Stage 14: Hradec Králové - Špindlerův Mlýn, 167km
Climbs:
Strážné (cat.1) 6,1km @ 5,1%
Pražská Boudá (cat.1) 5,3km @ 9,6%
Przełęcz Okraj (cat.1) 12,0km @ 3,5%
Przełęcz pod Czołem (cat.1) 8,0km @ 4,9%
Przełęcz Karkonoska (HC) 12,0km @ 7,1%
It's time, on the penultimate day, for what is, climbing-wise, the queen stage, with 5 climbs including what are definitely the two toughest climbs of the race (with apologies to the otherwise tough Dlouhá Louká and Krupka ascents). This is the last chance for the climbers to make up time lost to the powerhouses over the endless cobbles in the first week and the rumbling through hills and bergs in Thüringen. Though there is no MTF (as advised, Pancíř was the only one) there is more time to be feasibly won by climbers in this stage than any other. This is the stage for Sergey Sukhoruchenkov and Nencho Staikov to renew their rivalry in the mountains, although the Russian did tend to always get the best of that battle. I've even invented a mountain category for the race - since climbs had to be over 250m vertical and 5km in length to be classified cat.1, I argue climbs over 10km in length and 750m vertical should be HC.
The stage begins after a short transfer in the prominent technological city of Hradec Králové. Like many stages in my Peace Race, it eases the riders into its struggles, the first 60km or so being rolling terrain through idyllic countryside spots like
Studenec. If the climbers are within a small number of minutes of the race leaders, then getting into a break could be a real challenge as the leaders may want to keep things together long enough to fight for the bonus seconds at the first intermediate, which takes place after 60km of racing, in
Vrchlabí, a popular resort town with chocolate-box housing at the base of the Karkonosze mountain range which forms the border between the Czech Republic and Poland at this point - that's right, having left after nothing but flat stages, we're border hopping with the Poles in the queen stage.
After this, the climbing begins properly. The first ascent, to the
ski area at Strážné, is fairly straightforward, averaging 5% for 6km. The steepest kilometre is at 8%, but overall it shouldn't shed too many people. The same cannot be said of its follow-up climb, however. Another regally-located skiing spot,
Pražská Boudá is a
real painful drag of a climb, averaging close to 10%. Roads are sometimes
narrow and exposed, other times
steep and mysterious through the forests. In the good old days, this is where Sukhoruchenkov would have attacked, regardless of the 80km to the finish. It was steep enough to get away, and with small teams and tired rouleur domestiques, he had the confidence he could stay away. Gradients are
almost absurdly Unipublic-tastic at times, and the maximum reached is 23%. Of course, if this was a Unipublic stage, we'd just stop now. But instead we have an almost-as-steep descent (which is quite narrow but not as tight as the climb), before we start another, completely different climb.
Przełęcz Okraj (Okraj Pass) is arguably the most famous of the passes between the Czech Republic and Poland, though in cycling terms this is in much the same way as the Brennerpass is the most famous pass between Italy and Austria... i.e. it isn't. We are climbing the last 12km or so of that profile (from the Rybárna, w prawo label). While Pražska Boudá was a finesse climb, for the mountain goats and the Murito riders, this is a pure grinder's ascent, with
wide open roads and gradients below 4%. We do get
nice scenery, and there is the ski town of
Malá Úpa near the summit, which we pass at 58km from the line. There is then a long and twisty descent into our second intermediate sprint in the cobbled centre of
Kowary.
After this, some real history. The characterful skiing resort town of
Karpacz now follows; though the town had often seen the race pass through it either on the way up or down Przełęcz pod Czołem (or, if ascending, often going via the Orlinek hill that later became an MTF in the revamped post-Wende Tour de Pologne), in 1980 a finish on the Orlinek climb became the first mountaintop finish in the history of the Wyścig Pokoju, won by the USSR's Sergey Morosov with teammate - and eventual race victor - Yuri Barinov a few seconds behind. Despite having murdered everybody (figuratively speaking) in the mountains in the 1979 race, Sukho was not present... he made up for it in 1984 when he wrestled control of the race away from Bulgarian climber Nencho Staikov with a long-range attack, taking the stage ahead of Luděk Štyks and Olaf Jentzsch and turning a deficit of over 2 minutes into a slender lead of 15 seconds he was able to defend over three flat stages to Warsaw. In later years, the Orlinek MTF was used a few more times; Uwe Ampler winning in 1987, Steffen Wesemann and Bert Dietz in two stages in 1992. However, in the post-EPO era of cycling, and with more and more professionals participating in the race, bigger and tougher MTFs were sought, and so Lysá Horá, Praděd and Zlaté Navrší arrived and priced Karpacz out of the game. It did, however, become a trademark of the Tour de Pologne and indeed was the site of Alberto Contador's first victory as a professional.
The climb in this stage is the easier side, through Karpacz itself, I'm afraid. It's
8km at just under 5% with a couple of steeper ramps. Cresting 33km from the finish, it is the last warmup before the real killer of the day. First, there is a technical descent into the final sprint of the day, at the small town of
Podgórzyn. Then... se armó un zapatiesto. It's time to climb a little-known monster normally reserved for mountain bikes only despite being tarmacked from top to bottom.
We are doing all but the last 440m of this. Sure, the overall stats look kind of normal, but this is a really lopsided climb. Look at it! The last 5km average over 11%! There is a kilometre that averages - averages! - 15,7%! That is Zoncolan/Angliru territory there.
The road is
narrow, the
ramps are
pure insanity, and though the
scenery is fantastic it is probably going to become a side-winding contest. The Cancellaras and Boonens of this world, who may have found much of the race to their liking, will now have to grit their teeth and bed in for some suffering. This gets over 25%, and you can do a lot of damage in a very short space of time here. And then,
at the top of one of the final ramps, a glimpse of
Špindlerová Boudá, the station at the summit... and it's over. The first - and only - HC climb of the Friedensfahrt is done. As you will notice, there's plenty of room there, and a finish would not be implausible. However, I have elected not to finish on a state border mountaintop finish, and instead there will be a frenetic 10km descent to finish the stage. The descent is
far less frenetic than the climb (you can see Špindlerův Mlýn, the stage town, noted on that profile about 17km in). It is also
wider and
less rough than the climb, so shouldn't be too dangerous to pass as the riders need to blast their way down the fast and frenetic descent (the first half is quite technical, then the last 5km have only a couple of switchbacks and the rest pure pace) into the mountain resort town that the stage finishes in.
Although the last stage is tomorrow, the race isn't done with yet... though after climbing Przełęcz Karkonoska, you can bet plenty of riders wish it was.
Hradec Králové:
Špindlerův Mlýn:
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