Molano disrupts Van Poppel's third victory party in final stage in Hungary: López (Astana) is the GC winner

So far, it has been a true Dutch sprint festival in Hungary. Danny van Poppel won the first two stages, and after a short climbing stage won by Harold Martin López, it was Dylan Groenewegen's turn. The Dutch champion from Jayco-AlUla finally secured his first victory of the season after several places of honor. The final stage was also one for the fast men so that the Dutch could celebrate again.

On the relatively flat course, the breakaway riders seemed to have little chance, but a strong group managed to get away. Seven riders got some space, including Owen Geleijn and Baptiste Huyet of Unibet Tietema Rockets. They were joined by mountain king Siebe Deweirdt (Flanders Baloise) and Luca Colnaghi (Bardiani), among others, but Geleijn was a dangerous contender: the Dutchman was just a minute behind leader López. The French-Dutch team had wicked plans for the final stage.

Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, however, was determined to secure a third victory for Van Poppel, so the breakaway riders never really got very far ahead. The Plisszántó, a 1.8-kilometer climb at 8.7%, was tackled three times in the middle phase of the race. It was a vicious climb, and although the finish was still far away, Groenewegen struggled there. He even dropped back a few meters on the final passage of the climb but was able to return on the descent.

The gap to the breakaway riders was insignificant, but they were not just riders. The seven of them held their own impressively. The race approached the finish in Esztergom. There, Geleijn jumped away from his fellow breakaway riders, and only Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural) could follow. The duo rode hard, but the peloton closed in during the last 10 kilometers. On the penultimate passage of the finish, which was on a vicious cobbled hill, the gap was only 15 seconds. Alessandro Covi gained a second on leader López; the difference was only 7 seconds for the GC.

The two fought for all they were worth. The lead was maintained, partly because only Jayco-AlUla worked in the depleted peloton. It was, therefore, exciting until the very end. In the difficult final kilometer, Geleijn was caught. It came down to a sprint, and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe brought Van Poppel up very well. He was the first to attack but was overtaken by Molano, who took his second victory of the season.