After 15 Years a Hun­gar­i­an Cyclist Wins Tour de Hongrie

After a thrilling last leg end­ing on Kékes, Hungary’s high­est sum­mit, Atti­la Val­ter claimed vic­to­ry at the 41^st Tour de Hon­grie, the first Hun­gar­i­an cyclist to be able do so in the last 15 years.

The five-day-long cycling com­pe­ti­tion was held between August 29^th and Sep­tem­ber 2^nd, after it was pushed back from May 13 – 17 in view of the nov­el coro­n­avirus epi­dem­ic. Luck­i­ly, how­ev­er, it could be orga­nized at the end of the sum­mer. This year, the com­pe­ti­tion was host­ed by the cities of Debre­cen, Hajdús­zo­bos­zló, Karcag, Nyír­e­gy­háza, Sárospatak, Kaz­incbar­ci­ka, Miskolc, Gyöngyös, and Esztergom.The Tour de Hon­grie was first orga­nized in 1925, nine decades ago, on June 27^th and rid­ers left from the Gel­lért Hotel in Budapest. The 510.5 km route of the first ‘Hun­gar­i­an Tour de France’ was Budapest-Győr-Szom­bat­he­ly-Budapest, first com­plet­ed by Károly Jerzs­abek in 22 hours and 10 min­utes. Since then, a vari­ety of routes were assigned, with the longest one of 1,393 km. After a five year long break, it was renewed in 2015, and has since been orga­nized each year. The last Hun­gar­i­an who won was Tamás Lengyel, in 2005.

Five world, and eight pro teams par­tic­i­pat­ed in this year’s edi­tion, includ­ing tal­ent­ed Hun­gar­i­an cyclists, such as Atti­la Val­ter, Már­ton Dina, Barn­abás Peák, and Erik Fetter.

Sim­mons (US), Val­ter and How­son (AUS) on the podium.

With his excel­lent fin­ish, Val­ter man­aged to beat two of his rivals on Kékes. As a result, besides achiev­ing the yel­low jer­sey, he also emerged the best moun­tain climber, and of course gained the white jer­sey too, for emerg­ing as the best Hun­gar­i­an in the competition.

images via Péter Komka/MTI

Source: hun​gary​to​day​.hu