Race Design Thread

[Progsprach]

Re:

I should really start to post some races outside of the well-known regions, so Libertine doesn't already know every single climb.
@Libertine Thanks, I didn't actually expect such rather small hills to have a name and cycling history.

 

[Gigs_98]

Deutschland Tour stage 12: Telfs-Speckalm (153 km)
First of all, I am absolutely unsatisfied with this stage. I don't like the long flat section between the Buchener Sattel and the Sudlefeldpass and I don't even know if it is possible to finish a stage at the Speckalm (There is a parking place but I am not sure if it is big enough). However there are two reasons why I created this stage that way.
1. I really like stage 11 and I had an idea for another stage. The problem was that I needed a stage between these two because the distance between the Kühtai and the finish of stage 13 is quite big.
2. I wanted to make another mountain stage because otherwise there would only be 3 real mountain stages in two weeks and that would be really few. Now I had the problem that there aren't so many great passes in the area where this stage had to finish (I could have made a stage in the Allgäu but that wouldn't bring the race closer to the finish of stage 13)
Whatever, I think this stage still has potential and also the most difficult mtf of the race. The route starts in Austria in Telfs. Right after the start the riders climb up the Buchner Sattel. Probably the break of the day will form up on this pass. As I mentioned before, the profile becomes extremely flat now. Only the last about 15 km will be interesting again. First the riders have to climb the Sudelfeldpass, a 3rd category pass, and directly after the descent the final climb to the Speckalm starts. This mtf is only 6 km long but about 10% steep. There would be massive gaps between the gc riders although this climb is only so short. But there would definitely be attacks because although the queen stage comes tomorrow this is the last mtf.

Telfs:

Speckalm climb:

Speckalm (finish)

climbs:
Buchner Sattel (1st cat.)
Sudelfeldpass (3rd cat.)
Speckalm (1st cat.)

 

[May0maniac]

I've decided to post my version of the USA Pro Challenge, it's not the best stage race that I've ever designed, but at least it should be a better race than the real one.
I wouldn't like to have too many WT-teams, only Tek, Garmin, BMC and maybe another wt-team, the typical US-teams and Airgas safeway, Funvic and the Colombian Movistar team, so it should be a great show
Stage 1 Craig - Kremmling; 242km
The 2nd part of the race:

I wont post the profile of the first 63,5km from Craig to Steamboat Springs, it's nothing but false flat and you just go from 1800 to 2000m and the rest of the stage never goes under 2000m, so the altitude could be a factor.
Like i said, the first 63,5km are flase flat but from Steambot Springs owards whe have rolling terrain an about 7 short uncategorised climbs, most of them are about 3km long and between 4 and 5% steep, nothing to brag about.
The uncategorised climbs:
km 74,1: 2,35km at 4,9%
km 93,3: 1,5km at 6,7%
km 96,6: 2,8km at 4,5%
km 101,1: 3km at 4,7%
km 142,1: 3.3km at 3,9%
km 185,9: 3km at 4,7%
The first categorised climb is Trough Road, 5,9km at 5,4% after 192,5km and the typical american descent on wide roads followed by 9km of false flat will bring the riders to kremmling for the first time.
7 Km later the next climb starts, 4,2km ar 5,2% and after 4km of false flat we have a short steep climb, 1,5km at 9,2% that ends with 13km to go.
Only the first part of the following descent is steep, the final 9km are more of a false flat and will bring the riders to Kremmling for the 2nd time.
This stage doesn't look that hard on paper, but the long distance and the altitude could do some damage, it should be too hard for most of the sprinters and maybe a strong punchy classics rider with a big engine could attack on the final climb and win the stage.
Kremmling:

 

[rghysens]

Tour Complet de France n°2, stage 3: Carpentras - Alès: 169.5km, hilly (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur - Languedoc-Roussillon)

If anything, the first stages in line of this tour are not exactly prehistoric mammoth stages. For the second consecutive day the stage length barely exceeds that of an average espoir race.

