Race Design Thread

[Libertine Seguros]

The grand concept of this thread is that we all have our ideas of what kind of race we want to see, or places we wish races would go, or races we wish existed. So here's the chance for us to post up these ideas.

I will keep this original post as a library of the thread so that if it takes off and some people are posting a group of stages and other people are posting another one at the same time, preventing the natural flow of each race being fully clear, you can look at the first post and see a link to each individual race and/or its constituent parts.

Here are a few tools to help you on your way, should you wish to contribute:
http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com
http://www.gpsies.com
http://www.mapmyride.com
http://www.openrunner.com
http://www.ridewithgps.com
http://www.tracks4bikers.com

Some of these races also come with PCM versions for the game-minded of you. Progsprach has been diligently compiling these into a PCM library post, which you can view here.

Fictional One-Day Races
Library

Fictional Stage Races (Germany)
Library

Fictional Stage Races (Austria, Switzerland & Benelux)
Library

Fictional Stage Races (UK, Ireland & Scandinavia)
Library

Fictional Stage Races (France, Spain, Portugal & Italy)
Library

Fictional Stage Races (Eastern Europe)
Library

Fictional Stage Races (Balkans, Greece & Cyprus)
Library

Fictional Stage Races (The Americas)
Library

Fictional Stage Races (Middle East)
Library

Fictional Stage Races (Asia)
Library

Fictional Stage Races (Australasia)
Library

Fictional Stage Races (Africa)
Library

Fantasy versions of Classics, Worlds and Olympic races
Library

Fantasy Stages for existing races
Library

Fantasy Giri d'Italia
Library (users A-I)
Library (users J-Q)
Library (users R-Z)
Eshnar's all-mountain Giri

Fantasy Tours de France
Library (users A-G)
Library (users H-N)
Library (users O-R)
Library (users S-Z)

Fantasy Vueltas a España
Library (users A-K)
Library (users L-Z)

Fantasy versions of other World Tour Stage Races
Library

Fantasy versions of other Europe Tour Stage Races (Scandinavia, Britain, Low Countries, Germany, Austria)
Library

Fantasy versions of other Europe Tour Stage Races (France, Spain, Portugal, Italy)
Library

Fantasy versions of other Europe Tour Stage Races (Central & Eastern Europe)
Library

Fantasy versions of other Continental Tour Stage Races
Library

 

[El Pistolero]

Stage race in Belgium/French-Flanders.

- A stage with some cobbled sectors from Roubaix in the final
- A stage with some of the Flemish hills of the Ronde near the final
-A hilly stage with the hills of the Ardennes classics
- A short time trial with loops around the Muur van Geraardsbergen
-A flat stage near the coast of Belgium

 

[Libertine Seguros]

First up, I offer to you my first fictional event, the Tour du Pays-Basque Français (or Iparraldeko Itzulia if you'd prefer).

This is a four-stage race around the three Basque provinces of Labourd (Lapurdi), Basse-Navarre (Nafarroa Beherea) and Soule (Zuberoa), to take the slot of the old Euskal Bizikleta. It would likely attract most of the French and Spanish teams since most of the Spanish teams are from nearby.

We will kick things off with an Individual Time Trial around the small town of Ustaritz, the capital of Labourd until the French revolution, and still an important historic town for the French Basques.

Stage 1: Ustaritz-Ustaritz (ITT), 12,0km

This stage starts and finishes just outside the Lota Jauregia and heads out to the village of Jatxou before turning north, before looping around some smaller roads on a small and not-especially-strenuous climb, then heading back to Ustaritz to finish.

Lota Jauregia:

Ustaritz:

12km against the clock is seemingly quite long for a four-stage race and as a first stage, but there's plenty of opportunity yet to come for those who aren't so strong against the clock to claw that time back.

 

[krebs303]

A stage for the Tour of California but maybe better suited to a one day. It's tough. Starts 286 feet ( 87.17 meters) below sea level.

The ride is 136 miles (219 km) long and has an actual elevation gain of 15,800 feet (4,800 m), one of the longest and most sustained elevation differences in American cycling. There are three major hills...Townes Pass, climbing up from Stovepipe Wells; Hillcrest, climbing from Panamint Springs; and the Whitney Portal Road, which leaves the town of Lone Pine, California to climb to the Portal.

Townes Pass is an agonizing 16.6 miles (26.7 km) long with an 5,000'+ (1,524 meter)elevation gain.
Hillcrest is 11.9 miles (19.2 km) long, with slightly over 3,000'(914.4 meter) elevation gain.
The Whitney Portal road gains close to 5,000' (1,524 meter)in 12 miles (19 km).

