are we allowed to bring in several courses? I have designed some nice stages in different areas and I can't link them in a satisfactionary way. So I thought about having two races (who will have a very similar final)
Re: Re:
I didn't design 2 routes, I designed an ensemble of 12 stages in a certain region and several of 5-8 stages in other regions, but I have difficulties to link them, or even to make a coherent GT out of the clusters I have. So, I basically still don't know if I will participate, even more so because I don't have the time for extensive write-ups.
Eshnar said:whoa you had the time to design TWO routes?rghysens said:
I'm afraid you'll have to pick one... or maybe hire secretly somebody else to present your second route (s/he'll get the glory tho...)
Decisions...!
I didn't design 2 routes, I designed an ensemble of 12 stages in a certain region and several of 5-8 stages in other regions, but I have difficulties to link them, or even to make a coherent GT out of the clusters I have. So, I basically still don't know if I will participate, even more so because I don't have the time for extensive write-ups.
Re: Re:
Sad to say it but I have been too busy this summer to get my route done for this. On top of being busy, I had a power surge a couple days ago and have to deal with getting a bunch of new appliances which is going to limit my time even further. I don't want to just throw something out there I am not behind so I will be dropping out. Do look forward to seeing what people are able to put up though.
52520Andrew said:
Sad to say it but I have been too busy this summer to get my route done for this. On top of being busy, I had a power surge a couple days ago and have to deal with getting a bunch of new appliances which is going to limit my time even further. I don't want to just throw something out there I am not behind so I will be dropping out. Do look forward to seeing what people are able to put up though.
- Mar 24, 2011
- 10,525
- 1,923
- 25,680
Alright. Less than 24 hours to the official start. Time to make the jury official:
THE JUDGES:
- Barmaher
- Libertine Seguros
- Red Rick
- Eshnar (me!)
THE POINT SYSTEM:
As in the previous challenge, each judge will assign up to 5 points to each stage in two categories: "Technical" and "Cultural".
Differing from the previous challenge, they will be able to assign these points in a pyramid-like fashion: they can (they don't have to) give 5 points to only one player in each category, 4 points to max two players, 3 points to max 3 players, 2 points to max 4 players and 1 point to max 5 players. If more than 15 people participate (unlikely), changes will be made, but the overall concept will stay the same.
Additionally, each judge will assign half a point to the best write-up.
Thus. the best possible result for a single stage is 42 points (10.5 points from each judge).
At the end of each week, an additional day will be dedicated to the evaluation of the route as a whole. Again, the judges will vote for the two categories, with the same constraints. The points obtained here will be multiplied by 5, making a possible perfect score of 200 points.
PENALTIES:
- 4 points for each start/finish stage location that did not exist in Roman times
- 6 points for a stage longer than the established limit (300 km for normal stages, 500 km for Ultra)
- 4 points for a transfer longer than the 150 km allowed, but shorter than 200 km
- 7 points for a transfer longer than 200 km
- 1 point for every 5 km exceeding the total limit of 6000 km of the whole route (to be applied only to the final week evaluation)
TIMES:
The days are to be considered in European time. Deadlines are not hard (you won't get DSQ for being late...), but judges also have a life and need to see all the stages when they log in the day they have to evaluate them, or everything will get delayed.
Players should post their first stage at any time during Saturday. Please consider starting with an introduction post where you can explain the theme behind your route (if any) and make a link library of your stages as you go on (it would be massively helpful).
You'll be able to join the competition by just posting your stage 1 before the midnight between Saturday and Sunday. The European midnight. We won't nitpick if it's 1-2 am, but not later.
Sunday will be the first evaluation day. Stage 2 will have to be posted on Monday and so on. If you know in advance you won't be able to post on certain days, just send me your write-ups in advance via PM and I will post them at the correct day for you.
I think that's all. Good luck to everybody
THE JUDGES:
- Barmaher
- Libertine Seguros
- Red Rick
- Eshnar (me!)
THE POINT SYSTEM:
As in the previous challenge, each judge will assign up to 5 points to each stage in two categories: "Technical" and "Cultural".
Differing from the previous challenge, they will be able to assign these points in a pyramid-like fashion: they can (they don't have to) give 5 points to only one player in each category, 4 points to max two players, 3 points to max 3 players, 2 points to max 4 players and 1 point to max 5 players. If more than 15 people participate (unlikely), changes will be made, but the overall concept will stay the same.
Additionally, each judge will assign half a point to the best write-up.
Thus. the best possible result for a single stage is 42 points (10.5 points from each judge).
At the end of each week, an additional day will be dedicated to the evaluation of the route as a whole. Again, the judges will vote for the two categories, with the same constraints. The points obtained here will be multiplied by 5, making a possible perfect score of 200 points.
PENALTIES:
- 4 points for each start/finish stage location that did not exist in Roman times
- 6 points for a stage longer than the established limit (300 km for normal stages, 500 km for Ultra)
- 4 points for a transfer longer than the 150 km allowed, but shorter than 200 km
- 7 points for a transfer longer than 200 km
- 1 point for every 5 km exceeding the total limit of 6000 km of the whole route (to be applied only to the final week evaluation)
TIMES:
The days are to be considered in European time. Deadlines are not hard (you won't get DSQ for being late...), but judges also have a life and need to see all the stages when they log in the day they have to evaluate them, or everything will get delayed.
Players should post their first stage at any time during Saturday. Please consider starting with an introduction post where you can explain the theme behind your route (if any) and make a link library of your stages as you go on (it would be massively helpful).
You'll be able to join the competition by just posting your stage 1 before the midnight between Saturday and Sunday. The European midnight. We won't nitpick if it's 1-2 am, but not later.
Sunday will be the first evaluation day. Stage 2 will have to be posted on Monday and so on. If you know in advance you won't be able to post on certain days, just send me your write-ups in advance via PM and I will post them at the correct day for you.
