Race Design Challenge

[Libertine Seguros]

Re:

Yeah, agreed. One needs a mix. It was very hard to go up toward Puglia in one stage and past Vesuvius and Sorrento in another without going nuts. Those stages got me *** all technical points, but were necessary for the spirit of the route. Not just to encourage sprinyers...but an attack on the previous stage from a GC boy is more likely if the subsequent day is straightforward.

But the Vuelta really takes the biscuit. They really could be more imaginative in how they use their country.

Yes, they really could. I've done about 5 different Vuelta routes, with a set rule that I'm not allowed to repeat myself when it comes to using the same decisive climbs from the same side (but a climb that was not the last in the stage in an earlier edition can be reused) and I have not one but two complete Vueltas in the offing for the RDT, including one that is a pure medium mountain steep-slope festival that would keep Javier Guillén happy, yet has almost zero major MTFs.

 

[Finn84]

Stage 6: Catanzaro - Villa San Giovanni, 191.5 km

Sixth day of Giro will have one major difficulty - a climb up to Lago Rumia. There are few downhill dips between but overall on 26 kilometres the average gradient is 3.6%. Basically it's combination of four shorter climbs.

4.8% over 3.8 km
4.7% over 2.7 km
4.7% over 8.1 km
4.0% over 8.9 km

There is an early small climb in the stage (6.9 km 4.4%) but the points will certainly go for riders in a break. After Lago Rumia, the downhill section means that riders with great descending skills will surely have an eye for this stage, especially as there isn't much flat afterwards.

The finish: Strada Statale 670 -> Via Nazionale -> Viale Italia -> Via Giuseppe Garibaldi -> Lungomare Cenide -> Via Riviera.

The start of the stage is in Catanzaro, the capital of Calabria region. The finish town of Villa San Giovanni has less than 15000 inhabitants but it is important as the link between mainland Italy and Sicily.

 

[barmaher]

Giro di Barmaher

Stage 6 Frosinone to Roma 202km

Those of you who aren’t being bored to tears by my long posts in this competition may remember that two of the design pillars I used in drawing my Giro were to visit every region in mainland Italy, and to pay homage to great Italian classics. With that in mind, we will spend the day in Lazio, our sixth region and Italy’s second most populated region, and we pay homage to the Giro del Lazio, with the same final kilometres most recently seen in Roma Maxima last year.

I picked this route as ideal for a first week in a Grand Tour. Enough climbing to make it interesting. Enough of a run-in to the finish to give sprinters a fighting chance. And it also takes in some interesting parts of this region of Italy. This stage could go to a sprinter, to a select group of quality riders, or to a brave attacker. Enjoy it, lads. Things are about to get a fair bit tougher.



For those unfamiliar with the Roma Maxima, it is a race with some tough climbing south of Rome, before a long descent into the Eternal city. This route will take in the three primary climbs of the most recent Roma Maxima route, which will offer the bunch ample opportunity to burn off the weaker climbers.

The final climb up Campi di Annibale contains two pitches of around 10% near the top, which is where Valverde pounced in 2014 before holding off the pack in a solo finish.

Climbs:
Cat 2 Rocca Massima 726m altitude, 9.7km @ 4.8%
Cat 4 Rocca Priora 709m altitude, 11km @3.6%
Cat 3 Campi di Annibale 698m altitude, 6km @ 5.8%



The riders will roll out of Frosinone, under the shadows of the impressive campanile.

Next up, we take a detour to the beautiful town of Ferentino so we can look at the ancient fortifications and the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore.

The scenery from here remains beautiful. We go through the Parco Regionale dei Castelli Romani, lots of beautiful pics I could put here, but here is the Savelli Castle in Rocca Priora.

Then down past Castel Gandolfo, which is a real weekend retreat destination for rich Romans. Absolute beauty by the shores of Lake Albano.

And what can we say about Rome? We finish near the Colloseum. Bellisimo!

Woman of the Stage

One is spoiled for choice when picking famous Romans. But for me, there was no choice. Ever since I learned about the life and work of Artemisia Gentileschi. Operating in the middle to early 17th century, she was an Italian Baroque painter, who is considered one of the most accomplished painters in her generation. In an era when women painters were not easily accepted by the artistic community or patrons, she was the first woman to become a member of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence. She painted many pictures of strong and suffering women from myth and the Bible, with a penchant for violent subject matter.

