1929

4th Tour de Hongrie

German Oskar Thierbach became the first foreign winner of the Tour de Hongrie. In fact, this was the first occasion, when non-Hungarian riders could compete.

In 1928, Budapest hosted the World Road Cycling Championship, so the Tour de Hongrie had to take a short, one-year break.

The Austrian and German professionals were hard to beat. Mihály Tetnovszky led the race after Stage 1, but a heavy crash stopped him from taking the victory. Thierbach took the lead, and even a puncture on Stage 2 (in a stage where we saw 36 punctures in total) couldn't slow him down, winning the General Classification with a lead over 14 minutes.

Mihály Tetnovszky (Világosság KK) lost his chance after crashing heavily in Stage 2

Tour de France, 1932 - the second rider from the left is former Tour de Hongrie winner, Oskar Thierbach.

Thierbach raced profesionally until the age of 43. The star from Dresden also took part in the Tour de France, where he finished 7th in 1932. According to Sachsische Zeitung, he was incredibly popular back in the day, mentioning him as "the Erik Zabel or Jens Voigt of the 1920's". He passed away in 1991, at the age of 82.

4th Tour Hongrie (27-30 June 1929, 611 km)

Stage winners:
Stage 1 (Budapest - Miskolc, 186 km): Mihály Tetnovszky (Hungarian, Világosság KK)
Stage 2 (Miskolc - Miskolc, 175 km): Kurt Hertwig (Germany)
Stage 3 (Miskolc - Gyöngyös, 145 km): Vida II. (Hungarian, MKSZ)
Stage 4 (Balassagyarmat - Budapest, 105 km): Károly Szenes (Hungarian, MTK)

General Classification:
1. Oskar Thierbach (Germany) 21:31:33
2. Béla Jálics (Hungarian, Postás) 21:45:53 (+14:20)
3. János Istenes (Hungarian, UTE) 21:47:13 (+16:40)

Winner of the Teams Classification:
1. Postás (Hungarian)