Race Design Thread

[Gigs_98]

ÖSTERREICH RUNDFAHRT, STAGE 5: GRÖBMING - AMSTETTEN (157 km)
And one more stage which is not difficult enough to change something in the gc, but too hard for some pure sprinters. The main reason for that is the Sonntagberg, which was used in the last few "Österreich Rundfahrten" as a mtf. It isn't a very long climb, but an extremely steep one which could be used to make the race harder to eliminate some sprinters. The other two categorized mountains are the Phyrnpass and the Hengstpass. The little hill just before the finish could make the race more interesting as well. Although there are 3 more stages coming, this is the last one which may not affect the gc.

climbs:
Phyrnpass (4th category)
Hengstpass (3rd category)
Sonntagberg (2nd category)

 

[May0maniac]

Sonntagberg is a nasty short climb, 3,1km at 11% with a max. gradient of 20% and the final 500m are cobbled.

 

[rghysens]

Those who watched this years LBL would probably have been pleasantly surprised when they saw the offensive racing on the Haute Levée, with 80km to go. Sadly enough, the race fell soon flat on its back. In my opinion, this was due to the following:
1) The distance between the Haute Levée and the next climb (Rosier) is too big
2) There are still enough opportunities to attack and create decisive gaps later in the race, with the Roche aux Faucons and Saint-Nicolas.
3) Some team directors might have whispered some things in some riders ears.

In a race design thread, it's no use discussing 3), but 1) and 2) can and will be.
So, I'll try to create a new version of LBL that makes up for these things
Instead of going from La Haute Levée to Le Rosier by Francorchamps, you can take a direct road which shortens the distance by about 5km. This substitute is a two-lane road (not wide lanes, but still,...), so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
The second problem is the focus at the very end of the race. The inclusion of the Côte de Saint-Nicolas and La Roche aux Faucons may have looked good ideas at the time of their first appearance, the kill attractive racing on everything that's before it. Even on La Redoute there are barely any attacks the last years. To make the middle part, or the begin of the final, more attractive, the closing kilometres should be made easier.
Therefore I opted to relocate the finish to the Boulevard de la Sauvinière, where LBL finished until the very early 90's.

And while we're at it, why not change the course in an even more dramatic fashion: there will be no more Côte de Wanne or Côte de la Redoute either

Map:

Profile:

Climbs:
Rue Saint-Roch: km68; 1.15km @ 11%
Mont-le-Soie:km139.5; 4km @ 5.9%
Thier de la Principauté: km155; 1km @9.2%
Côte de Villers: km160.5; 1.8km @ 5%
Côte de Stockeu: km168; 2.3km @ 9.9% (full climb instead of only the first km)
Côte de Wanneranval: km172; 1.8km @ 9.1%
Côte des Hézalles: (a narrow road, but it was already used some times in the mid-90's, only the first 1.1km) km179; 1.1km @ 11%
Côte de Brume: km186; 1.7km @ 7.9%
Thier de Coo: km195; 2.6km @ 8.5%
La Haute Levée: km202
Le Rosier: km210
Mont Theux: km227
Côte des Forges: km235.5
Finish: km253

 

[Gigs_98]

ÖSTERREICH RUNDFAHRT, STAGE 6: AMSTETTEN - HOHE WAND (182 km)
The stage with the second mtf is definitely not as spectacular as the first one. the main reason for that is that in the east of austria there are not so many possibilities to create a very compact mountain stage. However the mtf is still very hard. The Hohe Wand is a mountain which is famous for being on of most spectacular mountains in the east of the alps. The second biggest climb of this stage is the Schlüsseleck, a flat but very long pass and there is also a pass near the "Hohe Wand" but it is only a 4th category climb, so no big action on that mountain.

I just have to post some pictures of the last mountain to show you how beautiful the mtf will be

climbs:
Hochkogel (3rd category)
Schüsseleck (2nd category)
Annaberg (4th category)
Ochssattel (3rd category)
Rohrer Sattel (4th category)
Dreistetten (4th category)
Hohe Wand (1st category)

 

[Gigs_98]

ÖSTERREICH RUNDFAHRT, STAGE 7: WIENER NEUSTADT - LEOPOLDSBERG (180km)
As I wrote, there are no big mountains in the east of the "Hohe Wand", so there can't be a high mountain stage. But I just didn't want to make a completely flat stage before the final stage which will be a TT. So I made a hilly stage, which is a little bit like a hill-classic with a hill top finish. The stage will be in the North-West of Vienna and there is definitely the possibility to attack before the final climb, which will be the Leopoldsberg, a cobbled climb (I also used that climb in a one day race, I posted some time ago) which is not as steep as the climbs before but a little bit longer. I think that stage could cause a chaothic day even with some little changes in the gc (or at least I hope so )

climbs:
Heiligenkreuzer Straße (4th category)
Flachberg (4th category)
Riederberg (4th category)
Tulbingerkogel (4th category)
Hainbuch (3rd category)
Hadersfeld (3rd category)
Käferkreuzgasse (4th category)
Leopoldsgraben (4th category)
Haschhof (4th category)
Leopoldsberg (3rd category)

 

[May0maniac]

Stage 2 Villabate - Motta d'Affermo; 224,9km
part 1:

part 2:

Stage 2 is a long hilly/medium mountain stage and the first uphill finish of the race.
The race starts in Villabate and after 21km of false flat the first climb of the day starts, 3,9km at 4,2%, flollowed bu 2km of false flat on top of the climb and a short descent. Then we already have the next climb of the day, 4,6km at 5,7%, followed by 13 rolling km on top of the climb. After an gentle descent the next climb of the day starts, 4,6km at 4,3%.
The next 26km are on gently rolling terrain, then the first longer climb of the day starts, 11,7km at 4,5% on the strada statale 120 dell'Etna e delle Madonie, followed by 23km of rolling terrain.
Now the longest climb of the stage starts, Monte Mufara, 13km at 5,2%. I know, you could call it a I Categoria climb, but compared to the real climbs in this Giro it's not steep or long enough for that.
After a long descent the riders will face another short climb 2km before Petralia Sottana, 1,3km at 6,9%.
After that the next 30km are a mixture of short descents and rolling terrain, with a short uncategorised climb, 1,8km at 6,6%, in the middle of it. The next climb is 7,4km at 5,2% and the central part of the following descent is rather technical.
When the descent end there are only 2km of fale flat left, before the final climb to Motta d'Affermo starts, 8,5km at 5,7%. The final 700m on top of the climb are flat, so it could be a sprint between the gc-favourites.
This should be the first test for the gc-guys, this won't be a Giro with an easy first week for the sprinters, they'll get their chance to shin, but they'll have to earn it.
Motta d'Affermo and the hard final part of the climb:

 

[May0maniac]

Stage 3 Cefalù - Messina; 181km

An easier stage for the sprinters that can climb, most of the stage is flat, but with 19km to go we have the only climb of the day, 7,7km at 4,9%, but the first 1,3km of the climb are the steepest, the rest is gentle and shouldn't be a problem for the sprinters not named Kittel or Guardini. The first half of the following descent is pretty technical and only the final 3,2km are flat, so this stage could also be perfect for a late attack.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Sonntagberg is a nasty short climb, 3,1km at 11% with a max. gradient of 20% and the final 500m are cobbled.

Sorry, but no cobbles here. The mtf of the Österreich Rundfahrt 2012-2014 had a right-turn, and after that the cobbles started. But I use the pass not the one way street. so where the Österreich Rundfahrt always went right, I will go left.

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

Sonntagberg is a nasty short climb, 3,1km at 11% with a max. gradient of 20% and the final 500m are cobbled.

Sorry, but no cobbles here. The mtf of the Österreich Rundfahrt 2012-2014 had a right-turn, and after that the cobbles started. But I use the pass not the one way street. so where the Österreich Rundfahrt always went right, I will go left.