The start will be in Carpentras, the city that hosted yesterday's intermediate sprint. The part of yesterday's course between Cavaillon and Carpentras will be raced again, but in opposite direction and right from the start instead of somewhere midstage.

The peloton will make a large loop south of Avignon and cross the Rhône between Tarascon with its famous castle, and Beaucaire.

Then the course will head north, passing nearby the famous Roman aqueduct Pont du Gard. At that point the peloton will follow the big road to Uzès, where the intermediate sprint will be contested after 103km. From here, it's only 33flat kilometers to the finishline, if you take the shortest way. The peloton, however, won't. Instead of taking the direct, northwestern approach to Alès, it will venture north. First it will climb the rather easy Côte de Larnac after 109km, then from km117 to km142 it will carefully circumvent the Mont Bouquet, one of the highest hills of the region.

The pure sprinters may let a sigh of relief, but that would be quite untimely, because the detour was nothing more than a way to tackle the climb to Le Guidon du Bouquet from its most difficult, western side. The summit is followed by a fast, not too technical, descent on a rather narrow road. A bit after the 20km to go sign the bunch (or more likely: the several groups of the exploded peloton) will join the wide D6 that will lead them to the finish, where a small group with the heads of state, or even a daring and strong attacker will contest the stage victory.

Alès

Map & profile:

Difficulty: **

Climbs:
Côte de Larnac: km109; 2.2km @ 5.5%; 4th cat
Mont Bouquet: km145.5; 3.8km @ 9.6%; 560m; 2nd cat (only first 3.8km of the profile, the last few 100meters are a dead end road to a view point)

Intermediate sprint:
Uzès: km 103

 

[May0maniac]

Stage 2 Kremmling - Bear Lake; 160km

After a unusually long first stage we have short 2nd one that should go to the breakaway.
The first 95km are pretty easy mostly false flat, even if the whole stage takes place at high altitude.
Then the first serious climb of the day starts, Fall River Pass on the Trail Ridge Road, 19km at 3,9% and the climb finishes 3700m above the sea level, so you really can call this one a cat. 1 climb, even if it's not that steep.
After the 25km long descent the last 11,4km the riders will ride on the Bear Lake Road up to the Bear Lake parking lot. The first 4km are at at 4,3%, the you have a few hundred meters of false flat followed by the final 6,6km at 3,8km, you can't call this one a real uphill finish, it just a slightly uphill and something for the guys with a big engine.
This one really should go to the breakaway, the teams of the gc-riders won't bother to chase the breakaway, they'll try to save their firepower for the next stage, and the stage should be too hard for the sprinters.
We could see a big fight to get in the breakaway and a few attacks form the riders in the breakaway on Fall River Pass to get rid of the faster sprinters in the breakaway, it should be fun to watch.
The finish of the stage:

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Progsprach - in the Basque Country, nearly every small climb will have SOME cycling history

Il Giro!

Stage 4: Innsbruck - Rifugio Monti Pallidi-Val di Fassa, 194km

Climbs:
Passo del Brennero (cat.3) 38,6km @ 1,8%
Passo di Valparola (cat.2) 14,3km @ 5,8%
Passo di Fedaia (cat.1) 14,1km @ 7,5%
Rifugio Monti Pallidi (cat.3) 6,2km @ 6,4%

Traguardo Volanti:
Rocca Pietore

The Giro returns to Italy via the Dolomites, which means we more or less have to have a mountain stage, although with this being stage 4, we are not going for the total Zomegnan porn that the region can offer if we really went for it. There's a long-standing tradition in the Giro of having a medium-difficulty first early mountain stage to establish gaps, which at times has led to some more severe climbs early in the race when the stage has been delayed to the second weekend (e.g. 2010 with Monte Terminillo or 2006 with Passo Lanciano). Montevergine di Mercogliano is of course the most famous of these "week one mountains". It's rare to see a week one mountain stage up in the kind of region the queen stages often take place, but it has happened in the past, most recently in the unusual 2009 route, where San Martino di Castrozza and Alpe di Siusi served to open up the GC gaps and sort the contenders from the pretenders.

