The Giro has been ongoing for nearly a week now, but racing has also resumed across Europe: Sam Welsford (BORA-hansgrohe) clinched the opening stage of the Tour of Hungary on Friday, which was sadly overshadowed by a serious crash.
Leading up to the 2024 Tour of Hungary, we noticed several interesting storylines. For example, some riders who didn't make the Giro d'Italia lineup were competing in the Hungarian stage race, including Wout Poels of Bahrain Victorious and the BORA-hansgrohe duo Sam Welsford and Emanuel Buchmann.
Mark Cavendish of Astana Qazaqstan Team and Peter Sagan (representing Pierre Baguette) also participated, with the latter, a mountain biker, racing on the road again.
Sagan crashes and punctures, crashes plague finale
From Karcag, the peloton embarked on a 166-kilometer stage. Four riders broke away early on, including Mikel Bizkarre (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Balasz Rosza (Epronex), Mortin Voltr (Pierre Baguette) and Viktor Filutas (Karcag). Unfortunately, several riders soon crashed in the peloton, including Sagan. Matthijs Paasschens (Lotto-Dstny) also experienced pain after his fall.
Jayco AlUla and Astana Qazaqstan Team set the pace in the peloton, where the narrative of the anticipated bunch sprint unfolded. Sagan was out of contention due to his flat tire. His competitors then vied for position, with Dylan Groenewegen getting a little trapped in place while his lead-out, Campbell Stewart, suffered a heavy crash while falling back, involving several riders.
Continue reading below the video.
Cavendish launched his sprint from a distance, but ultimately, it was Welsford who secured the victory for BORA-hansgrohe. A significant uplift for the Aussie. "It was a relatively calm day until the final began. We caught the breakaway in the last lap, and I was in a good position from which I could finish strong. I'm very happy with how it turned out."
Just after the finish, Jayco AlUla revealed that Stewart, likely one of the major casualties, was conscious. "Campbell is en route to the hospital for checks, and we will update as soon as we have more information." Later in the evening, there was good news from his team.
"After being caught out in a crash, thankfully X-rays confirm no broken bones for Campbell Stewart but a large number of superficial wounds, some of which require stitching. He will take some time now to rest and continue to be monitored by our medical team," stated Jayco AlUla in a press release.
Shortly after the finish, the jury identified Emils Liepins of dsm-firmenich PostNL as responsible for the incident. The team announced on X that the Latvian sprinter had been penalized (demoted in the stage results) for performing a dangerous maneuver.
Results stage 1 Tour of Hungary 2024
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
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