.

At the beginning of the day, a group of five managed to break away: János Pelikán (Team United Shipping) in the White Jersey as the best Hungarian rider, who was in third place overall; his compatriot Balázs Rózsa (Epronex - Hungary Cycling Team); his teammate Michal Schuran (Team United Shipping), the Mountains Classification leader Siebe Deweirdt (Flanders - Baloise) and the Italian Luca Cretti (MBH Bank Ballan CSB). Karcag Cycling ÉKPAR Team's Norbert Hrenkó tried to catch up with them, but failed.

Deweirdt won the two KoM sprints of the day, both in Tihany and Tótvázsony, to confirm his first place in the Mountains Classification. In Tihany, a Red Bull Air Show entertained the spectators as world aerobatics pilot Péter Besenyei gave a demonstration over Lake Balaton.

With 123 kilometres to go, a serious crash sent the mood into a tailspin, sending around 30 riders to the ground. The worst off was Frederik Wandahl (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe), who was taken by helicopter to hospital in Székesfehérvár. Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates XRG) suffered a concussion - he will also spend the night in hospital. Thankfully, they are both in a stable condition. A total of eight riders have abandoned, with Sam Welsford (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe), Ryan Mullen (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe), Rainer Kepplinger (Bahrain Victorious), Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates XRG), Toon Clynhens (Flanders - Baloise) and Max van der Meulen (Bahrain Victorious) also not continuing.

The main protagonist of the breakaway was János Pelikán, who won both intermediate sprints of the day (Balatonkenese, Ságvár), thus taking the virtual lead in GC. Meanwhile, the crosswinds kept up the pace in the peloton, with UAE Team Emirates, Lidl - Trek and yellow jersey Danny van Poppel (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) repeatedly trying to break the bunch. Later, Balázs Rózsa attacked from the breakaway - his companions were caught by the peloton 35 km from the finish. The rider from Balassagyarmat was finally caught five kilometres later.

A bunch sprint decided the faith of the stage victory. Jayco AlUla put Dylan Groenewegen in position with a perfect lead, but he was chased down by Danny van Poppel in the yellow jersey. Third was Germany's Tim Torn Teutenberg (Lidl - Trek).

In GC, van Poppel held on to the lead - 8 seconds ahead of the best Hungarian, János Pelikán. The Green Jersey was held by van Poppel, the Red by Deweirdt.

Tour de Hongrie continues on 16 May with the Queen Stage: from Gödöllő Royal Palace, 163 km and the tallest peak of Hungary, Kékestető awaits the peloton.

46th Tour de Hongrie, Stage 2 (Veszprém - Siófok, 178 km)