I'm trying to do so with a much better stage. The final climb is less difficult but is preceded by a classic; however the stage is relatively straightforward for a big Dolomiti stage before that. The stage begins in Innsbruck, another of the Four Hills from the Ski Jumping and the host of the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics. As the biggest city in this part of the Tirol, it serves as a good base for a stage heading into Italy via the still mostly Germanophone Südtirol. Our first port of call is to establish a strong break of the day by opening up the stage with the 7km @ 7% that is Patscher Höhe, a narrowish ascent to a popular XC skiing spot and close to the legendary Igls luge/bobsleigh run. Nevertheless, there are no points to be paid here, for it has simply been subsumed into the full 40km length of the busiest pass between Austria and Italy, the legendary Brenner Pass. We are using the old road, so no highway traffic for the Giro péloton, but it will still be a pretty busy sight, this time of riders trying to make good on their escape. Much of the route is flat or false flat, but it slowly ramps up to include some pretty hefty gradients in the last couple of kilometres.

After this, there is a long descent into the beautiful town of Vipiteno-Sterzing, but as with the ascent, not much of this is really what you'd call steep, and it isn't technical either. After this there is a lengthy period of false flat, first downhill then uphill, in the attractive setting of the Val Pusteria.

The main body of this stage, however, is the final 70km or so. After the riders turn southward once more after the feedzone in Chienes, the wick is slowly turned up on the false flat until it eventually becomes a proper climb - and quite a famous one too, at the highest altitude we will go for some time in the race. The Passo Valparola, at 2192m, is one of the higher climbs in the vicinity, and though it's not that imposing in terms of gradient hence being rated cat.2, the second half of the ascent averages 7,3% so the riders will feel this one, especially early in the race.

Valparola crests 52km from the finish. After the descent from this, we have the intermediate sprint in Rocca Pietore, and then the first major climb of the Giro arrives where the GC is likely to be impacted. And it is FEDAIA.

FEDAIA!!!!!!!!!

It is a well known fact that the Serrai di Sottoguda is the best thing to ever happen to cycling and that all races that do not include the Passo di Fedaia could be instantly improved by including the Passo di Fedaia. Since 2011 this piece of epic wonder has not been used and that is too long. It is the greatest climb in world cycling, split equally between jaw-dropping scenery and absurdly tough gradients, and hits the perfect mix of being difficult enough to guarantee action but not being steep enough to become a carnival of pain like Monte Zoncolan or Angliru, allowing genuine tactical racing to break out. Everything is better with Fedaia. And even more so when, after dealing with its cruel collection of hairpins it crests only 19km from the finish, meaning that attacks on the beast, both from the top names looking to put a marker down early in the Giro and secondary or tertiary contenders perhaps looking for a stint in the maglia rosa while the favourites are reluctant to try to take it coast to coast, are very tempting indeed.

After the descent into Canazei, the riders turn to the north for the finale. It is common to see stages with Marmolada finishing on the Passo Pordoi, while 2011's insanely epic queen stage returned to the long forgotten Rifugio Gardeccia climb. Here, we have something slightly different, in that, in order to encourage more action on Fedaia, I've looked for an easier finish, and I've found one. A few kilometres above Canazei, the road to the fabled Passo Pordoi and the road to the slightly less fabled but still highly important in the history of the Giro Passo Sella split. We will be taking the road to the Passo Sella, but only for a kilometre or so before we arrive at the Rifugio Monti Pallidi. From the profile of the Passo Sella you can see the Rifugio - which has ample space to host a bike race - noted just after the 6km marker. You will notice therefore that the climb is shortish, easy at first but ramping up, with the final kilometre at 8,5%. Steep enough to open some small gaps for whatever sized small group comes to the final climb together, but not so steep that it will discourage earlier moves.