In addition to long distances and heart-breaking hills, the temperature can play a major factor. At the start in Badwater, temperatures can routinely be as high as 130 degrees,( 54.4 degree Celsius) but the temperature quickly drops as the riders pedal higher and higher. Below freezing temperatures can be encountered near the Portal at night, making a temperature swing of over 100 degrees (37.7 degree Celsius) in a single day.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Stick to rollercoaster tycoon.

 

[iwasonbwh]

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/643058/edit
this is my dream finishing in the home of the man in my signature

 

[El Pistolero]

Stick to rollercoaster tycoon.

Give the memmo to the guys who organized the road race at the Olympics.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Stage 2: Saint-Jean-de-Luz - Ainhoa, 166km

Starting in the coastal town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, this course heads to the east before moving in a southward loop over a series of small and medium sized climbs, before ending on a circuit around Ainhoa, a very small town/large village included in Les Plus Beaux Villages de France. This circuit is not especially demanding, but the finish does come just after an uphill drag of 5km in length; the earlier climbs could well shell most of the pure sprinters, but some strong men may remain; this uphill drag gives rouleurs and stronger puncheurs a chance to try to get away from what remains of the péloton, although the non-technical nature of the run-in means that if a strong group doesn't get away, any fastman with the endurance to get over the climbs earlier in the day will feel they should back themselves for this one.

The climbs:
Urrizméhé (cat.3) 3,9km @ 4,1%
Mocorreta (cat.2) 5,9km @ 4,8%
Antzaramendi (cat.2) 3,7km @ 5,8%
Artxuita (cat.2) 3,7km @ 6,4%
Gastigarlépoa (cat.3) 2,9km @ 4,7%
Col de Légarré (cat.2) 5,0km @ 5,9%

Saint-Jean-de-Luz:

Ainhoa (directly beside the finishing line):

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Townes Pass is an agonizing 16.6 miles (26.7 km) long with an 5,000'+ elevation gain.
Hillcrest is 11.9 miles (19.2 km) long, with slightly over 3,000' elevation gain.
The Whitney Portal road gains close to 5,000' in 12 miles (19 km).

In addition to long distances and heart-breaking hills, the temperature can play a major factor. At the start in Badwater, temperatures can routinely be as high as 130 degrees, but the temperature quickly drops as the riders pedal higher and higher. Below freezing temperatures can be encountered near the Portal at night, making a temperature swing of over 100 degrees in a single day.

Sounds absolutely evil. I have to admit though, I'm not really au fait with the use of feet as a measuring device in altitude in cycling, I've always struggled with reading American stage maps for that reason; what kind of altitude gain in metres are we talking about in these climbs?

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Give the memo to the guys who organised the road race at the Olympics.

The point of Rollercoaster Tycoon is to make a profit. The point of home advantage is to win more medals.

SPaG corrections as standard.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

I'll have a go at a more varied Tour of Britain route at some point over the winter. You could put together some really tough stages in Devon, Wales, Lake District and Scotland fairly easily, with acceptable transfer distances in between. An ITT finish around Edinburgh would finish things off nicely.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

the guys who organized the road race at the Olympics.

Why don't you add you own, preferred route and add it this thread?

 

[jordan5000]

Sounds absolutely evil. I have to admit though, I'm not really au fait with the use of feet as a measuring device in altitude in cycling, I've always struggled with reading American stage maps for that reason; what kind of altitude gain in metres are we talking about in these climbs?

1000 feet= 300 meters.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Queen stage time!

Stage 3: Ainhoa - Les Chalets d'Irati, 140km

Starting off from where we finished the previous day, this stage is short and the first half of the stage is completely flat. However, the second half of this stage should decide the race, featuring two of the most underused climbs in France, before finishing with two lesser ascents; there is ample room to attack three climbs out here, with little descending time for dropped riders to bring their attackers back; also the final climb is relatively short and straightforward compared to what's come before, but still easily enough for any groups still together after the pain that's preceded them to be broken up. I expect riders finishing mostly individually at the upper end of the classification here.

As there's no vertical scale there, I'll just give it a sense of scale by pointing out that the stage finishes at 1326m of altitude.

The climbs:

Col d'Elhursaro (HC) 10,0km, 8,6%

(the climb as used here is the section from Ondarolles to Col d'Elhursaro)

Col d'Errozate (HC) 10,1km, 9,6%

Col de Sourzay (cat.2) 5,9km, 4,1%
Col d'Hegichouria (cat.1) 6,0km, 5,3%

 

[krebs303]

Sounds absolutely evil. I have to admit though, I'm not really au fait with the use of feet as a measuring device in altitude in cycling, I've always struggled with reading American stage maps for that reason; what kind of altitude gain in metres are we talking about in these climbs?

Sorry didn't notice only part was in meters
went back and added meters as needed.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Col d'Elhursaro:

Errozate:

Col d'Iraty (near finish):

Les Chalets d'Irati:

 

[krebs303]

1000 feet= 300 meters.

