Marc Hirschi wins Tour of Hongrie as final stage cancelled

Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) was declared the overall winner of the Tour de Hongrie after the final stage was cancelled on account of adverse weather conditions in Budapest. Rather than race the 150 kilometre circuit, riders instead will complete eight neutralised laps of a 9.5km circuit "for the fans."

In a Tweet published briefly before the scheduled start time, the organisers stated, “There will be no intermediate sprints, no points, no stage winner. The riders will do 8 laps around the circuit for the fans. GC stays the same as yesterday. The stage starts at 12:00 CET.

“After ongoing discussions with the teams, due to the weather conditions and the slippery track that comes with it, the 5th Stage of Tour de Hongrie is neutralized!”

The neutralisation meant that the general classification standings remain as they were after stage 4 on Saturday, where Yannis Voisard (Tudor Pro Cycling) surprised with a summit stage win.

Despite attacks from other general classification favourites, Hirschi held onto his general classification lead on the stage, and so won the overall competition 10 seconds ahead of Ben Tulett (Ineos Grenadiers) in second place.

Voisard’s admirable stage 4 effort was enough to put him on the podium in third place, three seconds behind Tulett.

Sebastian Schönberger (Human Powered Health) took the mountains classification jersey after netting points on the summits of Két-Bükkfa and Pilisszanto on the mountainous terrain of stage 4, while Matúš Štoček (ATT Investments) took the points jersey just ahead of overall winner Hirschi. 

The riders took to the severely rainy 9.5km circuit in Budapest for the benefit of a surprisingly large number of brave roadside fans. The peloton finished in a time of 2:07:36, at an average speed of 35.3kph.