The Best Draft in Cycling is Behind THIS MAN | Tour de Hongrie 2025 Stage 3

Lanterne Rouge presents highlights of Tour de Hongrie 2025 Stage 3.

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Credits:
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Can anybody stop XDS Astana on the minor calendar at the moment? The answer seems to be no. We have the very famous Tud to Hungary Queen stage finishing up Kostetto. We’ve done this climb for a number of years just to started GC in this race. It’s a long climb that gets progressively more difficult. It’s very shallow at the beginning and then the last 3 km are a little bit harder at 78%. Uh but yeah, we have still some intermediate sprints beforehand. For Danny Van Pop, it’s the last day he’ll wear the leader of the general classification jersey because we’re actually going to have a shakeup in terms of GC after a couple of big sprints. In terms of climbers that we have here, we have Kovi who’s been on a very good run winning in a Brutzo. So he’s here as UAE team Emirates leader. But XDSana took control of the Pelaton. They’ve gota Harold Martin Lopez. Now Lopez was good in Catalunia. He also won Helas. He just won a stage and came second to his teammate Wild Pools in Turkey. And so he I mean he wouldn’t be the favorite for the day because as I said this climb suits little TX leader Albert Bipsson, the young 18-year-old. He came straight from juniors to world tour. He was a a star in the juniors. He was crashing the world championships road race and Finn eventually won. They were together. But yeah, XDS starter Shamig is giving a gel to Sitza and Kleb says I need more of that. One gel ain’t going to be enough. I’m burning 2,000 calories an hour on the front right here. So yeah, they’re obviously confident in Lopez as they should be. But I was interested to see how Agita went. He’s been under the radar a little bit this year, but has got some okay results. Uh but probably he wouldn’t be the leader here either. And as I said, it’s really not a difficult stage beforehand. Cleb’s able to control. Well, they bring the breakaway back exactly when they want to pretty much before the steep section starts on Koshetto. And the the sprinters say, “Thank you for bringing me to the base of the climb. We’ll go up at our own pace from this point.” Some other sprinters like Milano are trying to give good draft to Aleandro Kovi, although it’s really Olly Vera, I believe, on his wheel there. And then Shelling ups the pace. He increases the tempo. A few of those guys like Milano, they drop. And then little track takeover. So Tre obviously confident in Albert Philipsson. He’s got a very in and out of the saddle style. Very much out of the saddle a lot more than I’d expect on sort of five 6% uh gradients, but they don’t have the GC numbers. There’s no like Conrad here. And so when Eric Feta for United shipping, which is a Hungarian team, he jumps up the road. You see there’s a righthander here where I think Frank Vandenbrook crashed in that righthander or some rider crash in previous years. There’s still some big units here. It’s Tim to Clerk. Clerk closing down the nice move. He’s got uh Gita and Lopez just behind him in the XDS jersey. He’s Philipsson fourth wheel. This should be a good climb for Philipsson. He’s like a he’s not a 55 kilo pure climber. He’s got power about him and this is a power climb. But uh Lopez was dancing on the pedals. The clerk though, 3.2ks to go. This is where the steeper section uh starts more or less. And you see riders begin to get dropped and there’s an increase in pace from Agita. Aana are doing the the one two. They attack with the weaker GC rider first. So they go with Agita, but UAE counter that with Olivera pacing. So Ruy Olivera, I think it is, he closes so that Kovi doesn’t have to do it. Kov’s like wheel seven or eight just behind Philipsson’s in second wheel. And so yeah, Iggy can burn himself out. But there’s a little split and Kovi I think he was he had to close that split. So there’s already a split with the py guys trying to close it. Felt offer was on the wrong side of that which wasn’t helpful for him. But then it stalls and it’s Pavl Novak on Kulpak Balan which by the way produced riders such as pretty sure Aayuso was on Kpak Balan. They produced a lot of really really talented riders. They always had like Chanellis and they always had a nice kit. Uh but the Czech riders looking good. He’s a a climber. Had some okay results in Austa and the baby Jirro at 20 years old and he’s climbing well today. He took it upon himself to get a good result. He’s got the world tour boys in his wheel until Harold Martin Lopez says see you. And I was surprised actually. I I thought Philipsson was going to Yeah. follow in the wheel. It’s 30 kph. You get a big draft benefit here. And all due respect to Lopez, but he’s a small lad. Small, powerful, but uh it’s still a fast climb for the most part. But he straight up destroys everybody. Normally on this climb, we’ve seen Bookman going early, I think, in previous years. If you go early like that with 2Ks to go, you get caught and passed in the last 500 meters from the guys benefiting in the draft behind, but they’re stalling. Novak’s the one that takes it up again. The the Conti rider, the 20-year-old Conti Riders showing the World Tour Boys that we need to chase down Harold Martin Lopez. and XDS Astana. They’re not just hoarding points, they’re winning races at the moment. And it makes sense. This guy came 10th, I think, on Monzerat behind Rogich and Auso. He probably would have finished in the top 15 of the Jirro Mountaintop finish today. If you put him in on the minor calendar in good shape with full team support, which he had again today, they rode for him all day. He’s probably going to win. And that’s exactly what happens. A big win for Harold Martin Lopez. He’s been good for the last couple of months. and uh brings not just the UCI points but probably the GC victory given this gap to XTS Castana at the end of this race. Kovi was second. They just missed that. I want to point out this guy on uh United Shipping as well. Felt Hoffer he comes seventh. That’s a pretty good result for a young guy. I think he’s 19 20. It’s good to see him and Novak doing well. But Lopez wins seven seconds. That’s a big gap. uh Takovi Philipsson then Novak Castellon Hak for Red War Hansfield I Van Hoka Tolio here’s what Lopez had to say after the race congratulations uh big victory your third one of the season tell me about the final climb yeah it was really good because my team work full gas every all stage so I am very happy for this result I am very happy for all confidence with my team also for Sigita a very good rider help me in the in the last climb. So I am very happy. I am excited. Yes, this is my third victory in this season. So this is special because in the in this morning I said for one friend in the hospital in in Ecuador. So this is for you Maui. I hope a recovery faster and no more for my family, for my country and also for my team. Was this the plan to Sergio to attack first then you counter it or was it just a race situation? No, no, no. The plus was control the race all race because we have here the the good the good team a stronger team. So when my teammates drop the plan was get attack for look the moves. So when attack I see the the guys more stronger but when the moment the stop I attack and and finally I take with the win. Congratulations. In terms of GC, it’s pretty much the same order because none of these guys took bonus seconds in the previous stages, just with the extra bonus seconds added on. So, unfortunately for Kovi, that 1 second matters. Even if he wins the hilly stage tomorrow in a small group sprint, if Lopez finishes on the same time, Lopez stays ahead by 1 second without bonus seconds. But it should be a good stage. I think UAE will definitely try and I’ll see you with the recap tomorrow.