1 000 feet = 304.8 meters just for the more precise among us

But I do use 300 when the calculator is not handy

 

[Anonymous]

The tour of Cornwall

213km, mixture of good, and very bad road surfaces. Most of the route follows the coastline so expect northwesterly winds for the first half of the race, and south easterly winds for the second half, and pretty harsh winds in the middle section as it crosses the lizard.

no major climbs, just constant up and down as it goes up to 140m above sea level, down to sea level, back up again, back down again.

The climb details dont tell the whole story though, most of them are made of a very explosive, steep first 500m-750 metres before levelling out hence the low average gradients.

The constant ups and downs, changeable wind conditions and poor road surface would make it pretty tough, as anyone who has ridden in cornwall would know.

and who put the picture up thats wider than my monitor.. grrr

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Stage 4: Mauléon-Licharre - Bayonne, 136km

And so our short tour of the northern Basque provinces reaches its conclusion with a short flat stage, running from the capital of Soule/Zuberoa to the capital of Labourd/Lapurdi, finishing on the banks of the Adour. Although the stage is most definitely one for the sprinters, the finish does include a few twists and turns that may offer a late attacker something if they are strong enough. Also, with the likely gaps opened up by the previous stage and the probable lack of depth in the sprinting field, we could get a less predictable finale; the profile suggests that the bunch kick should be decisive, but positioning will be absolutely crucial in the final few corners.

Climbs:
Lapitsague (cat.3) 4,9km @ 3,1%
Galárreguy (cat.3) 3,0km @ 3,6%
Abarratia (cat.3) 2,6km @ 3,6%

Mauléon-Licharre:

Bayonne:

 

[Richeypen]

Always wanted to see The Tour of Britain make proper use of Exmoor. A couple of laps around the moor starting in Barnstaple and ending in Lynton. Would look like this: (annoyingly it didnt copy the height markings but the profile goes from 0m to just under 400m)

180km with over 3000m of climbing including twice up Porlock Hill (around 25% and a real leg breaker).

The finishing 2kms is at 8% with pitches above 20%. Add to this some very windy exposed moorland roads and we have an exciting stage.


Or on a similar note of starting in Barnstaple and finishing in Lynton 140km takes us along the coast on narrow roads and steep climbs. Cutting up from Porlock to Dunkery before looping round to Minehead and back up Porlock hill and back to Lynton. Similar amount of climbing as the previous route but shorter sharper climbs and a lot more of them.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

How long is Porlock Hill, and how far is it from the finish? Looks about 20km out?

 

[Richeypen]

Around about 4kms long. Trouble is it brings you up onto the top of the moor and as ToB stages always finish in towns it cant be used as finishing climb. Lynmouth Hill is a similar steepness but only half as long but that would be right at the finish.

When the ToB went to Porlock a few years ago they completely missed out Porlock Hill and took them up the toll road next to it which is twice as long but only half as steep.

 

[luckyboy]

Here is a fantasy Tour de France I made almost two years ago..

Click for larger image


STAGE 1 - Roubaix - Lille TTT 30.4 km

STAGE 2 - Lille - St. Quentin 169 km

STAGE 3 - Fourmies - Carignan 177 km

STAGE 4 - Carignan - Verdun 209 km

Rest Day

STAGE 5 - Gap - Pelvo d'Elva 156 km
Colle Dell'Agnello > Pelvo d'Elva

STAGE 6 - Cuneo - St Étienne de Tineé 183 km
Colle Fauniera > Colle della Maddalena > Cime de la Bonette

STAGE 7 - Guillestre - Alpe d'Huez 213 km
Col de l'Izoard > Col du Telegraphe > Alpe d'Huez

STAGE 7 ALTERNATE - Bourg d'Osains - Granon 203 km
Alpe d'Huez (Bourg d'Osains) > Col de Sarenne > Col du Lautaret (Le Clapier) > Chemin de Champcella > Col de l'Izoard (Cervieres) > Col du Granon (Saint Chaffrey)

STAGE 8 - Orelle - Joux Plane 232 km
Col de la Croix de Fer/Glandon > Col des Aravis > Col de la Colombiere > Col de Joux Plane

STAGE 9 - Lyon - Ambert 178 km

STAGE 10- Issoire - Tulle 199 km

STAGE 11- Tulle - Limoges 169 km

STAGE 12- Aixe-Sur-Vienne - Thiviers TT 50.7 km

STAGE 13- Perigueux - Tonneins 193 km

STAGE 14- Agen - Pau 184 km

Rest Day

STAGE 15- Larrau - Hautacam 151 km
Col de Labays > Hautacam

STAGE 16- Bedous - Aubisque 63 km
Col de l'Aubisque

STAGE 17- Luz-Saint-Saveur - Tourmalet TT 18.2 km
Col du Tourmalet

STAGE 18- Montanuy - Tourmalet 177 km
Col du Portillon > Col de Peyresourde > Col de Peyrefite/d'Azet > Col de l'Aspin
> Col du Tourmalet