I think that's all. Good luck to everybody
- Feb 20, 2012
- 53,910
- 44,296
- 28,180
I've commented some but I only think I contributed a grand total of 1 Vuelta stage that would rank high in a list list of bad ideas.Gigs_98 said:Thats disappointingEshnar said:
It was already sad that Barmaher can't participate, but now Libertine too?
And although I think Red Rick hasn't posted that much in the RDT I'm sure his write ups would have been entertaining too.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing your designs, and to seeing Andy Schleck crying his eyes out at watching this thread.
I am, unfortunately, probably going to have to drop out. It is not 100%, but I have only designed half of the race so far, and although I have a (sort of) plan for the remaining half, I am not keen on starting with so little actually down. It is in the balance what I will do.
Re:
Same with me. I have only about half of my route designed, but I know what I want to do with the rest, except for 5-6 stages in the middle, where I only have some vary vague ideas about (I know the area, but have no start or finish towns) . But I think I will participate anyway.
A question for Eshnar: If we design our stages, do we have to take the neutralized start into account, or the official? I have one occasion where designing from the neutralized start will make the stage a bit longer than 300km.
Brullnux said:
Same with me. I have only about half of my route designed, but I know what I want to do with the rest, except for 5-6 stages in the middle, where I only have some vary vague ideas about (I know the area, but have no start or finish towns) . But I think I will participate anyway.
A question for Eshnar: If we design our stages, do we have to take the neutralized start into account, or the official? I have one occasion where designing from the neutralized start will make the stage a bit longer than 300km.
- Mar 24, 2011
- 10,525
- 1,923
- 25,680
It's not midnight yet, but whatever.
I declare the Race Design Challenge II officially open!
To all participants: you can now start posting your stage 1. Please remember, every stage description must have profile and map as the first 2 pictures (for the sake of us judges). You can add whatever you want after those.
Have fun everybody
I declare the Race Design Challenge II officially open!
To all participants: you can now start posting your stage 1. Please remember, every stage description must have profile and map as the first 2 pictures (for the sake of us judges). You can add whatever you want after those.
Have fun everybody
Can we have map and profile inone picture (as I usually do)? I already made these for the first 4 stages.
Before I start with the presentation of my design, first some introducing notes.
When I saw the announcement of the second race design challenge, I had some mixed feelings. I thought it pretty lame because of the immense scope, but on the other hand I liked the possibility to link stage design with cultural heritage (like in my tour touristic in the race design thread long ago). But still I vowed not to participate because of the extra points for extensive write-ups (i don’t have the time for that, with a newborn baby in the house). But I thought by myself: if i’d participate, how would my design look like? I would design a fair share of stages in the eastern roman empire (the Balkans, Middle East and North Africa), not only in the “easy” western roman empire (easy because it is a smaller area, and because it exists of traditional cycling countries, so better known to us, cycling fans). I wanted to incorporate some famous pieces of the five monuments in my design, and since the Romans called the Mediterrannean “Our Sea” (mare Nostrum), I also wanted to include as much coastal areas as possible. Of course, with clusters of stages in northern France and Belgium, the eastern Roman empire and the meditterranean areas of France and Spain, the whole design would become very fragmented and downright “ugly”. So my second tought was to design an “Orient Express, more or less” (that would be the name) from London or Paris to the eastern roman empire, with a good deal of the northern classics after 3 or 4 days. However, that would mean that the most difficult mountain stages would appear after 10 days or so, so I quickly abandonned the idea.
The next idea was to participate with two courses (one with a deal of the classics, and another with a greater geograhical diversity), but that wasn’t allowed by Eshnar. So, like he said, I had to make some decisions. The main question for myself was: What would be my focus? We’re designing a GT, and nowadays, GT’s have their most difficult mountains stages at the end. So I decided to get rid of the idea to incorporate some of the classics and to start with… Well, you’ll notice soon.
Including areas of the former eastern Roman empire means that there’s a high likelyhood of crossing political unstable regions (above all Syria and Lybia, but to a lesser extent eastern Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia). I’m assuming we’re living in a peaceful world, or that, just like with the original Olympic Games, all hostilities will cease during the race.
On the name of my race.
Above all, the Roman empire was centered around the Meditterranean. So that should reflect in the name of my race. And to make it easy for myself, I borrowed from the Romans themself: “Mare Nostrum”.
On the race:
It will be raced from the first Thursday of may tot the first or second Sunday of june. Ideally from may 1st to june 1st. This mainly for climatological reasons (earlier there would still be snow in the mountains, and later it would become too hot in some areas).
The GC is decided by time, with a system of bonification seconds.
First, at roman landmarks there are intermediate sprints which will give 10-5-2 seconds at the first three riders. Not all stages have intermediate Roman landmarks, and some may have several.
Secondly, there’s a (quite intricate) bonification system for attacking. The riders of the first group (or sole rider) on the road gets 2 bonificition seconds for each kilometre in the attack, divided by the number of cyclists in the group. The second group (or sole rider) gets 1 bonification second for each kilometre in the attack, divided by the number of cyclists in the group. The group with the race leader in it, and any subsequent group, doesn’t get any bonifications for attacking (this to enhance attacking the leader’s position). Bonifications only count if an attack sticks longer than 10km (to counter short range youtube attacks in the closing kilometres of a stage).
I’ll give an example: imagine a breakaway of 8 riders attacks the peloton with the race leader in it. That breakaway cooperates for 80km and than splits into 2 groups of 4. The second group is caught 60km further, while the first survives for 100km after the split. The 4 riders of the second group will receive then 2*80/8 + 1*60/4 = 20+15 = 35 bonification seconds. The riders of the first group will receive 2*80/8 + 2*100/4 = 20 + 50 = 70 bonification seconds. The riders in the peloton (which was the second group on the road during the first 80km of the breakaway ) won’t receive any bonis, because the race leader was in it.