Her best-known work is Judith Slaying Holofernes (a well-known medieval and baroque subject in art), which "shows the decapitation of Holofernes, a scene of horrific struggle and blood-letting”. That she was a woman painting in the seventeenth century and that she was raped and participated in prosecuting the rapist, long overshadowed her achievements as an artist. For many years she was regarded as a curiosity. Today she is regarded as one of the most progressive and expressionist painters of her generation.

If you have a few moments to spare, read about her. She is an inspiration. Here is one of her self-portraits.

Munch for the Bunch

Many of the best Roman dishes are variants of food from the heady days of the Empire. And none more so than today’s offering, coda alla vaccinara. Oxtail is parboiled and then simmered with large amounts of celery (there should be 1.5 kilo of celery for every kilo of tail), carrots, and aromatic herbs. Tomatoes and red wine are added, and then the mixture is cooked further with a soffritto of onions, garlic, prosciutto, pancetta and some other ingredients. Theail should be cooked such a long time with more celery, so that meat easily separates from the bones. It is seasoned with cinnamon, nutmeg, and black pepper and garnished with pine nuts. In the words of Giacinto Mazzatella in Down and Dirty:

“Oxtail and celery are like man and woman. It's all well when one sticks to the other."

 

[Gigs_98]

100th GIRO D'ITALIA stage 6: Ascoli Piceno - Chieti (161 km)

After yesterdays first hard mountain stage the race doesn't get easy, but at least easier.
The start is in Ascoli Piceno on the Piazza del Popolo besides the gothic church "San Francesco". Shortly after the start the first and hardest climb starts. The Colle San Giacomo isn't that steep with an average elevation gain of slightly under 6% but its about 17 kilometers long, which makes it pretty hard. The break of the day will be formed on this ascent, but besides that there wont be much action here. The descent gets interrupted by the Civitella del Tronto a short, little bump which is actually too easy to be categorized, but I downloaded the profile before I noticed it and I just was too lazy to change the profile
After the end of the descent and a little flat section, the riders have to face a steady up and down. On the next 60 kilometers there are 4 fourth category climbs, the San Gabriele, Sant Andrea-caporipe, Villa Bozza and Portacaldaia. Moreover there are two other uncategorized climbs, so this section would be extremely hard to control, although there actually isn't one single really difficult climb. Before the intermediate sprint in Cepagatti after 144 km's there is another little bump which leads to a pretty long false descent. After this downhill section the crucial part of the stage starts with a back to back climb up to Chieti. The first ascent up to this famous town ends in the Viale Maiella while the second one leads to the finish line in the Corso Marrucino. This uphill finish was used in the Tirreno Adriatico 2012 and 2013. I think that in 2012 the penultimate climb also was the same as mine, but I am not sure.

The elevation gain goes up to 19% so its a stage for the classical Flèche Wallone riders. Little time gaps between the gc contenders are pretty likely, although they wont be big. Maybe some riders would also attack on the penultimate climb but these riders surely wouldnt be gc guys, because it would be by far too risky to attack from that far out.
Chieti also hosted a stage finish (the 2nd one) in the 1st giro d Italia. This stage was won by Giovanni Cuniolo, a former giro di Lombardia winner.

Ascoli Piceno (Piazza del Popolo):

Chieti:

 

[Eshnar]

Stromeon's stage 6:

Giro di Stromeon Stage 6: Barletta - Termoli 212km

A second sprint stage in a row, it's not going to win plaudits on the technical side from the judges I guess but you'd rather the sprint stages were in week 1 than week 3 don't you?

Today's start town is Barletta, just north-west of Bari, famous for its cathedral and vast Colossus statue. Today we for the most part follow the coast and with some sections in very exposed coastal road there's the possibility of echelons, although the winds are less in the Adriatic than in Zeeland! In the middle stage we make a journey into the Parco Nazionale del Gargano, a little visited area in the Giro but nevertheless beautiful. As much as the 100th Giro is about looking back, it is also about looking forward (better examples of that philosophy to come, though). The Monte Sant'Angelo is a nice and quite tough climb but unfortunately we have to move on so that we can progress up north, where harder and more interesting climbs await. Finish is at the resort of Termoli, with a lovely old town. Not an amazing stage in terms of cycling history, but lots of beautiful scenery and splendid architecture to look at, showcasing the southern East coast.