This could be a really interesting stage - nay, SHOULD be a really interesting stage, what with the stages before and that this is the biggest GC marker point stage in the first week. And even if it isn't, it has FEDAIA, queen of the Dolomites and most majestic ascent in World cycling. As has been mentioned before, if I have a female child I would consider naming her Fedaia then reject it out of hand as setting impossibly unattainable beauty standards that would lead to crippling self-esteem issues. Because FEDAIA!

Innsbruck:

Rifugio Monti Pallidi-Val di Fassa:

 

[Netserk]

Let's hope the weather is with you

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Ey, it's only a week and a half earlier than they're usually there, and Valparola at 2192m isn't super high. Granted it's a bit higher than they went in 2009 but there wasn't really any issue then. Valparola is also a road that is more likely to get cleared for access than many owing to its comparatively nodal status. Fedaia is less likely to be cleared owing to other, easier passes nearby for the same route, but is also lower (and as far as Malga Ciapela is likely to be cleared anyway).

 

[Netserk]

I'd like to see them climb Fedaia in the snow already on stage 4 (of course we would like to see them climb Fedaia under any circumstances )

But it's all fantasy, so I guess we can imagine the weather to be whatever we please.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

The sprinters are going to love you, heading through the Dolomites pretty early on!

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Giro della Campania Stage 2 Agropoli - Salerno (106km)

Climbs:
Arpignano

Primes:
Ponte Barizzo
Battipaglia
Salerno

Feed Zone:
Montecorvino Rovella

With no change of start location from Stage 1, the riders should enjoy another night in the same hotel. Anyway with the first few kms exactly the same, the riders will be familiar with the start. After 22kms the first prime is at Ponte Barizzo. The second is at Battipaglia. Shortly after, there is the climb up to Arpignano. The feed zone is then at Montecorvino Rovella After a steady descent, they will get to the prime on the circuit in Salerno. At the first crossing of the finish, there is a prime with points and bonuses on offer. Then a lap around the city to finish off.

With it being the only pure sprinters stage, teams that have one will want to control the race. It means a breakaway win is very unlikely.

Start:

Finish:

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Stage 5: Cortina d'Ampezzo - Chioggia, 231km

GPM:
Passo del Praderadego (cat.3) 9,1km @ 6,7%

Traguardo Volanti:
Stra

Going "through" the Dolomites early is quite the operative term, as there's only the one early mountain stage, I'm afraid. After all, the GC will have had its first shake-up, and now we're moving southwards, so waving goodbye to the historic mountain range with a long, but fast, flat stage. We finish over 1000m in altitude lower than we began, with only the one obstacle in the day, so this one should have a high average pace, unless the riders really want to take it easy after a challenging start to the Giro including a similarly long hilly stage into Garmisch-Partenkirchen and yesterday's pseudo-summit finish.

The beautifully scenic Cortina d'Ampezzo is our starting point, the town with a lot of Giro tradition owing to its perfect location at the centre of a number of classic Dolomiti ascents, the Dolomite equivalent to, say, Briançon in the French Alps, Sion in the Valais or Pola de Lena in Asturias. Here, however, we are not taking on Tre Croci, Tre Cime, Giau, Falzarego or Cibiana, all classic ascents which have roots in Cortina, but instead taking the valley road through the Valle di Cadore towards Ponte Nelle Alpi and the spectacular Belluno. After this, we have the one categorized climb of the day, the two-stepped ascent of the Passo Praderadego (the sides that I climb and descend are paved, before you comment looking at the sterrato routes noted online at times!), perhaps under-categorized as third category (I know the Giro tends to under-categorize and most Giro 3rd cat climbs are equivalent to Tour or Vuelta 2nd categories... and in the case of some of the shorter Vuelta ones like Cordal, even 1st categories) due to its absurdly steep wall that follows the brief mid-climb descent.

