1997

26th Tour de Hongrie

32 years of waiting came to an end in 1997. After László Mahó's victory in 1965, a Hungarian finally won Tour de Hongrie again!

Gábor Roszik (left) wins the sprint in Budapest in front of Tamás Havarik and Dávid Sipőcz

Zoltán Bebtó (who was loaned to Team FTC for the race) won Stage 1 in a sprint, beating Yuriy Zayats (Schwinn–Csepel) and Balázs Rothmer (Siófok-Cora). Incredibly, this became the final result of the General Classification too. The FTC riders tried everything to keep the Red Jersey on Bebtó - including going after intermediate sprints and catching breakaways - and they succeeded!

19-year-old Balázs Rothmer was the biggest surprise of the race: the unknown youngster from Kaposvár almost won the Mountains Classification and finished third in GC. He became a professional later: he rode for Team Saeco, Amore & Vita and Miche between 2001 and 2005.

The GC podium (from the left): Zayats, Bebtó and Rothmer

26th Tour de Hongrie (22-27 July 1997, 854 km)

Stage winners:
Prologue (Budapest, Oktogon, 3 km team time trial): Trek (Ukrainian)
Stage 1 (Budapest - Győr, 152 km): Zoltán Bebtó (Hungarian, Stollwerck-FTC)
Stage 2 (Győr - Siófok, 174 km): Dobrivoje Jovancevic (Yugoslav, Cukaricki)
Stage 3 (Siófok - Kiskunhalas, 166 km): Péter Ágoston (Hungarian, Schwinn-Csepel)
Stage 4 (Kiskunhalas - Gyöngyös, 234 km): Dobrivoje Jovancevic (Yugoslav, Cukaricki)
Stage 5 (Gyöngyös - Budapest, 125 km): Gábor Roszik (Hungarian, Siófok-Cora)

General Classification:
1. Zoltán Bebtó (Hungarian, Stollwerck–FTC) 21:28:55
2. Yuriy Zayats (Ukrainian, Schwinn–Csepel) 21:29:05 (+0:10)
3. Balázs Rohtmer (Hungarian, Siófok–Cora) 21:29:07 (+0:12)

Winner of the Teams Classification: Stollwerck–FTC

Winner of the Points Classification: Arno van Hattem (Dutch, Postás-Matáv)

Winner of the Mountains Classification: Boris Ljujic (Yugoslav, Cukaricki)