Race Design Challenge

[Libertine Seguros]

Stage 17: Induno Olona - Cittiglio, 54,0km (ITT)

The fourth and final test against the clock in my centenary Giro, this is a long and very difficult route through northwestern Lombardia that links two of the earliest heroes of Italian cycling. The town of Induno Olona, just outside 2008's World Championships city of Varese, is host to around 10 000 people, so plenty big enough to host a start (especially given the hotels and so forth are likely to be in Varese), and has an indelible link to cycling thanks to its most famous son. While I'm keeping all of the original Giro cities on the route, it absolutely would not be right not to honour the man who won the first ever Giro d'Italia, Luigi Ganna.

The first Giro was run to a points system based on a rider's placements on stages, in order to prevent scandal like the 1904 Tour and as this would be cheaper and easier to calculate than the elapsed time. As a result Ganna won the race outright, although he took over half an hour longer to complete the course than Giovanni Rossagnoli; it was only in 1914 that the familiar time-based classification was brought in. However, obviously paying tribute to this kind of throwback era with a points-based criterium is not on the cards, so we'll have to make do with calculating based on time.

Anyway, this is a long time trial that links the hometown of Ganna with that of another iconic figure from the early days of Italian cycling, the legendary Alfredo Binda.

A three-time World Champion and six-time monument winner (2x MSR, 4x Lombardia), Binda is also - along with Fausto Coppi and Eddy Merckx of course - the most successful Giro winner with 5 overall wins. His record number of stages was only usurped by Super Mario twelve years ago. In fact, he was so good that his dominance killed interest in the Giro to the point where he was - quite literally - paid not to start the race in 1930. It was, as is so often the case, only once he grew older and there started to be gaps in his domination and he seemed more human again that the Italian population started to warm to him, but in the Varese region Binda was always "their" guy, so much so that when the World Championships turned up in the city in 2008 the long-dead hero was as visible as nearly any contemporary cyclist in the build-up.

The distance from Induno Olona to Cittiglio is nothing like the 54km of the route today, however there are a couple of detours. Firstly, we head in the direction of Luino before spending several kilometres on the shores of Lake Maggiore, guaranteeing some scenic vistas during the test against the clock.

Secondly, after the stretch on the lake shore, we have a tricky climb of the Passo Sant'Antonio. It is not a stupendously tough climb, the steep part is only 3-4km long after some false flat, but it will really play havoc with riders' rhythm after a very fast and power-rider-friendly first 30km. It matches to the first 7km of this:

After this, the descent is narrow and technical; for a pack, it might be an issue but in a chrono I don't see that it will be any problem as obviously riders will all be individual. The descent takes us into the town of Cuveglio, after which we have one more nod to the rest of the cycling world; the last 12km of the TT correspond to those from the closing circuit (you can see it at the end of this profile with the underlinings showing the number of circuits) from the women's World Cup race, the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, which takes place around Cittiglio every March, and is a strong hilly race with a stellar list of winners including legendary cross-sport athlete Maria Canins (several times), Fabiana Luperini, Nicole Brändli, Nicole Cooke, Emma Pooley and Marianne Vos. For several years Vos and Pooley alternated the event though recent winners have shown more variety (Longo Borghini, Johansson and Armitstead). You can watch the 2015 event here, which can give you an idea of the course that the time triallists are being asked to handle for the last quarter of this stage.

Overall, this one should have lots of potential time to win and lose, and should mean that we have a delicately poised GC ahead of the run for home.

This one should cause

 

[Stromeon]

Giro di Stromeon Stage 17: Sondrio - Colli di San Fermo 160km

Start of the last mountain stage in this long block of mountain stages, after three 5* stages in a row (separated by the rest day) this stage is somewhat easier, although still very difficult. While all the other mountain stages so far have focused on the history of the Giro, I thought it would be a good idea to throw in a stage that looks forward in the end (very much like Semnoz in the Tour 2013, except with a much better-designed stage, hopefully!).

We tackle the famous pass of Aprica from the western side, which is actually quite a serious climb. This means that out of the famous passes of the Giro in the Stelvio region only the Tonale has gone unused in my 100th Giro. We then descend the side we are so accustomed to see being climbed after the Mortirolo, before heading south to tackle the mighty Passo del Vivione. With 18km at 7%, this is a really really tough climb, and given the fact that it is quite easily linkable to other climbs, particularly in the area around Presolana to the south (although one could also include it in a nice stage heading northwards), and its relatively low altitude considering its length and difficulty, meaning that it should stay clear of the weather, it is extremely surprising that this climb has only featured twice before in the Giro: in 1981 (tackled from the other side) and in 2004 in the stage from Bormio to Presolana won by Stefano Garzelli. This is one of the climbs I would like to see a lot more of in the Giro and it fits in with my 'looking to the future' stage of the 100th Giro. The second category Passo della Presolana is tackled on what is otherwise a gentle descent down the valley towards Bergamo.

