1931

6th Tour de Hongrie

One of the biggest upsets in the history of the race came in 1931, when a pair of Hungarians, István Liszkay and István Nemess beat the biggest Italian cyclists of the time.

The National Team of Italy prepared heavily for the race "to keep the Italian dominance going" - the Italian Cycling Federation even postponed their prestigious Rome - Predaggio race, so the riders could be in shape for the Hungarian event. They couldn't finish their plan though: István Liszkay (BS) and István Nemess (Postás) gained a half-hour advantage in Stage 2. While the Italians came close to Nemess, they couldn't gain time on Liszkay, who surprisingly won the race with the biggest margin in the Tour's history.

Their competition was incredibly tough: 3rd place finisher Guglielmo Segato won a gold (team road race) and a silver (individual road race) medal one year later at the Olympics in Los Angeles...

The international interest for the race kept on increasing, with newspapers from Germany (Rad Welt), Switzerland and France (L'Auto) all mentioning it's biggest stories.

6th Tour de Hongrie (4-8 September 1931, 1068 km)

Stage winners:
Stage 1 (Budapest - Pécs, 220 km): Livio Carlotti (Italy)
Stage 2 (Pécs - Tapolca, 216 km): István Nemess (Hungarian, Postás)
Stage 3 (Tapolca - Tapolca (218 km): Adamo Dabini (Italy)
Stage 4 (Tapolca - Sopron, 190 km): Armando Jori (Italy)
Stage 5 (Sopron - Budapest, 224 km): Károly Szenes (Hungarian, MTK)

General Classification:
1. István Liszkay (Hungarian, BSE) 38:10:16
2. István Nemess (Hungarian, Postás) 38:42:51 (+32:35)
3. Guglielmo Segato (Italy) 38:44:54 (+34:38)

Winner of the Teams Classification: Italy