There’s also a points system. For each stage: 25-20-16-13-10-8-6-4-2-1 for the first 10, at the Roman landmark intermediate sprints: 10-6-3-2-1 for the first 5.
Mountains classification:
HC: 15 – 10 – 7 – 5 – 3 – 2 – 1 pts
1st cat: 10 – 7 – 5 – 3 – 2 – 1 pts
2nd cat: 5 – 3 – 2 – 1 pts
3rd cat: 2 – 1 pts
4th cat: 1 pt
Enough talked, let’s walk the walk (or race the race).
Mare Nostrum stage 1: Smyrna – Smyrna, 15.5km, ITT
The race starts with an itt in the third biggest city of Turkey (after Istanbul and Ankara), former Smyrna.
From the Kültürpark, were an anual international fair is organised, the riders describe a clockwise loop to the football stadion. Then the course heads southwest, to the Kadifekale hill with the medival fortress on it. This two-stepped climb will break the rythm and diminish the chances of the pure rouleurs a bit. After the descent the course goes by the Roman agora, while having a view on the Kadifekale and heads for the Kemeralti, the grand bazaar, and the Konak square with the iconic clock tower.
Climbs:
Kadifekale: km 10; 2.2km @ 5.5%; 4th cat
A little bit of history repeating:
The area of Smyrna was first inhabitated by around 6000BC, but greek settlers colonized the shores of the bay 1000 BC. From the 7th century BC onwards, Smyrna became a city-state with several thousands living within the city walls. After being ruled by the Lydians and Persians, Alexander the Great conquered the city and refounded it on Mount Pagos. The successors of Alexander the Great included the Attalid dynasty of Pergamom, whose last king died without heir and bequeathed his kingdom (including Smyrna) to the Romans. During the Roman era the city became one of the biggest of the empire, counting well over 100,000 inhabitants in the 1st and 2nd century and became an important center for early christianity. In late antiquity the ciy would decrease in importance, but kept it status as important religious center during the early Byzantine empire. From the late 11th to the late 14th century the Byzantines, various Turkish dynasties and crusaders all held claim on the city at various times, before it finally was captured by the Ottomans in the early 15th century. By then its poplation dwindled to a mere 5000. From then on, it developped as an important trading port, and began to rise in importance again. There was, however, a continuing big Greek minority (or even small majority) until 1922. After WWI, the treaty of Sèvres, offered the western regions of Turkey to Greece. The Turco-Grecan war (1919-1922)decided otherwise. The Turkish army captured many of the greek holdings on the main land. A few days after the capture of the city a fire broke out in the Greek and Armenian quarters, killing 10,000’s. Many greeks left, and those who remained were forced to leave as part of the populmation exchange between Greece and Turkey.
When I saw the announcement of the second race design challenge, I had some mixed feelings. I thought it pretty lame because of the immense scope, but on the other hand I liked the possibility to link stage design with cultural heritage (like in my tour touristic in the race design thread long ago). But still I vowed not to participate because of the extra points for extensive write-ups (i don’t have the time for that, with a newborn baby in the house). But I thought by myself: if i’d participate, how would my design look like? I would design a fair share of stages in the eastern roman empire (the Balkans, Middle East and North Africa), not only in the “easy” western roman empire (easy because it is a smaller area, and because it exists of traditional cycling countries, so better known to us, cycling fans). I wanted to incorporate some famous pieces of the five monuments in my design, and since the Romans called the Mediterrannean “Our Sea” (mare Nostrum), I also wanted to include as much coastal areas as possible. Of course, with clusters of stages in northern France and Belgium, the eastern Roman empire and the meditterranean areas of France and Spain, the whole design would become very fragmented and downright “ugly”. So my second tought was to design an “Orient Express, more or less” (that would be the name) from London or Paris to the eastern roman empire, with a good deal of the northern classics after 3 or 4 days. However, that would mean that the most difficult mountain stages would appear after 10 days or so, so I quickly abandonned the idea.
The next idea was to participate with two courses (one with a deal of the classics, and another with a greater geograhical diversity), but that wasn’t allowed by Eshnar. So, like he said, I had to make some decisions. The main question for myself was: What would be my focus? We’re designing a GT, and nowadays, GT’s have their most difficult mountains stages at the end. So I decided to get rid of the idea to incorporate some of the classics and to start with… Well, you’ll notice soon.
Including areas of the former eastern Roman empire means that there’s a high likelyhood of crossing political unstable regions (above all Syria and Lybia, but to a lesser extent eastern Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia). I’m assuming we’re living in a peaceful world, or that, just like with the original Olympic Games, all hostilities will cease during the race.
On the name of my race.
Above all, the Roman empire was centered around the Meditterranean. So that should reflect in the name of my race. And to make it easy for myself, I borrowed from the Romans themself: “Mare Nostrum”.
On the race:
It will be raced from the first Thursday of may tot the first or second Sunday of june. Ideally from may 1st to june 1st. This mainly for climatological reasons (earlier there would still be snow in the mountains, and later it would become too hot in some areas).
The GC is decided by time, with a system of bonification seconds.
First, at roman landmarks there are intermediate sprints which will give 10-5-2 seconds at the first three riders. Not all stages have intermediate Roman landmarks, and some may have several.
Secondly, there’s a (quite intricate) bonification system for attacking. The riders of the first group (or sole rider) on the road gets 2 bonificition seconds for each kilometre in the attack, divided by the number of cyclists in the group. The second group (or sole rider) gets 1 bonification second for each kilometre in the attack, divided by the number of cyclists in the group. The group with the race leader in it, and any subsequent group, doesn’t get any bonifications for attacking (this to enhance attacking the leader’s position). Bonifications only count if an attack sticks longer than 10km (to counter short range youtube attacks in the closing kilometres of a stage).
