Shortly after a mass pile-up brought down yellow jersey Jordi Meeus (Bora–Hansgrohe),
Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) won the bunch sprint that decided stage 3 of the Tour
de Hongrie in a tumultuous finish in Tata. The German surged in the closing metres to
pip Mike Teunissen (Jumbo–Visma) on the line and reclaim the overall lead.
As the bunch revved up for stage 3 of the Tour de Hongrie, rays of sunshine pierced the clouds
above the cobbled streets of Veszprém, the City of Queens, which is set to host the European
Capital of Culture in 2023. German Ben Zwiehoff (Bora–Hansgrohe) and Italian Leonardo
Marchiori (Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec) missed the roll call and became the first riders to drop
out of this edition of the Tour de Hongrie. The 128-strong peloton tucked into the shortest stage
of the race, which stretched for 140 kilometres and featured two category 3 climbs in the first
half of the course. Maciej Paterski (Voster ATS Team) padded his lead in the mountains
classification after 17 kilometres of racing, snapping up the maximum points on offer at the
summit of the Hárskút climb (at 584 metres, the highest point of the stage) ahead of his
teammate and first man to wear the red jersey, Patryk Stosz, and Spaniard Sergio Martín
Galán (Caja Rural–Seguros RGA).
Local fans turned out in force along the course, gripped by Attila Valter-mania after the reigning
champion of the Tour de Hongrie took over the pink jersey in the Giro d’Italia yesterday.
Five men jumped from the peloton before the first intermediate sprint in Zirc, 28 kilometres into
the stage, where Stosz claimed first place ahead of fellow Pole Norbert Banaszek (Mazowsze–
Serce Polski) and Ferenc Szöllősi (Hungarian national team), with Spaniard David Riba
Lozano (Novo Nordisk) and Slovenian Aljaž Jarc (Adria Mobil) in tow.
Their advantage peaked at three minutes after one hour of racing, at kilometre 41, while back
in the main group Juraj Sagan (Bora–Hansgrohe) set the pace for his teammate and yellow
jersey Jordi Meeus with the help of DSM.
At kilometre 68, the riders tackled the short but brutal slope leading to the Benedictine Abbey
of Pannonhalma, perched at the top of the village. Stosz went over the category 3 climb in first
place despite Lozano putting in a long-range attack in a failed bid to pre-empt the sprint. Now
trailing his teammate Paterski by just 2 points in the mountains classification, Stosz bade
farewell to his four breakaway companions and left them with a margin of 2′25″.
52 kilometres into the stage, alarm bells started ringing in the peloton as Israel Start-Up Nation
hit the front to form echelons, soon to be joined by Bora–Hansgrohe, Bahrain Victorious and
BixeExchange, but the move petered out after a few hundred metres with the main group still intact.
The final intermediate sprint of the day, coming 20 kilometres before the line in Oroszlány,
sparked a fierce battle among the escapees. Banaszek outsprinted Jarc and Lozano, while
Szöllősi was ejected from the back of the group. The leading trio was reeled in too with
10 kilometres to go. Yellow jersey Jordi Meeus, inexplicably drifting near the back of the
peloton at this late time, saw his woes compounded when teammate Rüdiger Selig suffered a
puncture.
The Belgian started to move up, but it was to no avail, as he got caught up in the mass pile-up
that split the peloton on a curve 1.5 kilometres from the finish and whittled down the contenders
for the stage win to just a dozen. Bahrain Victorious pounced on the opportunity to try and
force a split for Fred Wright, but the Englishman faltered as Mike Teunissen (Jumbo–Visma)
launched the sprint from afar. The Dutchman seemed to have his first win since the opening
stage of the 2019 Tour de France in the bag, only to be denied on the line by Phil Bauhaus
(Bahrain Victorious). The German clawed back one metre at a time before lunging forward at
the last possible moment, leaving Teunissen with the impression that he had won the stage.
However, the slow-motion replay dispelled any remaining doubts and crowned Bauhaus as the
victor 48 hours after his first triumph in Kaposvár. He also took back the golden fleece from
Meeus ahead of the queen stage of the Tour de Hongrie, which will be decided on the slopes of Kékestető on Saturday.
STAGE RESULT
- Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) in 3h17‘30‘’
- Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma), st
- Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), st
INDIVIDUAL GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
- Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) in 11h15’23’’
- Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 00’10’’
- Patryk Stosz (Voster ats Team) at 00’15’’
