Sam Welsford (Bora-Hansgrohe) won the opening stage of the Tour de Hongrie, outpacing Samuel Quaranta (MBH Bank Colpack Ballan) and Jakub Mareczko (Corratec-Vini Fantini) in a crash-hit sprint finish in Hajdúszoboszló.
The Australian bounced back from the disappointment of missing selection for the Giro d’Italia to take his fourth win of the year after a trio of victories on home ground at the Tour Down Under.
Behind him, Quaranta, the 21-year-old son of 1990s pro racer Ivan, couldn’t quite draw up alongside and had to settle for a clear second place, while fellow Italian Mareczko rounded out the podium ahead of Nicklas Pedersen (TDT-Unibet).
"Everyone was quite nervous about the wind in the first half of the stage. Ultimately the wind wasn't strong enough and so we've had quite a relaxed day until we hit the finishing circuit," Welsford said after his win.
"Hats off to the breakaway – they did a pretty good job staying away from the bunch. In the sprint, I had a good position, used other team's trains and had really good legs to take my first win here in Hungary."
Mark Cavendish took sixth place at the line after going a touch early following his Astana Qazaqstan team’s lead out, his best sprint result since winning stage 4 of the Tour Colombia back in February.
He had been previously joined by Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Balazs Rózsa (Epronex-Hungary) and Viktor Filutás (Hungary) in the move but proved the strongest to last longer than his companions. He’d also pick up seven seconds of time bonuses along the way to launch himself up into second overall behind the first leader of the race, Welsford.
To his right, the likes of Welsford, Quaranta, Mareczko and Manuel Peñalver (Polti-Kometa) were all spread across the road and hitting the wind a little later, while over by the barriers a touch of wheels saw Campbell Stewart (Jayco-AlUla) rider hit the deck hard, sparking a multi-rider crash as the sprint unfolded ahead.
As Welsford powered to the front at the 50-metre mark, Cavendish sat back in the saddle, acknowledging the Australian’s winning burst to the line. In the final metres, Quaranta, Mareczko, Pedersen and Peñalver came through to round out the top five behind the winner.
Results
Results powered by FirstCycling
-
'Bounced off barbed wire' - Lauren De Crescenzo escapes serious injury but goes runner-up to Emily Newsom at Homegrown Gravel in Georgia
'I could tell she wasn't feeling great. It was pretty epic' eventual winner said about the defending champion's unexpected sideways move and dramatic 30-mile chase -
Great Britain captures calendar spot for 2026-27 UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup with Glasgow confirmed as host
Full schedule for 12-race series now completed, with first two rounds in Czechia before 'cross competition in Scotland -
'Florian Vermeersch was too generous to Mathieu van der Poel' – Sean Kelly questions tactics on display at Opening Weekend
In his recent Cyclingnews column, the Irishman dissects the major tactical talking points as the Classics got underway -
After nine months of teasing, Specialized finally launches new tubeless cotton tyres
Specialized has launched the tyres that the pros were racing on at Opening Weekend
