1953

15th Tour de Hongrie

An important milestone in the history of Hungarian cycling: the 15th Tour de Hongrie started from the Stalin Square, and finished in front of the Ostapenko Monument. This really shows, what the next seven editions of the Tour looked like: the race was not just about the sport or the tourism, but the socialist regime too.

The rules where not ordinary too: for stage victories, the riders recieved a one-minute time bonus - so did the winners of the Intermediate Sprints. The rider of Team Dózsa, silver medalist of the World University Championships, József Kis-Dala won neither of those, but still emerged victorious at the end of the 921 km long race!

Photo finish in Keszthely (Stage 3): Béla Bartusek won his 2nd stage in a row (he won the next one too)

15th Tour de Hongrie (6-10 September 1953, 921 km)

Stage winners:
Stage 1 (Budapest - Szombathely, 225 km): Zoltán Sipos (Hungarian, Dózsa)
Stage 2 (Szombathely - Keszthely, 133 km): Béla Bartusek (Hungarian, Honvéd)
Stage 3 (Keszthely - Keszthely, 199 km): Béla Bartusek (Hungarian, Honvéd)
Stage 4 (Keszthely - Pécs, 168 km): Béla Bartusek (Hungarian, Honvéd)
Stage 5 (Pécs - Budapest, 196 km): László Simon (Hungarian, Dózsa)

General Classification:
1. József Kis-Dala (Hungarian, Dózsa) 26:40:41
2. Béla Bartusek (Hungarian, Honvéd) 26:50:07 (+9:26)
3. Márton Bencze (Hungarian, Vörös Lobogó) 26:52:17 (+11:36)

Winner of the Teams Classification: Dózsa I.