STAGE 19- Rouze - Saint Beat 190 km
Port de Pailheres > Col d'Agnes > Col de la Core > Col du Portet d'Aspet > Col de Mente

Rest Day

STAGE 20- Saint-Brieuc - Laval 203 km

STAGE 21- Le Mans - Chartres 191 km

STAGE 22- Epone - Paris Champs TT 42.6 km

3378.9 km

Stage 5
Colle Dell'Agnello (Guillestre) 42km @ 4.1% 9003ft
Pelvo d'Elva 15.5km @ 8.2% 7358ft

Stage 6
Colle Fauniera (Pradleves) 22.4km @ 7.5% 8236ft
Colle della Maddalena (Argentera)
Cime de la Bonette (Jausiers) 24km @ 6.6% 9190ft

Stage 7
Col de l'Izoard (Guillestre) 15.9km @ 6.9% 7744ft
Col du Télégraphe (S-M-de-Mau) 11.8km @ 7.3% 5136ft
Alpe d'Huez (Bour d'Osains) 13.2km @ 8.1% 5953ft

Stage 7 Alternate
Alpe d'Huez (Bourg d'Osains) 13.2km @ 8.1% 5953ft
Col de Sarenne 1.7km @ 5.1% 6230ft
Col du Lautaret (Le Clapier) 34km @ 3.8% 6752ft
Chemin de Champcella 6.3km @ 9.3% 6466ft
Col de l'Izoard (Cervieres) 20km @ 5.8% 7744ft
Col du Granon (Saint Chaffrey) 11.5km @ 9.2% 7917ft

Stage 8
Col de la Croix de Fer 30km @ 5.1% 6783ft
Col du Glandon (Croix de Fer) 2.9km
Col de la Colombiere (Grand B) 11.7km @ 5.9% 5290ft
Col du Joux Plane (Samoens) 11.6km @ 8.5% 5546ft

Stage 15
Col de Labays (West) 23km @ 4.3% 4431ft
Hautacam 17.3km @ 6.8% 5362ft

Stage 16
Col de l'Aubisque 16.6km @ 7.2% 5605ft

Stage 17
Col du Tourmalet 19km @ 7.4% 6937ft

Stage 18
Puerto de la Bonaigua (South) 20.9km @ 5.4% 7086ft
Col du Portillon (Spanish side) 8.6km @ 6.8% 3634ft
Col de Peyresourde (Bagneres) 15.27km @ 6.1% 5146ft
Col de Peyrefite/d'Azet (Genos) 7.47km @ 8.3% 5182ft
Col de l'Aspin (Arreau) 12km @ 6.5% 4883ft
Col du Tourmalet (S-M de Camp) 17.2km @ 7.4% 6937ft

Stage 19
Port de Pailheres (Mijanes) 10.6km @ 8.2% 6565ft
Col d'Agnes (East side) 10.2 @ 8.1% 5149ft
Col de la Core (Seix) 13.8km @ 6.4% 4575ft
Col du Portet d'Aspet (Audress) 18.1km @ 3.1% 3506ft
Col de Mente (Le Couret) 10.9km @ 6.6% 4424ft

Also there was a stage 8 replacement from Grenoble to Mont du Chat, taking in the Col de Porte, Col de Cucheron, Col du Granier, Col de l'Epine and Mont du Chat.

PROFILES OF THE MOUNTAIN STAGES

 

[The Hitch]

Fantasy Tour of Poland opening stage.

Prologue Warsaw -Warsaw.

5km on 1 of Europes best cycling superhighways.

http://photo.bikestats.eu/zdjecie,154198,wal-miedzeszynski.html
(picture) from winter btw.

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/14878076.jpg

The stones and relatively narrow road make it slightly more difficult.

But the real appeal of this is that every time i go back i can measure my time against the pros

Parisians cant pretend to sprint through the Platz de Concorde down the CHamps Elysee. Madrillenos would find it difficult to sprint round Cibeles. Milan natives sure as hell cant do the Milano itt.

But now, finaly, cyclists of all ages will be able to compare themselves to the pros, on the route of a major stage race.

 

[The Hitch]

Fantasy Tour of Poland opening stage.

Prologue Warsaw -Warsaw.

5km on 1 of Europes best cycling superhighways.

(picture is from the winter, its hot in the summer)

The stones and relatively narrow road make it slightly more difficult.

But the real appeal of this is that every time i go back i can measure my time against the pros

Parisians cant pretend to sprint through the Platz de Concorde down the CHamps Elysee. Madrillenos would find it difficult to sprint round Cibeles. Milan natives sure as hell cant do the Milano itt.

But now, finaly, cyclists of all ages will be able to compare themselves to the pros, on the route of a major stage race.