I’ll give an example: imagine a breakaway of 8 riders attacks the peloton with the race leader in it. That breakaway cooperates for 80km and than splits into 2 groups of 4. The second group is caught 60km further, while the first survives for 100km after the split. The 4 riders of the second group will receive then 2*80/8 + 1*60/4 = 20+15 = 35 bonification seconds. The riders of the first group will receive 2*80/8 + 2*100/4 = 20 + 50 = 70 bonification seconds. The riders in the peloton (which was the second group on the road during the first 80km of the breakaway ) won’t receive any bonis, because the race leader was in it.
There’s also a points system. For each stage: 25-20-16-13-10-8-6-4-2-1 for the first 10, at the Roman landmark intermediate sprints: 10-6-3-2-1 for the first 5.
Mountains classification:
HC: 15 – 10 – 7 – 5 – 3 – 2 – 1 pts
1st cat: 10 – 7 – 5 – 3 – 2 – 1 pts
2nd cat: 5 – 3 – 2 – 1 pts
3rd cat: 2 – 1 pts
4th cat: 1 pt
Enough talked, let’s walk the walk (or race the race).
Mare Nostrum stage 1: Smyrna – Smyrna, 15.5km, ITT
The race starts with an itt in the third biggest city of Turkey (after Istanbul and Ankara), former Smyrna.
From the Kültürpark, were an anual international fair is organised, the riders describe a clockwise loop to the football stadion. Then the course heads southwest, to the Kadifekale hill with the medival fortress on it. This two-stepped climb will break the rythm and diminish the chances of the pure rouleurs a bit. After the descent the course goes by the Roman agora, while having a view on the Kadifekale and heads for the Kemeralti, the grand bazaar, and the Konak square with the iconic clock tower.
Climbs:
Kadifekale: km 10; 2.2km @ 5.5%; 4th cat
A little bit of history repeating:
The area of Smyrna was first inhabitated by around 6000BC, but greek settlers colonized the shores of the bay 1000 BC. From the 7th century BC onwards, Smyrna became a city-state with several thousands living within the city walls. After being ruled by the Lydians and Persians, Alexander the Great conquered the city and refounded it on Mount Pagos. The successors of Alexander the Great included the Attalid dynasty of Pergamom, whose last king died without heir and bequeathed his kingdom (including Smyrna) to the Romans. During the Roman era the city became one of the biggest of the empire, counting well over 100,000 inhabitants in the 1st and 2nd century and became an important center for early christianity. In late antiquity the ciy would decrease in importance, but kept it status as important religious center during the early Byzantine empire. From the late 11th to the late 14th century the Byzantines, various Turkish dynasties and crusaders all held claim on the city at various times, before it finally was captured by the Ottomans in the early 15th century. By then its poplation dwindled to a mere 5000. From then on, it developped as an important trading port, and began to rise in importance again. There was, however, a continuing big Greek minority (or even small majority) until 1922. After WWI, the treaty of Sèvres, offered the western regions of Turkey to Greece. The Turco-Grecan war (1919-1922)decided otherwise. The Turkish army captured many of the greek holdings on the main land. A few days after the capture of the city a fire broke out in the Greek and Armenian quarters, killing 10,000’s. Many greeks left, and those who remained were forced to leave as part of the populmation exchange between Greece and Turkey.
- Feb 18, 2015
- 13,820
- 9,809
- 28,180
Like rghysens I also want to write a bit about the whole challenge, before I start with my first stage.
First of all I have to say that this challenge is extremely time-killing. My route still isn't 100% ready although I spent a lot of time to do it, maybe the whole challenge was even too hard, but thats ofc only my opinion.
My race doesn't really have a theme, like in the first RDC, where I followed the route of the first giro. I had a few ideas but I decided against them because I would have had to leave out many areas which I wanted to use. Therefore the only "theme" of my race is to make a route between the two capitals of the Roman Empire, Constantinopolis (Istanbul) and Roma.
I don't want to talk about the rest of my route yet because you will see it soon enough anyway.
On the name of my race
Thanks rghysens that you already posted your stage so early because otherwise I probably would have forgotten that we can choose the name of the race. I honestly never really thought about the name and also don't have any good ideas. Therefore I will take the easiest option and call it CONSTANTINOPOLIS-ROMA, like Paris-Nice or Gent-Wevelgem. I think it even kind of makes sense in this case because the cities where the race starts and where it ends are really the historically most important ones for the Roman Empire.
the jerseys
-leader
-points classification
-mountain classification
-young rider classification
points classification
Riders will get points at the end of each stage, at intermediate sprints and at "aurea mille passuum", a golden mile, which works more or less like the golden kilometer in the eneco tour.
The points at intermediate sprints will be 10-7-5-3-2-1, for the first 6.
On a golden mile there will be 3 smaller sprints, one when they enter the mile, one in the middle, and the last one at the end. The points for every small sprint will be 5-4-3-2-1 for the first 5 riders. Therefore if there is a rider alone at the front he gets 15 points on an "aurea mille passuum".
The stage finishes will be a bit more complicated. on flat and hilly stages the riders first ten riders get 40-30-25-20-15-10-8-6-4-2 points and on medium mountain and mountain stages they get 30-20-17-14-11-8-6-4-2-1 points. In TT's nobody gets points.
I decided to make the golden mile, because the golden kilometer was always a small highlight in the eneco tour last year, which made every stage more interesting. And seeing the best sprinters fighting for points on 1.5 kilometers should be very entertaining. However since breakaways can get a lot of points on stages I also decided to make stage wins on flat stages worth more so the fight between breakaways (which are usually stronger on mountain and medium mountain stages) and the sprinters gets more balanced.
Mountain Classification
HC: 20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2
1st: 12-10-8-6-4-2-1
2nd: 6-4-3-2-1
3rd: 3-2-1
4th: 1
time bonus
On every stage finish: 10-6-4
At intermediate sprints: 6-4-2
At every small intermediate sprint on a golden mile: 6-4-2
Especially the seconds on the golden mile should encourage attacks. As you will see the "aurea mille passuum" will often come after a point where you could attack, so the attack even pays off if you get caught again.
