2004

31st Tour de Hongrie

Tour de Hongrie reached the 2.6 Category in the UCI calendar, but this was not the only reason why this race became historic. Zoltán Remák became only the third rider who defended his title after László Vida (1926-27) and Győző Török (1955-56).

The Slovak-Hungarian rider - who changed teams from FTC to Pobdrezová -  took the yellow jersey after the team time trial in Békéscsaba, and he kept it until the finish line. He recieved his trophy on the famous A38 Ship from the race director of the Tour de France, Jean-Marie Leblanc.

The pre-race favourite, Hungarian climbing prodigee Tamás Lengyel won the prologue and led the race, but crashed in Karcag (Stage 4) - he was forced to retire from the Tour. His teammate, László Garamszegi took his place as the leader of P-Nívó - Betonexpressz - FTC. Garamszegi won the blue jersey for the Mountains Classifications, and was very close to a stage win in Kékestető. He finished as the best Hungarian rider with his 5th place in GC.

With the retirement of Lengyel, nobody could come close to Remák though. He won the race easily, with a lead over 2 minutes. The race also had it's first non-European stage winners: two Australians from Cyclingnews.com, Phillip Thuaux and Cody Stevenson won one-one stage each.

31st Tour de Hongrie (26 July - 1 August 2004, 840 km)

Stage winners:
Prologue (Veszprém, 3,5 km, individual time trial): Tamás Lengyel (Hungarian, P-Nívó - Betonexpressz - FTC)
Stage 1 (Balatonföldvár - Balatonfüred, 178 km): Martin Prazdnovsky (Slovak, Podbrezová)
Stage 2 (Balatonföldvár - Pécs, 167 km): Phillip Thuaux (Australian, Cyclingnews.com)
Stage 3 (Békéscsaba - Gyula - Békéscsaba, 45 km, csapatidőfutam): Podbrezová (Slovak)
Stage 4 (Karcag - Bükkszentkereszt, 166 km): Udo Müller (German, Team RSH)
Stage 5 (Mezőkövesd - Kékestető, 148 km): Anatolij Varvaruk (Ukrainian, Kamen)
Stage 6 (Gyöngyös - Budapest, 132 km): Cody Stevenson (Australian, Cyclingnews.com)

General Classification:
1. Remák Zoltán (Slovak, Podbrezová) 20:03:26
2. Phillip Thuaux (Australian, Cyclingnews.com) 20:05:32 (+2:06)
3. Martin Prazdnovsky (Slovak, Podbrezová) 20:05:49 (+2:23)
5. László Garamszegi (Hungarian, P-Nívó - Betonexpressz - FTC) 20:08:29 (+5:03)

Winner of the Teams Classification: Podbrezová (Slovak)

Winner of the Points Classification: Martin Prazdnovsky (Slovak, Podbrezová)

Winner of the Mountains Classification: László Garamszegi (Hungarian, P-Nívó - Betonexpressz - FTC)