Barletta:

Termoli:

 

[Billie]

Giro d'Italia - Stage 6: Perugia - Assisi (38 kms)

Me personally I'm a true believer that any GT needs enough individual timetrial kilometres. So after a short prologue this is the first long timetrial at the end of the first week. The start ramp will be in yesterdays finish town Perugia. After a short descent out of the Perugia town centre the riders will have to tackle about 30 kms of completely flat mainly straight roads through Umbria. The big powerhouses will love this part of the TT untill they see the final couple kilometres. That's because the finish will be in Assisi.

The climb through the small streets in Assisi measures 3km700 in length and takes the riders bast the Basilica, over the Piazza del Comune and around la Cattedrale di San Rufino. It averages 5.6% and should mean that him who still has a bit of energy left after going all out on the flat can make a good difference to his competitors.

Assisi is one of the most famous pilgrimages in Italy. It's the home of San Francesco d'Assisi. The patron saint of the pour and the animals.

Assisi is built on a hill top alongside a valley and that means you have an incredible view over the valley from the city.

The city is home to Basilica di San Francesco which is part of unesco's world heritage. Not only does it look beautifull from the outside but a visit inside is also truly worth it.

 

[Gigs_98]

Why not the 2012 finish?

 

[Brullnux]

LA CENTEISIMA STAGE 6: NAPOLI-FROSINONE 182.2km

For the sixth stage of my Giro, we start in Napoli after a short hop from Pompei. Napoli is the most densely populated city in Italy, and also has the best pizza in all of Italy.

The history of Italy's third biggest city dates back to the second millenium BC. Ever since then, it has played a key role in the culture of Italy. First off, it was a major hub of captivity during the Roman period, second only to Rome. After the empire , it became the Duchy of Naples, under Byzantine rule. In the 12th century, power transferred to the Normans. Frederick II of the kingdom of Sicily founded the oldest state University in the world, making Napoli the centre for intellectuals. Soon, Naples ceded from the Kingdom of Sicily and created their own.
Naples was still, however, still under the rule of Aragon. Napoli was now a much sought after location because of it's prime relations with the Iberian peninsula. Artists like Laurana and da Messina arrived in the city as part of the renaissance.

France took Naples in 1501, before being taken back by Spain, using a clever trick of selling blood of leprosy victims as red wine to the French who at the time couldn't resist some good red wine. Naples became the second biggest city in Europe, after Paris. It became the first Italian city with a railway. Napoleon helped overcome the monarchy in Naples, but the people of Napoli soon realised that he was worse, so reinstated the old King, Ferdinand IV.

When it was taken by Garibaldi it became a part of the unified Italy, and the banks were raided of a lot of money for the Italian treasury. Naples was a rich kingdom, although its people were poor.

Nowadays it is plagued by the Camorra, but a very strong football team makes sure it is still heard around Europe.


Back to the stage: Flat, taking in the beautiful in the beautiful Tyrrenhian coast, before turning inwards to Frosinone, over a steep but fairly short climb. It reaches over 11% in places.

Frosinone has been a stage finish 4 times in the past.

Some of the views:

Frosinone

I might lose some points now but as Libertine said, you need to have some sprint stages.

 

[barmaher]

Nice post. I like all today's stages actually.

I am in a quandry. I have the same Chieti finish tomorrow. I really like it, but I am tempted to tinker.

 

[Billie]

Why not the 2012 finish?

It's just a bit longer this way.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Nice post. I like all today's stages actually.

I am in a quandry. I have the same Chieti finish tomorrow. I really like it, but I am tempted to tinker.