My counterargument is two-fold; firstly you could argue to only categorize the second part of the ascent, in which you have 4km @ 10%, where cat.3 would seem appropriate in Il Giro (similar to, say, Côte de la Croix-Neuve), with the first part being one of those classic "non-categorized" Giro ascents, such as the several we saw in the Imola stage, and secondly there are well over 100km remaining at the summit - this is not going to be a meaningful ascent in the grand scheme of the race. However, if the first part of the stage has been raced particularly quickly, a few sprinters may be forced to expend enough energy to get over this with the rest of the group that during the rest of the stage, where there is precious little respite, they may not be at their best in such a long stage.

After the descent we criss-cross the TT route from the 2015 Giro as we're close to Treviso, but for the second half of the stage this is absolutely pan flat in the Po Valley, passing sights such as Riese Pio X and the geometrically perfect centre of Castelfranco Veneto. After carefully heading around the outside of Padova and the intermediate sprint in Stra, the last stretch of the race sees us heading directly for the coast along totally flat and potentially heavily windswept roads; the last 25km from Piove di Saccò to Chioggia in particular are prone to wind, although this may not be in the direction to suit the competition, a strong tailwind after the length of the stage may harm those struggling to stay up there to compete in the sprint, and a headwind will be most unwelcome in such a long, fast stage. The final corner is with just over 1km to go, and sees us turn to the north and head across the causeway onto the island town of Chioggia.

Known as "Piccolo Venezia" occasionally, Chioggia is a similar city which has expanded to fill an island and now lays claim to much of the surrounding mainland terrain as well through having swallowed other local towns. The main thoroughfare of the city is the Corso Popolo, which runs parallel to the canal that runs through the centre of town and with its scenic but well-maintained cobbles will serve as the site for the sprinters to duke it out - or at least the group that dealt best with the wind, should the weather have served us well for the second day in a row.

 

[May0maniac]

Cortina d'Ampezzo is such an awesome place to be if you love cycling, hiking or skiing.

 

[Gigs_98]

Deutschland Tour stage 13: Bayrischzell-Berchtesgaden (190 km)
A queen stage of the Deutschland tour finishing in Berchtesgaden? Who would have expected that? Well, I guess everyone.
The final mountain stage starts in Bayrischzell with the Sudelfedlpass, the penultimate climb of stage 12. After the descent there will be another easy bump to Rossholzen. Now there is a long flat section just like on stage 12 but this time the flat will stop much earlier. 103 km before the finish the double of the Schwarzbachwachtsattel and the Hochschwarzeck starts. (btw the Hochschwarzeck was the most difficult climb of last years bayern rundfahrt). Now the real climbing starts. The first 1st category climb of this stage is the Dürreckstraße, not very long but extremely steep.
After a flat descent the riders have to climb the Roßfeld Höhenringstraße for the first time of the stage, this time it won't be extremely difficult because we don't start the climb in the dale. However after a long descent we climb the Roßfeld HÖhenringstraße again, but this time it will be harder. First there is a little uncategorized bump over the Austrian border, then the real climb to the most difficult pass in germany starts. When the riders reach the top of the mountain they only have to descent down to Berchtesgaden, then the stage is finished.

the last 100 km have a complicated map so I also post the final alone

Roßfeld Höhenringstraße:

Berchtesgaden:

climbs:
Sudelfeldpass (3rd cat.)
Rossholzen (4th cat.)
Schwarzbachwachtsattel (3rd cat.)
Hochschwarzeck (3rd cat.)
Dürreckstraße (1st cat.)
Roßfeld Höhenringstraße (1st cat.)
Roßfeld Höhenringstraße (HC)

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Stage 6: Chioggia - Faenza, 188km

GPM:
Monte Casale (cat.4) 7,6km @ 5,2%
Monte Trebbio (cat.3) 6,3km @ 6,1%

Traguardo Volanti:
Imola

With a long day behind them, I am kind enough to the riders to give them absolutely zero transfer, so we start the stage in Chioggia just as we finished yesterday. This stage includes touches of the 2015 Giro along with hints back to the last real northern starting Giro, the 2009 edition (well, omitting those that started outside Italy, of course). But whereas in 2009 and 2015 this area was touched in week 2, here we are still heading southward in week 1, and so rather than a full-on intermediate stage, we are having one of those transitional Giro stages that could be one for the sprinters or could be one for the break, you can't be 100% sure. The early parts of the stage, while completely pan-flat through the Po Valley as per yesterday's stage, have some nice scenery as the riders head through the backdrop of the Parco Veneto Delta del Po.

Once the riders turn inland it remains fully flat; as we head for the base of the Apennines, there aren't even remotely any hills that the riders can suffer up before the intermediate sprint in the 2015 Giro stage town of Imola, most famous of course for its legendary motor racing circuit, perhaps most notorious for the 1994 black weekend that saw the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna, but also a stage town in the Giro and a former host of the UCI Road Race World Championships. We are not heading for the mountains here, though, nor are we taking on the historic race track. Instead we turn back to the southeast and head to the next major town along the base of the mountains, Faenza; this town is also another with great motor racing heritage, as the hometown of the cult perennial backmarkers of the Minardi team which survives in the far less characterful form of Toro Rosso to this day.

The town last played host to the Giro in 2009, on a penultimate weekend intermediate stage which was won by Leonardo Bertagnolli ahead of a splintered breakaway that Serge Pauwels got screwed over in by confused team orders, while the heads of state bunch was trimmed to just 15. However, today's stage, while plagiarizing the last 50km of that, is not as difficult as the 2009 version. There are two categorized climbs in the stage, the final two from 2009 (both are also climbed from alternative sides in the 2015 Giro, in the first half of the Forli-Imola stage). First, Monte Casale, which only gets 4th-category status as, apart from a 1,5km @ 9% section low down, it never really ramps up - the second half of the climb is pretty much false flat and it is unlikely to force major selection. The descent is quite difficult and backs directly into the more challenging Monte Trebbio. This is a far more inconsistent ascent, with the first 1,5km again at 9%, then a gradual flattening out, then a further kilometre at 9%, some more false flat before hitting hard with a final 600m at nearly 10%. At 25km from the finish, if the sprinters want to make it happen here, they will need to be pretty adaptable; if this is going to be a sprint I'm expecting the likes of Swift, Matthews and Lobato rather than the Greipels of this world here, as there is not a great deal of time to get back to the group and recover strength before the final run-in. The descent is mostly straight and fast, but the last couple of kilometres are very steep before a fast and hectic run in with three technical corners in the last 3km and a finish in front of the cathedral just like in 2009.

There you have it: a classic Giro week 1 stage.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Deutschland Tour stage 13: Bayrischzell-Berchtesgaden (190 km)
A queen stage of the Deutschland tour finishing in Berchtesgaden? Who would have expected that? Well, I guess everyone.

I think anyone who's done a Deutschland Rundfarht, had their queen stage at Berchtesgaden. Mine did three loops around the place after an Austrian start.

 

[Progsprach]

It should be no surprise that mine also contained a stage with the Roßfelder Höhenstraße (4 times), although I'm not totally sure whether it is the queens stage or not (PCM decided to label it as a "hills stage")

 

[Gigs_98]

Deutschland Tour stage 13: Bayrischzell-Berchtesgaden (190 km)
A queen stage of the Deutschland tour finishing in Berchtesgaden? Who would have expected that? Well, I guess everyone.

I think anyone who's done a Deutschland Rundfarht, had their queen stage at Berchtesgaden. Mine did three loops around the place after an Austrian start.