However, the race doesn't head in that direction, instead we turn east and tackle the short but very steep Colle del Gallo, featured in this stage in the 2009 Giro. At only about 20km from the finish, and with very steep gradients to suit the pure climbers, this could provide a good opportunity for attackers, but the final climb might be too difficult to encourage that. It is not long before we are onto the final climb, the Colli di San Fermo. At 10.5km @ 8.6%, this is the hardest MTF of the race, and most importantly, as can be seen on this profile, the steepest gradients come at the start of the climb: kilometres 2 to 5 average nearly 12%. With plenty of scenic hairpins to accompany the initially vicious but gradually easing gradients, this is an amazing climb, and it is very surprising that it has made just one appearance at the Giro, in 1983 where it was the finish of an unusually short 91km road stage from Bergamo, won by Alberto Fernández. There's a large car park at the top and the road isn't too narrow and is well-surfaced; this is a climb I would like to see more of in the Giro in the future. It should provide some interesting MTF action at the very least.


Sondrio:

Colli di San Fermo:

 

[Pricey_sky]

Is it just me or is there no Brullnux stage from yesterday to score?

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

Is it just me or is there no Brullnux stage from yesterday to score?

Yep, loss of Internet in my area yesterday, and this morning also, then a rugby match took up my afternoon. Will post now

 

[Brullnux]

LA CENTESIMA SONDRIO-COMO 177.8km

My tribute to the race of the falling leaves, Giro di Lombardia, or now named Il Lombardia. The stage resembles the almost yearly excursion to Gap in the Tour, which isn't always a bad stage and sometimes sees some entertainment. The similarities are mainly the fact that the descent off Civiglio is very technical and hard and the two climbs at the end, although Madonna is harder than Cabre and Civiglio shorter than Manse. Also worth mentioning the distance between the two climbs here is less than 30km, in the Tour almost 60km.

Riders will start off in the town of Sondrio, a charming town home to 22,000 people and the birthplace of Giulio Tremonti - finance minister under Berlusca. Although I'm not sure whether this is anything to be proud of. The start of the day, although scenic, is easy. We encounter Morbegno, another small nice town in the Valtellina (famous for bresaola). After 45km we start our long 90km stretch on the Lago di Como.

The Lago di Como is the third largest lake in Italy and arguably the most famous. This is partly due to the amount of famous people and celebs coming here for holidays (George Clooney) since the Roman times. This partly due to its amazing beauty. But obviously this is mostly due to the Giro di Lombardia which has seen most the finishes here since the 1950's, and was the focal point before that too. My favourite story of the race is in 1974 when De Vlaeminck (the forgotten legend IMO) went on an early break, then realised that actually he didn't really fancy it. Eddy Merkcx, wary of the threat posed, ordered his team to chase. They did. Meanwhile, De Vlaeminck had hid in a bush for a couple of minutes and rejoined the back of the peleton when they reached. He kept quiet for a bit, before casually riding up to a baffled Eddy and asking him who they were chasing. De Vlaeminck won that race .

We reach Como for an intermediate sprint before heading to Bellagio for our first test of the day, other than falling into the lake in awe of the surroundings. Madonna del Ghisallo is one of the most famous climbs in the world, used in almost all of the GdLs in the past, it is not the difficultly but the history of this climb that resonates. The cycling museum at the top is amazing. 'Nuff said. After a short descent we stay on the hills over teh ;ake and head to the bottom the short Civiglio climb. This is the easier side and we hope for some breakaway action (probably already seen some on the Ghisallo) and maybe some GC action, a good descender can get 20 or so seconds here on the descent. a very technical and difficult descent before our finish in como.

 

[Eshnar]

we are a bit late with the votes today... will probably post them tomorrow.
In the meantime, I would like to make an announcement: since in the third week all the technical ratings are worth double, that goes also for the final technical evaluation of the route. Thus, the final vote will be worth 6 times a normal vote. So those with a weak third week shouldn't worry too much.

 

[Gigs_98]

we are a bit late with the votes today... will probably post them tomorrow.
In the meantime, I would like to make an announcement: since in the third week all the technical ratings are worth double, that goes also for the final technical evaluation of the route. Thus, the final vote will be worth 6 times a normal vote. So those with a weak third week shouldn't worry too much.

Thats overkill. Its probably good for me because my 3rd week is rather difficult, but worth 6 times seems to be too much. I mean some people made a very difficult 2nd week but a rather easy 3rd one on purpose, so riders have to do long range attacks.

 

[Eshnar]

we are a bit late with the votes today... will probably post them tomorrow.
In the meantime, I would like to make an announcement: since in the third week all the technical ratings are worth double, that goes also for the final technical evaluation of the route. Thus, the final vote will be worth 6 times a normal vote. So those with a weak third week shouldn't worry too much.

Thats overkill. Its probably good for me because my 3rd week is rather difficult, but worth 6 times seems to be too much. I mean some people made a very difficult 2nd week but a rather easy 3rd one on purpose, so riders have to do long range attacks.

the final evaluation stands for the whole route, not just the third week.

 

[barmaher]

Giro di Barmaher

Stage 18 Tortona to Sanremo 244km



Apologies for the short post; I am laid up with a neck injury and in a lot of pain!

Another day, another Italian region and another homage to an Italian one-day classic. Seems like I am far from unique in selecting this stage, so I won’t win any prizes for originality. Maybe I should have placed this stage as the last day, but I don’t think any riders would thank me for such a long stage on the 21st stage.



As it is, this stage is the last half chance for sprinters. But as you can see, the inclusion of the Pomeiana, as well as the other climbs of the Milan San Remo race make this a difficult test for fast men.
I would expect a breakaway group to take this stage. But just in case teams with riders like Degenkolb and Sagan keep it together, there is the potential for GC excitement. As well as the time bonuses available at the line (on Via Roma), there is a TV sprint on top of the Poggio.

Some of the climbs (capi in particular) are a bit overdone on the map. I am using the MSR route, so those ascents are exaggerated. Sorry, but I don't have the stomach to redo the profile

Person of the Stage
Here we honour another pope, born on the Ligurian seaboard. Pope Sixtus IV was the pope that oversaw the building of the Sistine Chapel, introduced the Papal Archives. He is also a pope that brought the Spanish Inquisition and nepotism to a new level. He was instrumental in the Pazzi conspiracy, which was an attempt to overthrow the de Medici dynasty.

A pretty busy papacy!

Munch for the Bunch
Sardenaira is a pizza dish from the Liguria region of Italy. It is very similar to the pissaladière of Provence, France. Although termed a pizza, some consider it more akin to a focaccia.

In the city of Sanremo in western Liguria, it is often garnished with salted sardines.

It is also known as sardinaira or pizza all'Andrea, after admiral Andrea Doria (1466-1560), whose favorite food was the dish: a slice of bread with olive oil, garlic, and salted anchovy.

The dish predates the better-known Neapolitan pizza. Since the dish was created before the Columbian Exchange, traditionalists do not add tomatoes.

 

[Gigs_98]

we are a bit late with the votes today... will probably post them tomorrow.
In the meantime, I would like to make an announcement: since in the third week all the technical ratings are worth double, that goes also for the final technical evaluation of the route. Thus, the final vote will be worth 6 times a normal vote. So those with a weak third week shouldn't worry too much.

Thats overkill. Its probably good for me because my 3rd week is rather difficult, but worth 6 times seems to be too much. I mean some people made a very difficult 2nd week but a rather easy 3rd one on purpose, so riders have to do long range attacks.

the final evaluation stands for the whole route, not just the third week.

Oh, didnt know that. In that case its good.

 

[Gigs_98]

100th GIRO D'ITALIA stage 18: Torino - Como (235 km)

Although I wrote that my last week is difficult, IMO you have to give the sprinters one last chance. Well, that maybe doesn't count if your name is Zomegnan but in my case I tried to make a fair route. However a simple flat stage in the last week would be lame so I decided to make a tribute to the race of the falling leaves, il lombardia (And I think I'm only the 6th or 7th person who does this ). The problem with this goal is that "il lombardia" is a medium mountain stage and the most famous climbs are probably too difficult to be included in a flat stage. Of course the most obvious choice for a flat lombardia tribute is san fermo della battaglia, because this bump which decided the classic more than once is near enough to the finish to cause action, but not difficult enough destroy any chances for a bunch sprint.

The bigger problem is to find another climb you can put before it, and which has a cycling history. Civiglio would have been another obvious choice but that would mean two climbs directly after each other, so probably too difficult for a bunch sprint. So I decided to use Madonna Ghisallo, but instead of the difficult northern ascent I use the flat south side.

Directly after S. Fermo della Battaglia the riders finish in Como, one of the finishing towns for "il lombardia" and IMO it's by far the best one. Como is located on the Lago di Como, an absolutely beautiful lake. The city itself is also very scenic:

Before these climbs there almost 180 flat kilometers with two intermediate sprints in Vercelli and in Novara. The stage starts in Torino, probably the city which will host the finish of the giro 2016. Generally Torino is very famous, not only for cycling. 2006 it hosted my favorite sporting event ever, the olympic winter games (the year the Austrians kicked everyone's asses )

Torino:

As you already might know, I don't like sprint stages which make it too easy for the sprinters. I prefer the stages which force other teams to attack so you can see an interesting fight for the stage instead of boring sprint trains. SFdB should be perfect for that purpose. It isnt very steep, it's pretty short and there are still about 2 flat kilometers after the descent, so we don't get a super fast descent sprint. Btw, this sprint should be too difficult for the likes of Kittel and Cav, while it favors Sagan and Degenkolb. That means, sprinters whose chances get destroyed by every little bump, probably have already abandoned. (Although such sprinters probably wouldnt even start in this race...thank god) The gc contenders wont do something today, because they will rest a bit before the climbing starts again, on stage 19.

 

[Billie]

Giro d'Italia - Stage 18: San Remo - Borgo San Dalmazzo (206 km)

For the first time my Giro will leave Italy to visit it's neighbour France. We follow the Cote d'Azur into France before heading back to Italy through the mountains.

After the start in San Remo we'll follow the coast until city-state Monaco where we'll tackle the first climb of the day. La Turbie (7.4 km @ 5.7%) is a climb well known from the traditional last stage of Paris-Nice (when there is not a MTT on Col d'Eze). From the top there is a beatiful panoramic view over the principality.

Next two climbs are the Col de Turini (26.6 km @ 4.7%) and the Col de Brouis (11.7 km @ 4.5%). Neither is incredibly hard but I mainly wanted them in the route cause of the awesome roads on the Turini, made famous by the Rallye Monte-Carlo held every year.

Then starts the finale. The Col de Tende (29 km @ 3.4%) takes us back from France to Italy and we're not doing that through the tunnel. Instead will tackle the pass. The numbers don't look impressive but it are the last 10 kms that matter and those are at almost 8 percent. And that's not everything. There is an incredible amount of hairpins (one ever 150 metres). To make it even harder the 5 last kms are Sterrato. It should be an onslaught and hopefully the whole race will be split up when we reach the fort at the top where the Giro has already has stage finishes previously after climbing from the Italian side.

From the top of the Col de Tende we'll start descending towards Borgo San Dalmazzo but right before entering the finsih-city we'll take a 15 km detour over the Colletto del Moro (3.6 km @ 7.2%), a short and steep climb with a great name. It's main difficutly might not even be the uphill but the descending down the much steeper backside which has percentages of over 20%.

The finish in Borgo San Dalmazzo is less than 10 kms from the top of the final climb. But hopefully the real racing has started much earlier on the beatiful ramps of the Col de Tende.

 

[Stromeon]

Giro di Stromeon Stage 18: Bergamo - Genoa 212km

After five days in the mountains, albeit separated by a rest day, it's time to give the sprinters a chance. With this stage almost certain to end in a sprint, and the final stage as well, I wanted to offer a carrot to the sprinters to suffer through the Dolomiti marathon, and also to give the climbers a well-deserved rest after a week of tough racing.

Not much to say about this stage, other than the start and finish are in two very famous Italian cities. The start is almost right at the foot of the Colli di San Fermo, yesterday's finishing point, in the historic city of Bergamo, famous for its walled Città alta and beautiful architecture. Although, shamefully, I haven't managed to be able to fit in a proper Lombardia tribute stage like most others have, the inclusion of the Colle del Gallo yesterday and the start in Bergamo today are at least a couple of nods to the race's history.

The main point of interest on the route today is the large town of Pavia, famous for the Battle of Pavia in 1525, where the Spanish Habsburgs under Charles V decisively defeated the French under Francis I, capturing him in the process, cementing Spanish Habsburg control and ending French ambitions in Italy. After passing through Pavia, the road rises up ever so gradually to the uncategorised Passo dei Giovi, before it drops down much more sharply to the Ligurian coast, and the run-in to the finish in Genoa. Genoa is also quite a beautiful city, although somewhat ruined by the large industrial port, but it has great history in the Giro, being one of the cities on the original 1909 route, and featuring many more times afterwards. This stage won't be popular with the judges, I know, but after five mountain stages of varying description it is essential for the race balance to have a flat stage where the riders can take it easy; I want to keep the route realistic.

Bergamo:

Genoa:

 

[Eshnar]

Sorry for the delay...