Please don't. The judges wont rate your stage lower than mine only because my chieti stage came one day earlier. I really don't want to be the reason which makes you change your route

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Stage 6: Frascati - Napoli, 229km

We're now transitioning southwards away from Rome, starting in the city which is perhaps best known to cycling fans for hosting the 1955 Road World Championships; these were won by the then-35 year old Stan Ockers, just over a year before his sudden and untimely death. The Italians did the 1-2-3 in the Amateur race, although only 3rd-placed Dino Bruni went on to have a career of any real prominence, winning stages of the Giro and Tour in the early 60s. It's also quite a dramatically-located city, carved into scenic hillside.

While a number of us are ploughing a similar furrow at the moment, travelling through the same parts of the country, it seems that I am heading in the opposite direction to most as well, as we head rather than through Roma Maxima/Giro del Lazio territory, away from it, southwards. The first half of the stage should be fast, being mostly slightly downhill grind only broken up by a couple of uphill digs, such as that at the first intermediate sprint in Frosinone.

The second half of the stage is where all the challenge lies, however. The Giro has always had a couple of these mostly-flat-with-a-couple-of-banana-skin-ramps stages; take, for example, this stage from 2013, or this one in the same race, this one from 2010, or yet another 2013 one. There are lots of them all over the place (not just in 2013, but they were particularly prominent as a stage format that year). I have followed this with two climbs in the late running in my stage, however once the riders get past the halfway stage, they turn to the coast; most of the last 100km of the route are along the Tyrrhenian coast, and if the wind comes, this could be a really tricky stage, because keeping the bunch in one piece will be really difficult.

Turning back inland with about 40km to go, the riders saunter uphill through the suburbs of Napoli before the main climb of the day (and the only categorized one: remember, Giro stinginess), around 4km at 5% (though the first 2,5km is at close to 7% before a flattening out) towards the hilltop frazione of Guantai. The riders then descend through the northern part of Naples to Stadio San Paolo. I won't go through the history of Napoli to you, for Brullnux has gone into great depth on that above; rest assured though that the city has great Giro history to go with its great Italian cultural history. It was one of the original stage hosts from 1909 (hence its being part of the course) and most recently of course hosted the start of the 2013 edition mentioned earlier.

That 2013 stage was a bitter disappointment; the initial road stage planned was this:

Note the loop around the shortish but challenging Posilippo climb. What we eventually got was something like this:

Four times up a gradual climb, then several flat circuits. No fun.

The original stage design somewhat resembles the closing kilometres of my stage today; from Bagnoli to Posilippo the climb is the same. However after that we climb above Posilippo to effectively do the end of the climb from the actual stage - backwards. The overall result is around 3,5km at 4,5%, with a punchy first half, then a brief dip, then a second ramp before it eases off and crests 8km from the line. There's then a tricky Sanremo-styled descent with six switchbacks before a final 3,5km along the seafront passing classic Italian cityscapes (we'll be going in the opposite direction to the péloton here).

The final few hundred metres head back inland to finish at the iconic Piazza del Plebiscito where what will either be a sprint (possibly a fairly selective one with a bunch of around 50-60, maybe even less if the racing is hard and fast and the wind blows) or a small solo attack or chase group holding on from the last climb, will arrive in Napoli's jawdropping square, which is where we began it all in 2013 to savour the applause. The city of Napoli has put a lot of effort into rebuilding and renovating itself, and the opening stage looked beautiful then, even if due to some shoddy stage design the city didn't get to show it from a racing perspective. Never fear though, there is much more that is possible with the city than they showed...

 

[Red Rick]

I've got to say, I really like the routes so far. Really looking forward to see the rest

 

[Eshnar]

Judge 1:
Brullnux T: 2/5 C: 4/5 (Lovely location)
Barmaher T: 3/5 C: 3/5 (solid stage)
Gigs98. T: 5/5 C: 4/5 (Great hilly stage)
Billie T: 4/5 C: 5/5 ( nice ITT with hilly final)
Finn84 T: 4:5 C: 2/3 (Could be action with descent finish)
Libertine: T: 3/5 C: 2/5 (like the hills at the finish)
Stromeon T: 2/5 C: 3/5 (sprint but a nice location)

