2021

42nd Tour de Hongrie: Decision on peak Kékes

Eight WorldTeams, nine ProTeams, four continental clubs and the Hungarian national team competed in the race of the 42nd Tour de Hongrie. The overall victory was won by the Australian Damien Howson on the climb to Kékes.

(Photos: Tdh.hu/Zoltán Vanik, Márió Pertorini, Zsolt Halmágyi, Zoltán Tuba)

The biggest Hungarian bicycle race, the Tour de Hongrie started from Siófok on Wednesday, 12 May. The international race covered seven counties (Somogy, Veszprém, Zala, Győr-Moson-Sopron, Komárom-Esztergom, Nógrád and Heves), and eighteen cities (including two county seats, Kaposvár and Veszprém, as well as the capital, Budapest), in total 113 settlements were affected. This year twenty-two teams took part in the competition, each team could start with six cyclists in the Hungarian Circuit with a total prize money of sixteen million forints.

The first stage of the 42nd Tour de Hongrie ended with the victory of the German Phil Bauhaus, the sprinter of Bahrain-Victorious. At the finish line in Kaposvár the Italian Jakub Mareczko (Vini Zabu), who took three stage victories last year, was second, and the Belgian Jordi Meeus (BORA-hansgrohe) was third. The best domestic sprinter, from the Hungarian national team, was Karl Ádám who finished in seventeenth place.

On the pink day of Hungarian cycling János Pelikán spent more than 170 kilometers in the break away together with his six competitors, but in the end the sprinters' teams decided: the Belgian Jordi Meeus reached the finish line in Nagykanizsa first, and thanks to his success he also took the lead in the overall race. János Pelikán's efforts were also crowned with success, he was able to wear the white jersey of the best Hungarian cyclist.

In the minutes before the finish of the race, the spectators in Nagykanizsa learned that the defending champion of the Tour de Hongrie, Valter Attila, paraded again at the Giro d'Italia and took the legendary pink jersey with his great performance that day! The sky turned out to be so cloudy the whole day, for a few minutes bright sunshine greeted this wonderful day of Hungarian cycling! In addition, Attila delighted all Hungarian fans, as in his statement in a fresh pink jersey, he said in Hungarian: ’Go, Tour de Hongrie!’

At the end of the 142-kilometer stage between Veszprém and Tata, the decision was made by a bunchsprint finish: the German sprinter of Bahrain-Victorious, Phil Bauhaus, won his second stage victory in this year's Tour de Hongrie, thus taking back the yellow jersey meant for the overall best rider. The queen stage of the Tour de Hongrie, the fourth stage of the competition, promised a decision about the overall winner. The competitors fought a huge battle on the climb leading to Kékestető, but the Australian Damien Howson ’learned’ this climb last year, launched his attack in the ’Valter bend’ (named after Valter Attila by the fans), and finally won the decisive stage. The competitor from Team BikeExchange also took the lead in the overall. Three Hungarian bikers also performed heroically on the stage, Peák Barna worked for kilometers in the lead for Howson's success, Erik Fetter became the best of the day, he was eleventh on the most difficult stage, but he was not far behind him, and János Pelikán also could keep the white jersey.

M4Sport tv channel broadcast live from all stages, but vieweres could also see a live image on the internet at mediaklikk.hu. With the help of its communications partner, A.S.O., the Tour de Hongrie was able to provide more television coverage for the Hungarian competition than ever before, it was seen worldwide on all continents thus became available to almost 800 million people. It was a huge breakthrough that the stages of the competition were broadcast live in 150 countries!

Many cycling fans could have witnessed the final stage of the 42nd Tour de Hongrie at the venue or in front of the televisions. TREK-Segafredo's sprinter, the Belgian Edward Theuns was the fastest on the beautiful Budapest circuit. The final results of the general classification have not changed, the Australian Damien Howson received the main prize in Heroes’ Square.

42nd Tour de Hongrie (12-16 May 2021, 792 km)

Stage winners:
Stage 1 (Siófok - Kaposvár, 173 km): Phil Bauhaus (German, Bahrain - Victorious) - in yellow: Bauhaus
Stage 2 (Balatonfüred - Nagykanizsa, 183 km): Jordi Meeus (Belgian, BORA - hansgrohe) - in yellow: Meeus
Stage 3 (Veszprém - Tata, 142 km): Phil Bauhaus (German, Bahrain - Victorious) - in yellow: Bauhaus
Stage 4 (Balassagyarmat - Gyöngyös-Kékestető, 202 km): Damien Howson (Team BikeExchange) - in yellow: Howson
Stage 5 (Budapest - Budapest, 92 km): Edward Theuns (Belgian, Trek - Segafredo)

General classification:
1. (in yellow jersey) Damien Howson (Australian, Team BikeExchange)
2. Ben Hermans (Belgian, Israel Start-Up Nation) +0:16
3. Antonio Tiberi (Italian, Trek - Segafredo) +0:24
4. Jhojan Garcia (Colombian, Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) +0:32
5. Stefan de Bod (South African, Astana - Premier Tech) +0:45
6. Laurens Huys (Belgian, Bingoal Pauwels Sauces BW) +0:51
7. Pawel Cieslik (Polish, Voster ATS Team) +0:54
8. Javier Romo (Spanish, Astana - Premier Tech) +0:54
9. Kevin Colleoni (Italian, Team BikeExchange) +0:57
10. Santiago Buitrago (Colombian, Bahrain - Victorious) +0:59
23. János Pelikán (Hungarian, Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec) +1:32

In the speed points competition:
1. (in green jersey) Phil Bauhaus (German, Bahrain - Victorious)

In the mountain points race:
1. (in red jersey) Maciej Paterski (Polish, Voster ATS Team)

The best Hungarian competitor:
1. (in white jersey) János Pelikán (Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec)