- Feb 20, 2010
- 32,499
- 14,266
- 28,180
Tour of Russia stage 3: Tver' (Тверь) - Sergiyev Posad (Сергиев Посад), 229km
Climbs:
Aladyino (Аладьино)(cat.3) 2,2km @ 3,6%
Ilyinskoye (Ильинское)(cat.3) 1,0km @ 5,9%
Voldynskoye (Волдынское)(cat.3) 1,4km @ 4,8%
Pritykino (Притыкино)(cat.3) 2,8km @ 3,6%
Intermediate sprints:
Klin (Клин), 75km
Yakhroma (Яхрома), 135km
Dmitrov (Дмитров), 184km
This is the point at which the riders start to get a bit fed up. After the finish of yesterday's stage, there is a 350km transfer to the start of the third stage - although all of this is along the main St. Petersburg-Moscow highway (unless they take the train while the convoy deals with the road, which, this being Russia, they would be advised to do). And immediately this leads us into the longest stage of the race, a relentless, rolling sprawl of a stage that takes us into Moscow Oblast and heads along its route north of the city.
We start for the day in Tver', an old city which once rivaled Moscow for supremacy among Russian states, but as you might have guessed from their current relative sizes, even though Tver' houses over 400 000 people, it lost. Badly. Its decline was halted by the establishment of St. Petersburg, making it an important transit town between the two, however a devastating fire and Soviet-era destruction mean much of the history of the city has been sadly lost. The riders head southeastwards from the city along the main St. Petersburg-Moscow highway for the first third of the stage, so much like the closing stages of yesterday, it is very fast, wide and straight. The riders get to the first intermediate sprint at Klin, perhaps best known for the Tchaikovsky House-Museum, in the composer's former residence, and then turn onto the smaller roads that will characterize the stage. For the most part, roads are fine, however the tarmac is heavy and wearing, and so riders will feel it by the end of the day, as while the amount of categorizable ascent is very small, the stage is very rolling, with lots of small or low-gradient rises and falls that will have an effect by the end of the day (hence the length). Аfter the second intermediate sprint in Yakhroma, home of a set of small ski slopes, the riders have a looping route around the banks of the Канал Имени Москвы (Moscow Canal), including the most authentic climb of the race so far, the Amstel-Gold-like dig into Ilyinskoye, and a second, more gradual climb, before the final intermediate sprint in the sizable city of Dmitrov, just outside the Borisoglebsky Monastery.
With 45km still remaining, I do not expect any moves to be made with any great seriousness on the classified climbs today. There is a further climb, a drag of a 3km "ascent" out of Dmitrov, but then it's all rolling once more. There are some quite sizable drags but not at any really dangerous gradients. However, with 200km - and a lot of difficult tarmac - in the legs, sprinters may not be at 100% for the run-in, and with the length of the stage and the long transfer, domestique power may be weakened a bit if the pace has been high. In addition to this, though once more the roads are very wide, favouring the bunch over the late attacker, the final 300m are uphill at around 6-7% - I haven't categorised these - so it may not be one for the pure power men, and instead this is probably one for the likes of Alexander Kristoff or John Degenkolb - true hardmen sprinters. The finish is outside another incredible historic site, this time the awe-inspiring Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius (you can see the finish on the right of that photo). This alternative view lets you see the slightly uphill gradient that will make the finish a bit more complex as well... the days for the sprinters are numbered now, so they might want to work as hard as they can to take their chance.
Tver':
Sergiyev Posad:
Climbs:
Aladyino (Аладьино)(cat.3) 2,2km @ 3,6%
Ilyinskoye (Ильинское)(cat.3) 1,0km @ 5,9%
Voldynskoye (Волдынское)(cat.3) 1,4km @ 4,8%
Pritykino (Притыкино)(cat.3) 2,8km @ 3,6%
Intermediate sprints:
Klin (Клин), 75km
Yakhroma (Яхрома), 135km
Dmitrov (Дмитров), 184km
This is the point at which the riders start to get a bit fed up. After the finish of yesterday's stage, there is a 350km transfer to the start of the third stage - although all of this is along the main St. Petersburg-Moscow highway (unless they take the train while the convoy deals with the road, which, this being Russia, they would be advised to do). And immediately this leads us into the longest stage of the race, a relentless, rolling sprawl of a stage that takes us into Moscow Oblast and heads along its route north of the city.
We start for the day in Tver', an old city which once rivaled Moscow for supremacy among Russian states, but as you might have guessed from their current relative sizes, even though Tver' houses over 400 000 people, it lost. Badly. Its decline was halted by the establishment of St. Petersburg, making it an important transit town between the two, however a devastating fire and Soviet-era destruction mean much of the history of the city has been sadly lost. The riders head southeastwards from the city along the main St. Petersburg-Moscow highway for the first third of the stage, so much like the closing stages of yesterday, it is very fast, wide and straight. The riders get to the first intermediate sprint at Klin, perhaps best known for the Tchaikovsky House-Museum, in the composer's former residence, and then turn onto the smaller roads that will characterize the stage. For the most part, roads are fine, however the tarmac is heavy and wearing, and so riders will feel it by the end of the day, as while the amount of categorizable ascent is very small, the stage is very rolling, with lots of small or low-gradient rises and falls that will have an effect by the end of the day (hence the length). Аfter the second intermediate sprint in Yakhroma, home of a set of small ski slopes, the riders have a looping route around the banks of the Канал Имени Москвы (Moscow Canal), including the most authentic climb of the race so far, the Amstel-Gold-like dig into Ilyinskoye, and a second, more gradual climb, before the final intermediate sprint in the sizable city of Dmitrov, just outside the Borisoglebsky Monastery.
With 45km still remaining, I do not expect any moves to be made with any great seriousness on the classified climbs today. There is a further climb, a drag of a 3km "ascent" out of Dmitrov, but then it's all rolling once more. There are some quite sizable drags but not at any really dangerous gradients. However, with 200km - and a lot of difficult tarmac - in the legs, sprinters may not be at 100% for the run-in, and with the length of the stage and the long transfer, domestique power may be weakened a bit if the pace has been high. In addition to this, though once more the roads are very wide, favouring the bunch over the late attacker, the final 300m are uphill at around 6-7% - I haven't categorised these - so it may not be one for the pure power men, and instead this is probably one for the likes of Alexander Kristoff or John Degenkolb - true hardmen sprinters. The finish is outside another incredible historic site, this time the awe-inspiring Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius (you can see the finish on the right of that photo). This alternative view lets you see the slightly uphill gradient that will make the finish a bit more complex as well... the days for the sprinters are numbered now, so they might want to work as hard as they can to take their chance.
Tver':
Sergiyev Posad:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram