I’ve raced the Brigetio Road Race almost every year since I started cycling. I only skipped it last year because of my racing calendar. I really like this course – the road surface is great, the route is fun to ride, and the organisers take good care of us. The location is beautiful, and the organisers always bring out the best in it. Two years ago, I actually won here as a second-year U17 rider.
The race distance was 82 km – four laps of 20.5 km – with around 1,000 metres of climbing.
This year, I was surprised to see that the finish line had been moved. It used to be on a steep section, which suited me well. Now it was flat. A proper sprint finish. That’s not great news for me, because I’m not a sprinter. But I get why they changed it. I understand they wanted to change how the race plays out, so it wouldn’t always favour the same type of riders. That’s fair.
All week we thought it would rain during the race, which has happened before. But luckily the heavy rain came overnight, and we woke up to dry roads and perfect temperatures around 18 to 20°C. That was a nice surprise.
The photo shows Péter Koloszár just before the new finish zone, my former teammate. Now he races for Green Riders, but our friendship is forever.
A pretty big group lined up for the start. The U13, U15, U17 and Senior 2 and 3 riders, plus the Women’s Senior 1, started at 9:45. Everyone else, including us in U19 and the Elite riders, went at 10:45. There were 170 of us in the second wave.
Because of the location, there’s really no other way to start without blocking traffic. So we had to line up in the parking area, which is pretty tight. From there, the peloton rolls out for maybe 20 metres before turning onto the main road, which starts going uphill immediately. (That used to be the finish line, by the way.)
Big respect to the organisers, they really thought of everything. But if I could suggest one thing, maybe it would help to line us up by category, like they do at the Tour de Mátra. In this tight space, the fast starters were mixed in with riders who aren’t that quick in the first few metres. And some strong riders arrived less than 25 minutes before the start, so they either had to start from the very back, or, like today, find a gap and slot in from the side. That made things more difficult. Right in front of me, someone couldn’t clip in, and another rider crashed. So there was already some action in the first 5 metres. Not ideal, because the neutral start only lasted until the corner and maybe another 200 metres. It couldn’t have gone any longer anyway, because after the hill comes a fast downhill, and you can’t have a slow start there, it would just be chaos.
Anyway, we got going, but by the time we reached the main road, Green Riders and a few others were already flying up the hill, around 200 metres ahead. It wasn’t on purpose, the lead car set a strong pace and they had to follow. We got stuck behind the crash and the pedal mess. So I just had to smash the pedals and drop some watts to catch up. I got back to where I wanted to be pretty quickly, but those watts would’ve been nice to save for later.
I reached the top of the climb with the front group, and I managed to stay with them the whole time. Actually, more than that, I’ll explain that a little later.
In the first lap, they hit every climb hard. Probably because with a flat finish, there were basically three possible tactics: attack early, wait for a sprint, or try a late move in the final lap. But the truth is, everyone had these same ideas. Nobody really had a chance to go solo, the main group wasn’t going to let anything go.
I knew I had to watch the teams, because they could work together. Green Riders had good numbers and their teamwork is always strong. That gave them an advantage. We didn’t have the numbers, but with some focus, it wasn’t a big problem.
Anyway, after that hard effort to close the gap on the first climb, the rest of the attacks on the hills weren’t much fun, but I recovered well. I stayed right at the front of the main group.
Halfway through lap two, on one of the climbs, the one with the Strava KOM prize, I decided to push the pace and see what happens. There were three guys up the road, two of them from Green Riders. I knew Green wouldn’t chase them, so I figured if I jumped, the bunch would speed up a bit and maybe we’d get closer.
In lap three, I was still right at the front. I felt great, my legs were strong. Green Riders tried another solo move.
In the fourth and final lap, the bunch stayed all together. After the halfway point, on that same Strava KOM climb, which is basically the last serious climb of the lap, I decided to attack. I thought, if I can’t get away here, it’s going to be a sprint. And I’m not a sprinter.
Popovics Geri from Green Riders attacked, and I decided to jump on his wheel. It was a good move, I caught him, then even dropped him. My legs were still good. I got a gap of maybe 150 to 200 metres. I could hold it for about 30 seconds solo. Then Bárány Tamás came across on the climb. When he reached me, he asked, “Go full gas?” I said yes. He took a good pull, but the small chase groups were already starting to come. And after the climb came a descent, so the gap we built was easy to close. A few more riders caught us, it still wasn’t a big group, but then the usual thing happened: not everyone pulled. Some couldn’t, some were saving energy. While we played that game up front, the main group behind just kept pushing. So yeah, they caught us.
My final plan was to go solo with 800 metres to go. Just one last move. But nothing came of it, because I had already burned a lot in the earlier attack. I started feeling cramps, and that also meant I couldn’t really risk going all-in for the sprint.
In the end, that attack was my big move. If it had worked, it would’ve been huge. So it made sense to try. It didn’t pay off, but I felt great the whole race and I don’t regret the strategy. Holding back for a sprint wouldn’t have given me a better chance. This way, I played all-in. It didn’t work out, but sometimes you’ve got to play high stakes, that’s the only way. And I’m not a top sprinter anyway.
I finished 5th in my category and 17th overall. As far as I know, 170 riders finished. The winner crossed the line in 2:00:55, and I finished in 2:00:58.
I don’t regret anything, and I really enjoyed the race from start to finish. In U19, Zente took the win. He’s been having a great season so far, and I’m really happy for him. Big congratulations to him for the victory.