Since this post is already very long I will make a 2nd one for my stage, so see you soon
First of all I have to say that this challenge is extremely time-killing. My route still isn't 100% ready although I spent a lot of time to do it, maybe the whole challenge was even too hard, but thats ofc only my opinion.
My race doesn't really have a theme, like in the first RDC, where I followed the route of the first giro. I had a few ideas but I decided against them because I would have had to leave out many areas which I wanted to use. Therefore the only "theme" of my race is to make a route between the two capitals of the Roman Empire, Constantinopolis (Istanbul) and Roma.
I don't want to talk about the rest of my route yet because you will see it soon enough anyway.
On the name of my race
Thanks rghysens that you already posted your stage so early because otherwise I probably would have forgotten that we can choose the name of the race.
I honestly never really thought about the name and also don't have any good ideas. Therefore I will take the easiest option and call it CONSTANTINOPOLIS-ROMA, like Paris-Nice or Gent-Wevelgem. I think it even kind of makes sense in this case because the cities where the race starts and where it ends are really the historically most important ones for the Roman Empire.the jerseys
-leader
-points classification
-mountain classification
-young rider classification
points classification
Riders will get points at the end of each stage, at intermediate sprints and at "aurea mille passuum", a golden mile, which works more or less like the golden kilometer in the eneco tour.
The points at intermediate sprints will be 10-7-5-3-2-1, for the first 6.
On a golden mile there will be 3 smaller sprints, one when they enter the mile, one in the middle, and the last one at the end. The points for every small sprint will be 5-4-3-2-1 for the first 5 riders. Therefore if there is a rider alone at the front he gets 15 points on an "aurea mille passuum".
The stage finishes will be a bit more complicated. on flat and hilly stages the riders first ten riders get 40-30-25-20-15-10-8-6-4-2 points and on medium mountain and mountain stages they get 30-20-17-14-11-8-6-4-2-1 points. In TT's nobody gets points.
I decided to make the golden mile, because the golden kilometer was always a small highlight in the eneco tour last year, which made every stage more interesting. And seeing the best sprinters fighting for points on 1.5 kilometers should be very entertaining. However since breakaways can get a lot of points on stages I also decided to make stage wins on flat stages worth more so the fight between breakaways (which are usually stronger on mountain and medium mountain stages) and the sprinters gets more balanced.
Mountain Classification
HC: 20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2
1st: 12-10-8-6-4-2-1
2nd: 6-4-3-2-1
3rd: 3-2-1
4th: 1
time bonus
On every stage finish: 10-6-4
At intermediate sprints: 6-4-2
At every small intermediate sprint on a golden mile: 6-4-2
Especially the seconds on the golden mile should encourage attacks. As you will see the "aurea mille passuum" will often come after a point where you could attack, so the attack even pays off if you get caught again.
Since this post is already very long I will make a 2nd one for my stage, so see you soon
- Feb 18, 2015
- 13,820
- 9,809
- 28,180
CONSTANTINOPOLIS-ROMA stage 1: Constantinopolis - Constantinopolis (10 km ITT)
For a 2nd year in a row I'm bored by my summer holidays and therefore decide to throw away all my free time to participate in the biggest and only Race Design Challenge in the world. As I have already written my tour goes from the capital of east Rome, to the capital of west Rome, which means that todays stage starts in the city which today is known as Istanbul.
The route isn't anything overly special. A 10 kilometer ITT which has a small hill in the middle but is mostly flat. The start is in front of the Hagia Sophia, a huge building which used to be a christian church but today is a mosque and a museum. It is known as the last big building of the last antiquity and is definitely one of the most famous and most impressive buildings of the the Eastern Roman Empire. The start will be located on a big square and on the opposite side of the square is another mosque, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the biggest Mosque of the city. However while the Hagia Sophia was a Roman building the Sultan Ahmed Mosque was built shortly after the end of the Roman Empire and therefore can be seen as a symbol for the collapse of East Rome.
Another reason why I chose this place as the start of my race is because the old palace of Constantinopolis was located where the Sultan Ahmed Mosque stands now. That unfortunately also means that the majority of this building is destroyed today, and only a few pillars and mosaics still exist. But anyway since it is a very important place for the Roman history this is another aspect why I wanted to start my race here.
After the start the route goes southwards and the until the riders reach the coast of the Bosporus, the famous strait between the two continents Europe and Asia. For a few kilometers the route goes along the sea so the riders get a chance to take a look at another continent, which is kind of funny. Moreover the Bosporus in Istanbul is extremely scenic so the camera carriages and camera horses can provide some beautiful pictures.
Here there will also be the first time check (as shown by the sundials on the profile) when the riders drive by the Column of the Goths, a 18.5 meter high Roman Victory Column.
(Btw, I'm not using this little cobbled street on the picture, I'm using a street a few meters away from the pillar.
Next up the route goes over a bridge, however we don't cross the Bosporus, only a bay of it, called the Golden Horn. After that there is another time check this time beside the Galata Towere. Although it sounds a bit like it this tower unfortunately doesn't have anything to do with ice cream. Actually this medieval building was part of the city wall of Constantinople, and where it stands now once stood the so called "old tower of Galata" which was destroyed during the Siege of Constantinople.
For a few kilometers the riders leave the ancient Constantinople and face the only real climb of the day, an only about 500 meters long 10% ramp, which will break the rhythm of the riders. After the descent the riders cross the Golden Horn again and are already on the slightly uphill finishing straight, so the last kilometer is the last test of pure power before the riders finish under the probably most famous Roman landmark of the city, the Valens Aqueduct.