Judge 1:
Brullnux T:2/5 C:4/5
Barmaher T:2:5 C:5/5
Gigs98 T:4/5 C:2/5
Billie T:3/5 C:3/5
Finn84 T:5/5 C:3/5
Libertine T:3:5 C:4/5
Stromeon T:4/5 C:2/5

Judge 2:
Brullnux T: 3/5 C: 5/5 (A very nice Lombardia tribute stage)
Barmaher T: 2/5 C: 4/5
Gigs_98 T: 5/5 C: 3/5 (Awesome, Moncenisio before Finestre is just a perfect combination)
Billie T: 2/5 C: 2/5 (Sorry for the low cultural rating, every stage deserved a high cultural rating)
Finn84 T: 4/5 C: 4/5 (A great MTF on an iconic climb)
Libertine: T: 4/5 C: 3/5
Stromeon T: 3/5 C: 2/5

Judge 3:
Brullnux T: 2/5 C: 3/5
Barmaher T: 2/5 C: 2/5
Gigs_98 T: 5/5 C: 3/5 (great stage)
Billie T: 3/5 C: 4/5
Finn84 T: 4/5 C: 4/5
Libertine: T: 4/5 C: 5/5 (great idea, celebrating two iconic Giro champions)
Stromeon T: 3/5 C: 2/5

GC after stage 17:
Libertine 436
Barmaher 433
Gigs 432
Stromeon 429
Brullnux 411
Billie 376
Finn 316

 

[Finn84]

Stage 18, Merano - Arabba, 169 km

The stages in the Alps continue with a one not ending on the top of the climb. Passo Pordoi, the final climb of the day, is one of the traditional climbs in Giro anyway. Both the start and finish towns have been on the route. For example in 2008 Arabba hosted a stage start.

After two finishes on the top, this stage may offer the riders some relief. It's also much shorter stage than two previous ones.

18.2/6.6%

The route joins this climb between Cavareno and Ronzone

No profile for third but it's 16.9/6.3%

25.9/5.6%

12.0/6.5%

 

[Gigs_98]

This is extremely close. If you consider how many points you can get on the last day (135 btw.) you realize how small the gaps at the moment are.

 

[barmaher]

Should we start to trash talk? Will that make it more entertaining?

 

[Eshnar]

Re:

Should we start to trash talk? Will that make it more entertaining?

well, you can

 

[Brullnux]

I feel like the failure of this competition: my PC broke down trying to post my stage and I don't know how to do it on an iPad. Does anyone know how to go onto mis profiles on cronoescalada on an a tablet?

Otherwise no stage until tomorrow this is as disappointing for me as it is for the judges. Actually it is more for you guys. I'm letting down this competition.

 

[52520Andrew]

7 points between the top 4 people, very close

 

[Stromeon]

Sorry to be annoying, but by my maths I have 437 rather than 429 (and I think others are similarly out?); not sure how the discrepancy arises though as its not the difference from not doubling the technical or anything like that.

 

[Eshnar]

Re:

Sorry to be annoying, but by my maths I have 437 rather than 429 (and I think others are similarly out?); not sure how the discrepancy arises though as its not the difference from not doubling the technical or anything like that.

did the discrepancy arise in this last stage only?

 

[Eshnar]

nvm, yes I *** up with the spreadsheet, sorry.
Here's the real gc:

Libertine 447
Gigs 445
Barmaher 441
Stromeon 437
Brullnux 422
Billie 382
Finn 328

i drank too much tonight

 

[Eshnar]

Libertine, where art thou?

 

[Brullnux]

LA CENTESIMA VARESE-OROPA 168km

The 4th and last MTF of this race (not including Aprica) is at Oropa. This the Giro's Pantani tribute, and we face the climb that is home to his most famous exploit.

The start of the day is in the Po floodplain, starting in Varese. Varese is one of the most apt places to start a Giro stage. Many cyclists over the years have lived here, from Bugno to Basso, from Freire to Chiappucci and much more. It has probably the best town hall for a city of its size. As was stated before, the beginning is very flat. It almost resembles a ___/ stage, if not for the Bielmonte climb.

The Bielmonte climb is a very long and irregular climb. Not too hard, though. Not much action is expected here, as the descent down to Biella is very long and flat. Any attacks will likely be brought back.

Finally we head to the climb where Marco Pantani destroyed the field after having a mechanical at the foot of the climb and being 49th on the road, before recovering to 1st. It isn't a very difficult climb and is probably the softest 1st category climb in this Giro, but should still provide a decent amount of action, especially for any powerhouses that have lost time, there are not many places to regain it after today.