DravaTour from Novigrad Podravski to Podravske Sesvete 13 th of June 2014, Friday 2 nd day of DravaTour The peloton of 120 riders started at 10 o clock from Koprivnica (Kapronca). For the second day there left 182 km for the riders to reach Pécs in Hungary. This is the longest etap during the whole DravaTour. From the 182 km of tour only a short part 38 km is a race, the rest is a light tour of 30-35 km/h speed. The short race run on the Croatian side: between Novigrad Podravski and Podravske Sesvete.
Start: Novigrad Podravski (in Hungarian: Kamarcsa) The small village lies 15 km south-east from Koprivnica on the hills of Bilogora-mountains next to the main road along the Drava river, on the Komarnica-streamside. In the middle ages on territory of today Novigrad stood one of the largest castles of Drava river, Castle of Kamarcsa. The castle was built between 1316 and 1322, watched the Drava roads crossing Varazdin, Koprivnica, Virovitica and Osijek, served also as the headquarters of Dean and count. The name of the settlement comes from Komár patronymic, a primal Croatian tribe. The first ruins of the castle are to find south from the village, close to the stream were started to build in the 13 th century. The booming medieval settlement was ruined among others about 1532 by the Turks coming back from Kőszeg. After that this land was a steppe for decades. Establishment of Novigrad dates back to the beginning of the 17 th century. From Koprivnica to Novigrad Podravski about 15 km the light tour run 30-35 km/h in a boondocks between small farms, on narrow roads, along wonderful fields, colourful land this trip served as a good warm-up for the forthcoming race starting from Novigrad Podravski.
At the end of the town the vice-mayor, Mr Ivan Orošić received the peloton of DravaTour. Introducing the region and surrounding land and after some cheering words he shoot away the race. From here the peloton struggled to Podravske Sesvete. Finish: Podravske Sesvete Podravske Sesvete lies at the east border of the county on the right side of river Drava. The settlement and its church were first mentioned in 1334. It was named after its church sacred to Hallowmas. The medieval village took place from the 13 th century until 1552, when it was ruined among others by the Turk. But the church survived the ruination. The region started to develop after getting free from the Turks.
Right after the start a smaller group was created, leading more than half of the race, but at the end there was a bunch sprint for the victory. The quickest was Norbert Trabach from DKSI Freeriderz Team (Debrecen) but he could not get the first place in total from Zsolt Vinczeffy (Footstrong SE) the victor of Varazdin etap arriving the same time. Among the women the best was the Croatian Kristijana Pavlic again.
Representative of Podravske Sesvete received the riders. Since Podravske Sesvete is a sporty town (has some serious teams in several sports), it is well known here what the competitors need. Some refreshing drinks and snack were served next to the brand new sport court. There were several kinds of drinks, fresh water but perhaps the light shadow was the best present for the riders in the warm summer. From here just a light tour of 129 km left to the city of Pécs in Hungary. The price giving ceremony of this day took place in Pécs after the whole etap.
The participants were the same opinion not the whole etap is a race, just a short part of it it works at the amateur teams well. By this way the whole peloton can reach the finish city, like at Tour de France, and this is better from point of view of the security, because it is much easier to escort one peloton instead of some single riders or small groups on the roads. Finally the peloton arrived to Pécs late afternoon. For some riders this day was a strong training, for some of them it was a hard struggle. This is typical for DravaTour it connects not only Croatia and Hungary but the riders of different level as well.