Judge 2:
Brullnux T: 2/5 C: 2/5
Barmaher T: 3/5 C: 5/5 (I really like the Giro del Lazio/Roma Maxima)
Billie T: 5/5 C: 3/5 (Very good, the ITT should create some gaps already in the first week)
Gigs_98 T: 4/5 C: 3/5 (A nice uphill sprint)
Finn84 T: 2/5 C: 4/5 (Would probably deserve a 3, but I liek other stages more)
Libertine: T: 4/5 C: 4/5 (Could be great to watch)
Stromeon T: 3/5 C: 2/5 (A sprint stage with potential crosswinds is always good)

Judge 3:
Brullnux T: 2/5 C: 3/5
Barmaher T: 3/5 C: 4/5
Gigs98. T: 4/5 C: 3/5 (The Chieti finish is always nice)
Billie T: 4/5 C: 5/5 ( the ITT could have been a little longer)
Finn84 T: 2:5 C: 2/3 (Descent finishes are cool, but only when they follow a demanding climb)
Libertine: T: 3/5 C: 4/5
Stromeon T: 1/5 C: 2/5

We have a new leader!

Gigs 123
Libertine 121
Barmaher 119
Stromeon 113
Billie 112
Brullnux 106
Finn 91

Remember that stage 7 will bring also the first global vote for the first week, which will be worth triple, so it will probably transform the classification significantly

 

[Gigs_98]

Will we get points for the stage and then points for the first week, or do we only get one single rating which includes the points for the stage and the first week?
Oh, and what does "worth triple" mean? Can we get any points from 1-15 or can we only get 3, 6, 9, 12 or 15 points?

 

[Eshnar]

Will we get points for the stage and then points for the first week, or do we only get one single rating which includes the points for the stage and the first week?
Oh, and what does "worth triple" mean? Can we get any points from 1-15 or can we only get 3, 6, 9, 12 or 15 points?

you'll get the normal points for stage 7 AND the points for the whole week. The judges will give as usual points from 1 to 5, only those will be multiplied by 3 and then added to the total.

 

[barmaher]

This is seven hours early, but given the judges have voted, I am going to risk the judge's wrath by prematurely entering my next stage.

Giro di Barmaher

Stage 7 Tivoli to Chieti 214km

So the Giro di Barmaher is going to get a little bit tougher now. I kind of hope that the Degenkolbs and the Cavendishes of this world have had a little bit of fun in the first six stages. Because chances for them to win from now on are going to be few and far between.

Today’s stage will see riders ride through Lazio into the region of Abruzzo. This territory is well known to cycling fans, and it is possible to have flat, medium mountain and even high-mountain stages here. I have decided to have a puncheur finish, with the well-known run into Chieti seen in Tirreno-Adriatico in 2013. But after a tough climb of the Passo Lanciano (Category 1) to soften the legs, I don’t expect a big group to contest the finale. This stage could go any number of different ways. The riders will make the race. If this route doesn’t give fun, don’t blame Barmaher!



Riders will once again visit a UNECSO world heritage site, with Villa Adriana in Tivoli the location of today’s start. Hadrian is one of the more famous Italian emperors. And besides building the Pantheon, the Temple of Venus and Roma and Hadrian’s Wall (well he didn’t really build them, just got slaves to do it!) he was also an interesting emperor in that he travelled widely across the empire, and seems to have been one of the less nutty leaders. As he got older, he settled near Rome (more than half his reign was spent outside Italy), but preferred this retreat to the capital of his empire. One can see why!

Riders will take in some rolling terrain for the first half of the race. We will see a breakaway develop most likely; I would expect some riders with climbing talent to try to get in the break. As you can see from the profile below, a good climber will have a chance of holding off the peloton from a breakaway, if they are given some leeway.



Climbs
Cat 1 Passo Lanciano altitude 1306m (16.5km @ 7.3%)
Cat 4 Chieti Pietragross altitude 297m (2.9km @ 7.7%) ignore the overall stage profile, just use the end, as I found it hard to plot the correct route. We are using the exact same finale as was used in Stage 5 of the 2012 Tirreno-Adriatico

The first major climb of the day is the Passo Lanciano. This climb has been used a good few times in the Tirreno Adriatico, and also in the 2006 Giro d’Italia. It is a classic col, with 1200m of vertical gain, and most of the last 12km at over 12%.