Ok, thanks for the information.

 

[May0maniac]

Stage 4 Reggio di Calabria - Montalto; 162km

The first real mountain stage of this Giro, it will have only 3 MTFs, but 6 high mountain stages.
The stage starts in Reggio di Calabria and after 1km the first climb of the day already starts, 26,5km at 5,1% on the strada stataleAspromonte-Jonio, the first I Categoria climb of this Giro. The followind long descent isn't very steep, a few tricky harpins on the 2nd part of the descent but nothing too hard.
Shortly after the descent ends the next climb starts, 7,6km at 3,4km, more of a flase flat. After a steeper descent we have 12 rolling km before the next climb up to Barritteri starts, 7,3km at 4,5%.
The following descent will bring the riders to Bagnara Calabra and after 8km of false flat alongside the coast the final climb of the day starts, Montalto.
It's a long drag 39km at 4,5%, but a few parts of false flat lower the average gradient of this irregular climb, before the final 6,6km at 6,3% that feature a few 10% steep ramps you have 4,5km of false flat. The stage finishes near the abbandoned Nato base, where there should be more than enough space to host a MTF.
This will be the first real mountain stage of this Giro, so the riders will probably wait for the steeper final 6,6km to attack, but if a strong team sets a high pace right from the start of the climb we could get bigger gaps, a Sky train could really do some damage on a climb like this.
It's a nice first mountain stage, but most of the other mountain stages will be way harder.

 

[Eshnar]

Re: Re:

And once it's fully ok I'll launch my challenge to you all [I had it planned since quite a long time, but the forum revolution delayed it]

When is this going to happen?

well... once the thread is fully ok. If you meant "when will the thread be fully ok?", no clue. Soon hopefully.

But I'll give you a hint about my challenge: It involves the Giro

 

[Netserk]

A Giro without flat stages and restdays, and only reasonable transfers, but it still manages to cover most of the country? I think I almost have one of those somewhere

 

[May0maniac]

I wouldn't have started posting my Giro if i knew that, I should have known that your challenge would invove the Giro.

 

[fauniera]

I'll start posting my Tirreno-Adriatico soon, so that nobody gets confused with all the italian stages.

 

[Eshnar]

Re:

A Giro without flat stages and restdays, and only reasonable transfers, but it still manages to cover most of the country? I think I almost have one of those somewhere

No, much less extreme

 

[Gigs_98]

ÖSTERREICH RUNDFAHRT, STAGE 8: KLOSTERNEUBURG - HELDENPLATZ ITT (27km)
Finally, my Österreich Rundfahrt will finish with an ITT. Its neither hilly nor very long, but the leader of the race definitely can't be sure that he wins it only because he is the leader after stage 7. The course starts in Klosterneuburg and finishes in Wien on the Heldenplatz. Before that the riders will drive past some of the most famous places of the town.

Here is a picture of the starting town KLosterneuburg. Maybe its worth mentioning that the first hundert meters are technically difficult with some narrow turns and some tiny cobble sections

and finally a picture of the finish, the Heldenplatz.

So that was the first stage race, I have created. Hope it wasn't too bad

 

[lemon cheese cake]

I'll start posting my Tirreno-Adriatico soon, so that nobody gets confused with all the italian stages.

I've got a race in Campania and Naples coming up aswell. So even more confusion.

 

[fauniera]

Ha, my Tirreno starts in Campania, just outside Napoli.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Ha, my Tirreno starts in Campania, just outside Napoli.

Shouldn't be to much confusion as my race will becup there towards the end. Plus I still need to fimish my Ronde van Nederland.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

How big is it? I had some ideas about designing a 4week stage race, but i'm afraid i'll never gonna get started

uhm... like a two months stage race I guess I'll have to wait for my vacations to get it completed...

Is this still coming or what?

 

[Netserk]

A Tour de Europe? Starting and finishing in Brussels?