I also had the idea of making a mtf on Kehlsteinhaus from Berchtesgaden. I think that would be one of the toughest climbs in the alps, but I think this mtf would destroy the other mountain stages because everyone would know that there is one climb which is that difficult that one great attack there would be enough for the win of the tour

 

[Progsprach]

Pamplona - Frontera del Portalet (176km)
I am kind enough to ease the riders into the final set of mountain stages with a long stretch of flat to rolling terrain containing two intermediate sprints at Liedena and Jaca. Towards the end of the stage the final climb is annonced by a warm-up climb of about 3.3km@4.9%, then a 6km Plateau before the actual start of the final climb of Frontera del Portalet (14.8km@4.6%, cat2), which is rather inconsistent, containing sections of false flat as well as sections of up to 11%. After the climb there are about 3km of rather gentle descent towards the finish, so hopefully some will attack over the top of the climb. Everyone who isn't a climber should brace themselves, they will not get so much mercy the next two stages.

 

[Progsprach]

Berga - Bagneres-du-Luchon (250km)
The queen stage of this Vuelta has the riders immediately start climbing up to the Tunel de Capulat (10.9km@4.7%, cat2) and afterwards ascend the Col de Jou (10.4km@6%, cat2). After a bit of lumpy terrain and the descent, they pass the intermediate sprint at Canelles d Organya before the climb of Coll del Canto (23.9km@4.3%, cat1 nominally, but actually a mix of false flats and sections of about 7%). After the descent and a short flat section, the riders tackle Puerto de la Bonaigue (17.2km@6.3%, HC) a very consistent climb. The final climb is the Col de Portillon (7.5km@7.1%, cat2) and from there the riders descend into the finish at Bagneres-du-Luchon.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Deutschland Tour stage 13: Bayrischzell-Berchtesgaden (190 km)
A queen stage of the Deutschland tour finishing in Berchtesgaden? Who would have expected that? Well, I guess everyone.

I think anyone who's done a Deutschland Rundfarht, had their queen stage at Berchtesgaden. Mine did three loops around the place after an Austrian start.

I also had the idea of making a mtf on Kehlsteinhaus from Berchtesgaden. I think that would be one of the toughest climbs in the alps, but I think this mtf would destroy the other mountain stages because everyone would know that there is one climb which is that difficult that one great attack there would be enough for the win of the tour

Yeah, thats the only problem with hard MTFs.

 

[Progsprach]

Foix - Aixas (136km)
The final decisive stage is a lot shorter and flat until the intermediate sprint at Ax-Les-Thermes, then the long, but rather gentle climb of El Pas de la Casa (33.7km@4.8%, HC) begins with the final 2km at 11%, which is followed by the much steeper Col de la Galina (12.3km@8.2%, HC). After the descent, the short, but steep final climb to the chapel of St.Joan de Aixas (3.8km@9,5%, cat3) is on the program and finished the stage. If someone wants to make up a lot of time, they will need to attack on the penultimate climb, at least.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Why through the Envalira tunnel and not over the summit?

Aixas is absolutely a Vuelta finish though. Not much space but steep. Last 4km of this:

Guillén would possibly prefer to finish from the same setup at Os de Civís (last 6km of this):

Don't think Os de Civís, though there is more room and the climb is decent, would be a likely Vuelta host though, as the finish would be in Spain, so Andorra wouldn't pay for it even though they would need to host all the decisive parts.

 

[Progsprach]

Re:

Why through the Envalira tunnel and not over the summit?

I wasn't sure if the pass is still rideable this late in the calendar.
Edit: But now that I look at the roads they should be fine,

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

Why through the Envalira tunnel and not over the summit?

I wasn't sure if the pass is still rideable this late in the calendar.

They did it in 2013, so it'll be fine; it's been a Vuelta MTF a fair few times as well. Snow tends to linger in the April-May time, won't have set in this far south in September though.