Riders will then desend down to Sant’Eufemia and take the classic route into Chieti.

I will award the KOM points where the “TV” sign is on the profile. The winner will need to be an all-rounder.

Chieti is an ancient and scenic city. According to legend, it was founded by Achilles, who named it in honour of his mother. It is a renowned university city now, tens of thousands of youngster living here. The Giro will be here near the end of term, so some of the younger, more adventurous cyclists may choose to roll the dice if they are looking for companionship. But don’t go wild, lads! A busy weekend awaits.

Man of the Stage
Chieti is the birthplace of the celebrated/revered anarchist, Severino Di Giovanni, who was a major figure in Argentina in the period between the two World Wars. A prominent anti-fascist around the Abruzzo region in the early 20’s, Di Giovanni emigrated to Argentina when Mussonlini came to power. Here he engaged himself, first in anti-fascist activity, then stimulated by the murder of Sacco & Vanzetti he began to "light the fuse on the dynamite of vengeance". From May 1926 to his death by firing squad on February 1st 1931 he carried on a campaign of bombings and anarchist propaganda, funded at the end by bank robberies.

He married his cousin, then left his wife and kids to have an affair with a 15yo. The police attempted to arrest him at a printing shop, but Di Giovanni managed to escape during a gun battle in which one policeman was killed and another injured. In January 1931, Di Giovanni was arrested after being seriously injured in yet another gun battle. He was executed by firing squad by order of the junta.

Munch for the Bunch

Cheese time again. Abruzzo is very famous for its cheeses. This is made from sheep’s milk, and is absolutely beautiful in cooking. But the riders will be given this with a few crackers, and a choice of mineral water or wine.

 

[Finn84]

Stage 7, Messina - Etna (Rifugio Sapienza), 223 km

Over the Strait of Messina and we are in Sicily for the 7th day of competition. The boat takes less than half an hour there's no need for rest day yet.

Giro d'Italia will honor its 100th edition by visiting many hometowns of Italian cyclists. These places will have either stage start, finish or intermediate sprint.

First such place is a hometown of active rider, Vincenzo Nibali. As a one of six riders who have own all three Grand Tours, he deserves it. In addition, organizers are hoping that this will persuade him competing in Giro.

Etna was part of the route in 2011 but this stage is longer and has other climb on the route. It's called Portella Mandrazzi, it's 30.6 kilometres and 3.6%. The climb gets steeper towards the end so it's likely that gruppetto may form at this climb already.

Rifugio Sapienza is much more difficult with 28.8 kilometres and 4.8%, including a section which has 7.3% over five kilometres.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Stage 7: Caserta - Chieti, 198km

The final day of the first week, before the upcoming tough weekend stages, is a mid-length intermediate stage heading back northwards to our next original Giro host, Chieti (much like Barmaher, I have gone for the 2013 Tirreno-Adriatico climb, but from what they were saying in their post their stage profile shows the 2012 one with the more gradual penultimate climb; I have been a bit more fortunate in finding where the 2013 ascent is and have been able to include it in my profile. Like Barmaher, I acknowledge that Chieti is one of many great hilly cities in this part of the country, but due to its Giro history as an original host this is simply a must even if comparatively predictable given I'm now the 3rd person to put a stage here), via a large slice of Giro history.

Starting just north of Napoli to keep the stage within the acceptable criteria (the 1909 stage from Chieti to Napoli was 243km and was won by Giovanni Rossignoli, who eventually finished 3rd. It allowed Carlo Galetti to take the lead off of Luigi Ganna, though Ganna would win it back the next day and retain the lead to Milano), the first part of the stage is rolling before we pay tribute to the 1909 route a bit. The course was the first stage classified as a mountain stage in the history of the Giro, and included three notable ascents in its parcours; all three are featured in the middle of the stage. First, the uncategorized Valico di Macerone from its easier, southern side, then the classic two-stepped ascent of the Rionero Sannitico, a historic climb seen in 2008 as part of the superb medium mountain Pescocostanzo stage and in 2010 in the now-legendary L'Aquila raid, before a fairly straightforward ascent to Roccaraso, a beautifully scenic mountaintop town that is rumoured to host the Giro next year.