 

[fauniera]

TIRRENO - ADRIATICO

I'm not so happy with the last few editions of Tirreno-Adriatico. For my taste there was too much emphasis on conventional mountain top finishes like Terminillo or Prati di Tivo. This often runs into problems with the weather in early March, and this race doesn't even need those mtfs, as there are plenty of other and more interesting obstacles to be found in central Italy. For me the essence of Tirreno-Adriatico are the muri in Marche and Abruzzo, like Montelupone or Chieti. The race organisers should concentrate on those, stages like Porto Sant'Elpidio 2013 make the race unique.

Therefore in my edition of this race there are no conventional mountain top finishes, the entire race takes place below 1.000 meters altitude. I've put in a few sectors of sterrato, which simply makes sense both geographically (there is an abundance of sterrato in central Italy) and with the race coming a few days after Strade Bianche. And: There will be muri.


stage 1: Pozzuoli - Pozzuoli, 143 km

12 laps

Pozzuoli is situated just west of Napoli. The first stage is rather easy, and consists of 12 laps of a circuit at the Golfo di Pozzuoli. There is a long uphill drag at the beginning, but the gradients are shallow. The riders then stay on a plateau for a while, which occasionally provides nice views, before descending back to sea level. The final kilometers are directly along the sea on a broad, lightly cobbled road. Attackers are not without a chance here, but i would expect a sprint of a rather large group as the most likely outcome.


Pozzuoli

 

[Progsprach]

Ferreries - Monte Toro ITT (21km)
This time, the Vuelta starts on Minorca, but since this island is so small it would be hard to host anything but a TT here. Even before the first time check still in Ferreries the course is somewhat lumpy and it continues to be like that until the second one at Es Mercedal. The riders should still save some power for the last 3km however, because they then climb the steep Monte Toro (3km@9%) with the final stretch easily breaking double digits and anyone who is out of gas will definitely suffer there. Anyone with a penchant for riding against the clock should make good of this opportunity, because there is only one more TT to come and it will not be much longer.

 

[fauniera]

TIRRENO - ADRIATICO

stage 2: Mondragone - Albano Laziale, 221 km

finale:

Things get serious with this long stage north, into Lazio. A big part of the stage is spent in the Monti Lepini, which obiously includes some climbing. At km 134 the climb to Cona di Selvapiana begins, it's 14 km at 4,6%. Next is the climb to the spectacular mountaintop village Segni (9,6 km at 4,8%), followed by two shorter ascents to Rocca Massima, yet another mountaintop village. Then we leave the Monti Lepini and get to the Colli Albani, just south of Rome. Here the character of the stage changes. Instead of the long but easy climbs, which dominated the stage so far, the riders face short, steep hills.

With 12 km to go, the climb to Lanuvio begins. It's 2 km long, with a steep half kilometer at 12%. This steep part is cobbled at first, then turns into tarmac. After passing through Genzano di Roma, the riders face the next wall, this time leading up to Ariccia. It's a climb in two steps, the first one is harder (0,4 km at 12%), It's partially cobbled, too. After having climbed up to the town, the riders will ride on the impressive viaduct of Ariccia with just 3 km to go.

The viaduct is part of Via Appia, which leads into Albano Laziale, and would actually directly lead to the finish. But we will take one last detour, to take in the cobbled climb of Cappuccini (0,5 km at 9%). This strappo has been used in the Roma Maxima, you can see it here, starting at 7:25. There is one difference to Roma Maxima, though: After the riders pass under the archway at 8:33 they turn right, in our case they turn left and descend back to town. There is less than a kilometer left at the top of the climb, the finish is on Via Appia. Should be quite an explosive finale.


Mondragone

Albano Laziale

 

[Eshnar]

Re: Re:

How big is it? I had some ideas about designing a 4week stage race, but i'm afraid i'll never gonna get started

uhm... like a two months stage race I guess I'll have to wait for my vacations to get it completed...

Is this still coming or what?

no, it ain't coming for now. I have temporarily abandoned the idea. I'll probably get it back on track someday, but no clue when