Some of you might think that it's strange to start such an unusual race with such a usual start. And ofc I could have started this race with a 40 km TT, but the point is that there will be enough long ITT's to come so I want some variation and where better to put a short time trial than at the start of the race. This way a specialist for short TT's can use his strength too and the route becomes balanced.
history lesson:
A little bit like Barmaher with his "munch for the bunch" and "person of the stage" sections at the end of each write up I'll try to always tell you something about the Roman history of the areas visited on each stage. Those sections won't always be very long, especially on some transitional stages there won't always be a lot to talk about. This time however there is way too much to write it all down.
The first known settlers of Constantinopolis were Greeks who arrived in the area they called Byzantium, in 660 BC. After the eastern part of the Roman Empire became more important and Konstantin the first defeated his rival Licinius who ruled over the eastern part of the empire Konstantin decided to make the city his residence and tried to make it a new Rome. After Konstantin died the city got it's name Constantinopolis. After the Roman Empire split into two parts in 395, Constantinopolis became the new centre of the eastern world.
The capital was sieged numerous times in the next centuries, but while West Rome collapsed, the Byzantine Empire existed until 1453 although especially the Arabs often came close to take over the city and caused a huge loss of territory. When the Ottomans crusaded against Europe the Byzantine Empire even completely got reduced to the city of Constantinople. The many refugees who escaped from the city and went to Italy were one of the main reasons for the start of the Renaissance, which has it's name because it's the rebirth of the antiquity. In 1453 the Ottomans finally managed to occupy Constantinopolis and the Roman history of the city ends.
For a 2nd year in a row I'm bored by my summer holidays and therefore decide to throw away all my free time to participate in the biggest and only Race Design Challenge in the world. As I have already written my tour goes from the capital of east Rome, to the capital of west Rome, which means that todays stage starts in the city which today is known as Istanbul.
The route isn't anything overly special. A 10 kilometer ITT which has a small hill in the middle but is mostly flat. The start is in front of the Hagia Sophia, a huge building which used to be a christian church but today is a mosque and a museum. It is known as the last big building of the last antiquity and is definitely one of the most famous and most impressive buildings of the the Eastern Roman Empire. The start will be located on a big square and on the opposite side of the square is another mosque, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the biggest Mosque of the city. However while the Hagia Sophia was a Roman building the Sultan Ahmed Mosque was built shortly after the end of the Roman Empire and therefore can be seen as a symbol for the collapse of East Rome.
Another reason why I chose this place as the start of my race is because the old palace of Constantinopolis was located where the Sultan Ahmed Mosque stands now. That unfortunately also means that the majority of this building is destroyed today, and only a few pillars and mosaics still exist. But anyway since it is a very important place for the Roman history this is another aspect why I wanted to start my race here.
After the start the route goes southwards and the until the riders reach the coast of the Bosporus, the famous strait between the two continents Europe and Asia. For a few kilometers the route goes along the sea so the riders get a chance to take a look at another continent, which is kind of funny. Moreover the Bosporus in Istanbul is extremely scenic so the camera carriages and camera horses can provide some beautiful pictures.
Here there will also be the first time check (as shown by the sundials on the profile) when the riders drive by the Column of the Goths, a 18.5 meter high Roman Victory Column.
(Btw, I'm not using this little cobbled street on the picture, I'm using a street a few meters away from the pillar.
Next up the route goes over a bridge, however we don't cross the Bosporus, only a bay of it, called the Golden Horn. After that there is another time check this time beside the Galata Towere. Although it sounds a bit like it this tower unfortunately doesn't have anything to do with ice cream. Actually this medieval building was part of the city wall of Constantinople, and where it stands now once stood the so called "old tower of Galata" which was destroyed during the Siege of Constantinople.
For a few kilometers the riders leave the ancient Constantinople and face the only real climb of the day, an only about 500 meters long 10% ramp, which will break the rhythm of the riders. After the descent the riders cross the Golden Horn again and are already on the slightly uphill finishing straight, so the last kilometer is the last test of pure power before the riders finish under the probably most famous Roman landmark of the city, the Valens Aqueduct.
Some of you might think that it's strange to start such an unusual race with such a usual start. And ofc I could have started this race with a 40 km TT, but the point is that there will be enough long ITT's to come so I want some variation and where better to put a short time trial than at the start of the race. This way a specialist for short TT's can use his strength too and the route becomes balanced.
history lesson:
A little bit like Barmaher with his "munch for the bunch" and "person of the stage" sections at the end of each write up I'll try to always tell you something about the Roman history of the areas visited on each stage. Those sections won't always be very long, especially on some transitional stages there won't always be a lot to talk about. This time however there is way too much to write it all down.
The first known settlers of Constantinopolis were Greeks who arrived in the area they called Byzantium, in 660 BC. After the eastern part of the Roman Empire became more important and Konstantin the first defeated his rival Licinius who ruled over the eastern part of the empire Konstantin decided to make the city his residence and tried to make it a new Rome. After Konstantin died the city got it's name Constantinopolis. After the Roman Empire split into two parts in 395, Constantinopolis became the new centre of the eastern world.
The capital was sieged numerous times in the next centuries, but while West Rome collapsed, the Byzantine Empire existed until 1453 although especially the Arabs often came close to take over the city and caused a huge loss of territory. When the Ottomans crusaded against Europe the Byzantine Empire even completely got reduced to the city of Constantinople. The many refugees who escaped from the city and went to Italy were one of the main reasons for the start of the Renaissance, which has it's name because it's the rebirth of the antiquity. In 1453 the Ottomans finally managed to occupy Constantinopolis and the Roman history of the city ends.
Iter per Imperium Romanos
My name is pretty simple, just Tour of the Roman Empire in its original language, or thereabout. I found it quite hard to translate 'tour' so just went for iter, or journey which is close enough (if anyone wants to correct me on the declensions I used feel free, I have done Latin at school but right now I am a bit rusty).