Roccaraso also has plenty of Giro pedigree, including as a mountaintop finish. It has featured six times as a mountaintop finish, only six places have seen more Giri MTFs than that; the first stage was in 1952 and the last in 1987; winners here include Fausto Coppi (1953), Bernard Hinault (1980) and, at present the last victor here, Moreno Argentin (1987). Were we at a more decisive part of the stage I may have omitted the climb and replaced it with the tougher neighbour Pietransieri like in 2008, however with the climb unlikely to be decisive in the stage I elected to stay with the classic 1909 climb.

When planning the stage, much like Barmaher I had the Passo Lanciano in mind, but decided against it for the primary reason that I had a tough weekend coming up and that from the climbing direction I had coming, a hilly stage would be better. Therefore there now follows a long gradual downhill section along the bottom foothills of the range Lanciano and Blockhaus are part of, before a tricky run-in that, after the history of the early stage, now reflects the more modern era of cycling. First of three tricky hills in the late parts of the stage is the hellish, short but brutal ascent of the steepest road in Italy, the savage Muro di Guardiagrele.

This monster averages out at about 2,2km @ 9,9% when the first 1,6km at 5,5% are incorporated into it, which tells you all you need to know about the insane savagery of the last 600m. I actually have about 4 or 5 km at 5% to add before it due to the different direction I approach from, but that only serves to hide away the brutal section in the stats (a bit like climbing the Colma di Sormano via the Muro di Sormano, the stats for the whole climb really only tell part of the story!). Only raced once to date, in Tirreno-Adriatico in 2014, its slopes gave us some entertaining action following the imposition of Contador on Passo Lanciano. Coming with 33km remaining, I can see some tertiary contenders moving here and a lot of domestiques having to work very hard to stay in contact or get back in the ensuing descent. Also incentivising attacking here are the two TV sprints, which follow in rapid succession and will of course have bonus seconds available. The second of these comes at the top of the second of the three (four) ascents in the closing stages, the Colla Casoni ascent which is about 3km at 5,7%, relatively consistent but slightly flattening out near the top. It's 16km out and its main function is to consolidate any selectivity after Guardiagrele by making it harder to chase back on before the finale in Chieti, which as previously described is the same as the 2013 Tirreno-Adriatico version, which is my favourite of the versions with the Via Salomone (my favourite remains the 2010 version but as that was climbing from the opposite side of town I couldn't make it work within the context of the stage):

The main contenders, in view of what is to come, I suspect will want to leave their primary efforts until the Pietragrossa climb in the run-in, but the secondary and tertiary contenders along with stage hunters will hopefully make this a hard race from Guardiagrele onwards, and with hopefully a great deal of domestiques burned off by then owing to the brutal ramps after they already have a trifecta of historic climbs in their legs, we could see some pretty reduced bunches around here.

 

[Gigs_98]

100th GIRO D ITALIA stage 7: Francavilla al Mare - Lanciano (50 km ITT)

Individual time trials are always one of the biggest highlights of a grand tour and for good reason. These stages are the reason why the best climber isn't always the best rider for a gt and it often causes the time gaps which cause good racing in the mountains. In this case the TT is a very hard one, especially for a time trial in the first week. The stage starts in Francavilla al Mare and believe it or not, its located at the sea. The first few kilometers are along the coast, so they are completely flat. After about 10 kilometers there is a little bump, followed by the first split time in Ortona. From there on the route goes very very slightly uphill for about 20 kilometers, before the riders arrive in Orsogna were the second split time will be. The interesting thing about this part is that although it isn't steep enough to cause a good chance for climbers to get time it makes the TT even harder. The second split time is followed by a descent which isn't really technical but with a TT bike with the high speed the riders reach every little corner becomes a test of bike handling skills. After the descent the route goes uphill again, up to the little village Spacarelli. Here there are some sections of about 7% so the profile gets a little bit more difficult. The same counts for the final climb which leads almost directly to the finish line in Lanciano.
Lanciano was already established before Christ so the city is very old. The city is famous for an incident in the 8th century, called the miracle of Lanciano. In this miracle the wine and bread of a mass transformed into real blood and real flesh. I think that is about as true as the story around the holy grail but hey, I guess there are some people who visit a city because of such an incident.

