Eleven days of road racing from April 23rd to today, and with this they make three victories in the season for Thibau Nysthe fury (or scourge, to stay in the area) that struck the Tour of Hungary. The class of 2002 of Lidl Trek wins the stage most congenial to him in this edition of the Tour de Hongrie, which he had already said he was aiming for yesterday, after the much more surprising success on the uphill finish of Gyöngyös-Kékestetőwhich had propelled him to the top of the general classification.
Yesterday the comeback in the 200 to break away Diego Ulissi and go pick up Emmanuel Buchmannwho attacked at the end, today one sprint without history which he metaphorically brought to his knees Marc Hirschi, who would be a very uncomfortable customer on this type of arrival, but didn’t have the reactivity to respond to the shot in the last 150 meters from Sven’s son. After an extremely long and expensive cyclocross season, Nys chose the right moment to also arrive on the road with an overflowing condition, which he had already shown by winning in the breakaway at Tour de Romandie some weeks ago. Curiously, the back to back is not the only one of these two days in the stage races currently taking place around the world: Tadej Pogačar he obviously did the same at the Giro d’Italia, as well as Mischa Bredewold in the first two stages of the Itzulia Women.
Tour de Hongrie 2024, the chronicle of the fourth stage
It takes almost thirty kilometers to take away the right escape, which originates a few kilometers from the first passage to Etyek (1.3 km at 5.2%), which will be addressed four times. Also on the attack Salvatore Puccio (Ineos Grenadiers), the closest in the standings at 3’41” from Nys. With him Niklas Märkl (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), Dušan Rajović (Bahrain-Victorious), Cees Bol (Astana Qazaqstan), Matteo Moschetti (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), Sergio Meris (Team MBH Bank Colpack Ballan) e Diego Pablo Sevilla (Team Polti-Kometa).
A large escape that immediately finds good collaboration, even if the group never allows too much space. The only team to help Lidl-Trek, which has the yellow jersey to defend and is aiming strongly for the stage with Nys, is TDT-Unibet, which for long stretches is the most active team to keep the breakaway under control. The advantage of the seven fluctuates for a long time around two minutes, but shows no sign of decreasing, because in front there are excellent pacemakers and numerically more forces than the group.
Crossing the finish line for the last lap the gap is 1’18”, with Lidl-Trek and TDT still working. Up front, no one tries to get ahead to gain an advantage in view of the finale, even if the advantage gradually begins to decrease. Märkl and Moschetti try a couple of attacks at the end, to which he always responds Rajović, the only one who stops collaborating at the end. When the seven fugitives are caught again, just two kilometers from the finish line, the Serbian national champion remains in front to extend the group a little, to favor his captain Wout Poels in the approach to the final climb.
Sprint without history
In the finale too Dstny Lot, Astana Qazaqstan and especially UAE Emirates they started to run in the first positions to go to close, but shortly after the last kilometer the queue is still Lidl in April. Think about it Fabio Felline to lengthen the line, bringing with them Mathias Vacek, last man of Nys. At the wheel of the yellow jersey there is Michele Gazzoli (Astana Qazaqstan), while Ulissi and Hirschi move up positions together with Buchmann and Javier Serrano (Polti-Kometa). However, Vacek’s latest tear puts everyone in difficulty, starting with Gazzzoli who is no longer able to keep up with Nys’s wheels, That launches his sprint at -150. The only one who manages to keep up with the Belgian’s acceleration is Hirschi, who however is rejected and kept at a safe distance until the finish line.
Second consecutive victory which leads Nys to further extend himself in the general classification, where he now has a 14″ lead over Ulissi, 16″ over Buchmann and 20″ over Yannis Voisard (Tudor Pro Cycling), third at the finish line today. Fourth place for the other cross rider Lander Loockx, which repays the work of TDT-Unibet with a good placement. Tomorrow ends with another uphill finish at Pécson the third pass on very demanding climbs in the final circuit.