Classifications:
Points: Flat (Category 1): 35-25-20-16-12-9-6-3-2-1
Medium (Category 2): 30-22-16-12-9-6-4-3-2-1
Mountain (Category 3): 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-3-2-1
TT (Category 4): 15-12-9-7-5-3-2-1
Mountains:
HC: 20-15-11-8-5-3-1
1: 15-10-7-4-2-1
2: 12-8-5-3-1
3: 8-4-2-1
4: 3-2-1
Intermediate Sprints: 10-8-6-4-2 (No bonus seconds)
Breakaway prize: Same as current Giro method
Bonus Seconds: 10", 6", 4" at the line, except of course on time-trials
Prologue: Constantinopolis-Constantinopolis 9km
Well, I have started in the same place as Gigs in similar fashion, although he extended his prologue to the new city whereas I am keeping it all in the old city, the classic city upon which Byzantium was created, with its 7 hills (similar to another fairly important Roman city, Rome itself).
I imagine all the judges are at least roughly familiar with the history of the modern day city Istanbul - created in 600BC by the Greeks, before in 330AD Constantine (famous for making Christianity mainstream in he Roman Empire) adorned it as the 'new capital of the Roman Empire', and so was blessed with having it named after him. Gigs has gone into a bit more detail about it, so I won't repeat what he said.
I also start in the same square as him, so once again I'll let his persuasive skills to gather the cultural points for both of us.
The prologue itself starts off fairly technical, before reaching a ]long, open stretch on the waterfront under the first hill which will favour the more powerful riders, especially if there is any wind blowing. A tight hairpin brings the riders back onto the second hill of Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul, reaching a much more technical section before the finish in the square adjacent to the old palace under the Obelisk of Theodosius.
Theodosius was the last emperor to rule both halves of the empire, and is perhaps most famous for undertaking two civil wars against usurpers in Game of Thrones style, effectively bringing down the empire due to their extreme cost. He is also famous for his diplomatic undertakings with the Goths, which led to the Massacre of Thessalonica, where Gothic troops under his guidance killed 7,000 rioters. Because of this he was excommunicated by the then bishop of Milan, now patron saint of the city, Sant'Ambrogio. By modern standards, he is a terrible ruler. But, in true Roman fashion, he was nicknamed 'Theodosius the Great'.
Back to the race, the prologue shouldn't open massive gaps but should cause a selection of sorts already. Similar, in effect, to this year's Giro. Set, however, in a beautiful city brimming with history.
My name is pretty simple, just Tour of the Roman Empire in its original language, or thereabout. I found it quite hard to translate 'tour' so just went for iter, or journey which is close enough (if anyone wants to correct me on the declensions I used feel free, I have done Latin at school but right now I am a bit rusty).
Classifications:
Points: Flat (Category 1): 35-25-20-16-12-9-6-3-2-1
Medium (Category 2): 30-22-16-12-9-6-4-3-2-1
Mountain (Category 3): 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-3-2-1
TT (Category 4): 15-12-9-7-5-3-2-1
Mountains:
HC: 20-15-11-8-5-3-1
1: 15-10-7-4-2-1
2: 12-8-5-3-1
3: 8-4-2-1
4: 3-2-1
Intermediate Sprints: 10-8-6-4-2 (No bonus seconds)
Breakaway prize: Same as current Giro method
Bonus Seconds: 10", 6", 4" at the line, except of course on time-trials
Prologue: Constantinopolis-Constantinopolis 9km
Well, I have started in the same place as Gigs in similar fashion, although he extended his prologue to the new city whereas I am keeping it all in the old city, the classic city upon which Byzantium was created, with its 7 hills (similar to another fairly important Roman city, Rome itself).
I imagine all the judges are at least roughly familiar with the history of the modern day city Istanbul - created in 600BC by the Greeks, before in 330AD Constantine (famous for making Christianity mainstream in he Roman Empire) adorned it as the 'new capital of the Roman Empire', and so was blessed with having it named after him. Gigs has gone into a bit more detail about it, so I won't repeat what he said.
I also start in the same square as him, so once again I'll let his persuasive skills to gather the cultural points for both of us.
The prologue itself starts off fairly technical, before reaching a ]long, open stretch on the waterfront under the first hill which will favour the more powerful riders, especially if there is any wind blowing. A tight hairpin brings the riders back onto the second hill of Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul, reaching a much more technical section before the finish in the square adjacent to the old palace under the Obelisk of Theodosius.
Theodosius was the last emperor to rule both halves of the empire, and is perhaps most famous for undertaking two civil wars against usurpers in Game of Thrones style, effectively bringing down the empire due to their extreme cost. He is also famous for his diplomatic undertakings with the Goths, which led to the Massacre of Thessalonica, where Gothic troops under his guidance killed 7,000 rioters. Because of this he was excommunicated by the then bishop of Milan, now patron saint of the city, Sant'Ambrogio. By modern standards, he is a terrible ruler. But, in true Roman fashion, he was nicknamed 'Theodosius the Great'.
Back to the race, the prologue shouldn't open massive gaps but should cause a selection of sorts already. Similar, in effect, to this year's Giro. Set, however, in a beautiful city brimming with history.
Sorry I've been moving the last two weeks, so I'm way behind where I should be on this, however I'll try to keep up with the submitting schedule.
Like Brullnux I tried for a while to translate tour, but in the end I named my race Via Roma, as I guess this is about the road to Rome.
For my route, I decided to just use the Tour de France scoring system for intermediate sprints and KoM points.
My first stage is as follows:
Via Roma Stage 1: Ariminum (Rimini) --> Placentia (Piacenza) 279 km
"Alea iacta est" - Julius Caeser
We start in Ariminum a coastal city founded by the Romans in 268 BC, just inside the border of Italia (the Roman province). It was a key road junction in the empire, connecting the Via Popilia (the road to Venice), the Via Flaminia (the road, which like all others goes to Rome) and the road for today's stage, the Via Aemilia. We start on the above bridge, the Ponte di Tiberio, considered the start of the Via Aemelia, and still standing, and in active use, 2 millennia after it's initial construction.