Francavilla al Mare:

Lanciano:

 

[Gigs_98]

Btw, maybe some of you guys wonder why my uphill finish in Chieti looks so different than the finishes of Libertine and Barmaher. Thats because the last kilometer of my stage was deleted by Cronoescalada, so you can't see the flat 1 kilometer section which comes after at the end of the climb. I just didn't know that so many other people are using this uphill finish so I thought nobody would notice, and I also posted the good profile of the last climb from the 2012 Tirreno-Adriatico, so I think all of you knew that there would be this flatter section at the end.

 

[Eshnar]

Stromeon's stage 7...

Giro di Stromeon Stage 7: Trivento - Guardiagrele 229km

So far, we've had a nice mix of stages - a short time-trial to open, a couple of intermediate stages, a hilly stage to Amalfi that could bring the GC men out, and a couple of sprint stages. Nothing's been too challenging. Until today. Parts of today's stage will look familiar, as, after wandering blissfully around South Italy with all this cultural scenic stuff, we are here to remember two (well three, actually) classic stages in recent times. The first is that hilly stage from the Giro 2008 finishing at Pescocostanzo, we casually plagiarise the serious end of that stage profile, the climb to Rionero Sannitico (the first cat.1 climb of the Giro di Stromeon) and up to Pietransieri. This also will no doubt remind the viewer of the Giro 2010 L'Aquila stage (although I think they climbed up to Roccaraso from a different side in that stage). This is certainly a challenging stage as we are not yet at the halfway point!

The next climb on the agenda is the Passo San Leonardo, which is very long, but quite gradual. Nevertheless it should serve to soften up the riders, who will be no doubt pretty tired before they reach the base of the important climb of the day. Now for the end of the stage we're taking inspiration from the Tirreno - Adriatico stage of 2014 where Contador put in that attack that destroyed the field, but because this is the Giro, not Tirreno - Adriatico, we're making it harder

Instead of tackling the Passo Lanciano, we tackle the Passo della Maielletta, topping out some 344m above Lanciano (iirc this was where they actually finished on the 2009 Blockhaus stage, but coming from the other side). The road up is quite narrow, but the pack will be thinned out quite a bit by this point and as far as I can make out it's not significantly narrower than Lanciano. I can't actually find a profile for this side of the climb, so I'll just go with what Cronoescalada tells me - 13km at almost 9% is certainly very tough indeed. After waiting in the wings for a few stages the GC guys will come out to play on the slopes of this huge climb, and gaps are likely to be maintained as we speed down a very long (about 20km) and very steep descent before we finish in Guardiagrele after the Muro as seen last year. Averaging 22% over its 600m or so (plus a bit more climbing beforehand) means we will see a separation of the riders who weren't bold enough to attack on the Maielletta, and also a chance for a final roll of the die to make time.

I initally planned to finish in Chieti, as that would have been better from a historical perspective, but Guardiagrele just links up better with Maielletta/Lanciano and that won me over in the end Plus we should see this hellish Muro in the Giro at some point, so why isn't the 100th Giro a good opportunity to showcase it?

Trivento:

Guardiagrele:

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Question - would it not make more sense to have the "week review" multiple points after stages 9 and 15, where the rest days likely would be? From a pacing point of view, I could have made stage 7 harder, but elected to go with a more intermediate stage specifically because of stages 8 and 9. Obviously this IS the end of the first week, and it would be countered somewhat by the overall points once we get into week 3, but the shape of the weekend stages will have a major impact on the shape of the preceding stages.

In other news, Stromeon's stage looks a lot like mine on steroids!!!

 

[Eshnar]

I'd rather go with 7,14, 21 because there's no guarantee that everyone elected two Mondays as rest days. Ofc the judges will take into account that stages 8 and 9 are on the weekend and thus likely to be charged, so that stage 6 and 7 can't be expected to be a big deal.

 

[Gigs_98]

Its quite funny that at the moment 4 routes are almost at the same place. I will use some climbs which were used in the stages of today too, on stage 8 and 9.
Edit: and its possible that brullnux will go there too today but I rather expect he will go northwards in the direction of Roma