We then head north and inland following the Via Aemilia 15km to the historic border with the Roman province of Gallia Cisalpina, at the River Rubicon. Famously it was crossing the Rubicon, with his army, which put Julius Caeser in open rebellion of the senate, ultimately leading to the end of the Roman Republic. It also lead to him uttering a phrase which will go through all the peloton's mind: "The die is cast."
The Roman strategy for subjugating regions, was simple. They would build a long straight road through the plains, forcing all trade routes to go through the rode, along which they built various military encampments. This quelled rebellion by ensuring that the might of Rome was readily visible to everyone. Our stage follows the same principles. The race follows the Via Aemilia it's entire distance to Placentia, 252km as the crow flies, 279km for the riders, on a flat road, extending straight into the distance, with only the odd town to distract them from the grind.
The excitement from this stage comes from the various towns which sprung up alongside the road. First, the stage hits Bononia (Bolgna) after about 120km. At this point, for sponsorship reasons we have the first, category 4, KoM point. The "climb" is 1% for 2 kilometres, which tells you all you need to know. Then the intermediate sprint point comes after 160, as they stage goes through the centre of Mutina (Modena). Following that, the road continues through Regium Lepidi (Reggio Emillia) and Parma, before the final 50km .
Placientia was founded before the Via Aemilia was created as a military encampment, to control the Gauls threatening Roman settlers, and was the first Roman settlement in the Po valley. In 218 BC it was the site of the Battle of Trebia, one of Hannibal's great victories over Rome. In the battle, Hannibal lead the Roman army into an ambush, and despite even numbers, managed to rout the Roman's dealing an incredible 75% casualties, while only losing 10% of his own army.
The final sprint finish, is unsurprisingly a long run in, with a roundabout as we go though a ring road with 1 km to go, before a straight run down the Stradone Farnese, finishing outside the Saint Augustino Church.
Like Brullnux I tried for a while to translate tour, but in the end I named my race Via Roma, as I guess this is about the road to Rome.
For my route, I decided to just use the Tour de France scoring system for intermediate sprints and KoM points.
My first stage is as follows:
Via Roma Stage 1: Ariminum (Rimini) --> Placentia (Piacenza) 279 km
"Alea iacta est" - Julius Caeser
We start in Ariminum a coastal city founded by the Romans in 268 BC, just inside the border of Italia (the Roman province). It was a key road junction in the empire, connecting the Via Popilia (the road to Venice), the Via Flaminia (the road, which like all others goes to Rome) and the road for today's stage, the Via Aemilia. We start on the above bridge, the Ponte di Tiberio, considered the start of the Via Aemelia, and still standing, and in active use, 2 millennia after it's initial construction.
We then head north and inland following the Via Aemilia 15km to the historic border with the Roman province of Gallia Cisalpina, at the River Rubicon. Famously it was crossing the Rubicon, with his army, which put Julius Caeser in open rebellion of the senate, ultimately leading to the end of the Roman Republic. It also lead to him uttering a phrase which will go through all the peloton's mind: "The die is cast."
The Roman strategy for subjugating regions, was simple. They would build a long straight road through the plains, forcing all trade routes to go through the rode, along which they built various military encampments. This quelled rebellion by ensuring that the might of Rome was readily visible to everyone. Our stage follows the same principles. The race follows the Via Aemilia it's entire distance to Placentia, 252km as the crow flies, 279km for the riders, on a flat road, extending straight into the distance, with only the odd town to distract them from the grind.
The excitement from this stage comes from the various towns which sprung up alongside the road. First, the stage hits Bononia (Bolgna) after about 120km. At this point, for sponsorship reasons we have the first, category 4, KoM point. The "climb" is 1% for 2 kilometres, which tells you all you need to know. Then the intermediate sprint point comes after 160, as they stage goes through the centre of Mutina (Modena). Following that, the road continues through Regium Lepidi (Reggio Emillia) and Parma, before the final 50km .
Placientia was founded before the Via Aemilia was created as a military encampment, to control the Gauls threatening Roman settlers, and was the first Roman settlement in the Po valley. In 218 BC it was the site of the Battle of Trebia, one of Hannibal's great victories over Rome. In the battle, Hannibal lead the Roman army into an ambush, and despite even numbers, managed to rout the Roman's dealing an incredible 75% casualties, while only losing 10% of his own army.
The final sprint finish, is unsurprisingly a long run in, with a roundabout as we go though a ring road with 1 km to go, before a straight run down the Stradone Farnese, finishing outside the Saint Augustino Church.
- Mar 24, 2011
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First of all, thanks to all the participants.
Secondly, having only four participants is a bit underwhelming
As things stand I am not sure I would continue the competition as planned.
What I am inclined to do is let you guys post your stages without the hassle of the every-other-day scheduling, as well as the evaluations, just not to waste the time you have put into these designs.
Otoh, I would like first to hear your opinion on the matter, as well as the judges'.
Do you want to continue the challenge as originally planned, or call it off and just showcase the routes as if it was the race design thread?
In any case, I will delay everything by one day. If anybody wants to join, they can do it today. In the meantime, please let me know your opinion.
Secondly, having only four participants is a bit underwhelming
As things stand I am not sure I would continue the competition as planned.
What I am inclined to do is let you guys post your stages without the hassle of the every-other-day scheduling, as well as the evaluations, just not to waste the time you have put into these designs.
Otoh, I would like first to hear your opinion on the matter, as well as the judges'.
Do you want to continue the challenge as originally planned, or call it off and just showcase the routes as if it was the race design thread?
In any case, I will delay everything by one day. If anybody wants to join, they can do it today. In the meantime, please let me know your opinion.
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