Race Design Thread

[May0maniac]

Gigs, you already used 2 climbs that I'll also use in your St. Moritz stage

 

[Brullnux]

Ahh, I'm glad you used the wonderfully aptly named city of Interlaken

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Ahh, I'm glad you used the wonderfully aptly named city of Interlaken

Inter - lakes --> Interlaken
mind = blown
Btw, thats extremely strange because in german neither the word inter nor the word lake exists, and the german synonyms don't even sound a little bit like that. Maybe these words exist in a suisse accent, but for me, as an Austrian, thats kind of funny

 

[GP Blanco]

Re: Re:

Ahh, I'm glad you used the wonderfully aptly named city of Interlaken

Inter - lakes --> Interlaken
mind = blown
Btw, thats extremely strange because in german neither the word inter nor the word lake exists, and the german synonyms don't even sound a little bit like that. Maybe these words exist in a suisse accent, but for me, as an Austrian, thats kind of funny

Laken can be based on the Latin word 'lacus' = lake. Makes even more sense considering 'inter' is latin.

 

[52520Andrew]

Stage 19

Stage 19: Saint Gaudens - Arreau 157.6 km

Onto another hard mountain stage for the riders. This is probably going to be one for the break however in anticipation of the stage tomorrow. This is a stage that is going to wear the riders down however as a setup stage as we take on a good bit of climbing. Me and ASO also think alike in this stage by getting an actual downhill finish on the Col d'Aspin and making the climb decisive for once. Theirs is probably more decisive as they take on the harder climb and is earlier in the race but my downhill should be more of a challenge and I wanted another good downhill as we will be doing a MTF tomorrow.

Onto the stage itself, the first real climb of the day is the Col de Mente which should be a tough one for the riders and should wear them down for further action on the stage. We then descend and head towards Bagneres de Luchon and while I was very tempted to hit Port de Bales or Portillon, I wasn't a fan of adding much more climbing to the pleasure of the riders. With that said, you could add those climbs and make a pretty nice stage in the area.

We get a sprint in Bagneres de Luchon before hitting the Peyresourde and Azet in quick succession to add more pain to the legs. Then it is La Hourquette d'Ancizan before the Aspin. We hit the Aspin at Lac de Payolle which is the reason I have downgraded the climb to a Cat 2 but the downhill should be fun. It is not nearly as technical as the Turini obviously but it should be a chance for someone to gain a few seconds if they are feeling brave. We finish right at the bottom of the climb(as opposed to going for another 15 km like the stage that descended the other side and finished in Bagneres de Bigorre.

We finish in the town of Arreau, not the biggest town but it should do for a downhill finish. The tour has passed through here a number of times(I mean it is right at the foot of the Aspin so yeah) but I don't believe they have ever hosted a finish.

Arreau, the site of the finish

After the stage we transfer to Pau for the Queen stage and the last chance for the riders to gain any meaningful time before Paris.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Re: Re:

Ahh, I'm glad you used the wonderfully aptly named city of Interlaken

Inter - lakes --> Interlaken
mind = blown
Btw, thats extremely strange because in german neither the word inter nor the word lake exists, and the german synonyms don't even sound a little bit like that. Maybe these words exist in a suisse accent, but for me, as an Austrian, thats kind of funny

Laken can be based on the Latin word 'lacus' = lake. Makes even more sense considering 'inter' is latin.

You have the same in Brazil, where they have an F1 track at a location called Interlagos. I think both words are in the adapted portuguese language that the Brazillians speak. I have never seen the two lakes though!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Interlagos is the town, which does indeed sit on a strip of land between two lakes, though not as obviously as Interlaken; the strip of land is a bit wider and the circuit itself isn't adjacent to either lake.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Going to try and finish off my Vuelta now.

Stage 19: Guadalupe - Guadalupe, 39,0km (Contrarreloj Individual)

GPM:
La Calera (cat.3) 9,7km @ 2,4% (includes Cerro de Santa Catalina, 3,7km @ 4,8%)

In eastern Extremadura, south of Navalmoral de la Mata, there is a smallish mountain range called the Sierra de Guadalupe. It is home to Pico Villuercas, a sizable summit which can be reached from the town of Guadalupe itself or via a nasty, Bola del Mundo-like stretch of hormigón called the Camino de las Acebadillas, which I wrote about in my 21 ESP climbs the Vuelta should be using thread. Traceurs' interest in Guadalupe has traditionally therefore focused on this unused monster ascent. However, there are a couple of great benefits to the region that mean that it's an ideal spot for my Vuelta, after all the stages thus far, to host its final ITT. First is that the hills around the Sierra de Guadalupe mean that it can make for a very challenging time trial without resulting in one of those climbers' TTs like the one in the 2013 Tour. The second is the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Real Monastério de Santa María de Guadalupe, which dominates the skyline and serves to provide an attractive and scenic backdrop for the race.

This is a difficult time trial - there are over 750m of altitude gain in it, but it's still not a mountainous time trial; only the one cat.3 ascent, although that basically is two uphill sectors, between the first time check in Alía and the second one at the hillside pueblo of La Calera. Between the two there's a fairly straight forward ascent of a little under 4km at 5%, then a bit of downhill, then a second climb of around 2,5km at 5,5%. The first part of the TT, before this, is expected to be fast and suit the power riders, starting hard and slightly downhill with only one sharp technical corner, therefore you would expect the power men to lead at the first timecheck, however the second timecheck will see things balanced out a bit more as the more all-round talents are able to win back some time on the scenic roads of the Cerro de Santa Catalina.

The final third of the stage sees a rolling stretch across the mountain ridge, in which a rhythm will be difficult to get into, before a difficult descent which, though it includes no switchbacks, nevertheless includes a number of twists and turns that riders will need to get right. This ends with 3km to go, and then the closing stretches see the riders head back uphill into the city to finish in front of the famous monastery, with a highly inconsistent ascent including some steeper (though by the standards of this Vuelta, not that steep) ramps alternating with sections of flat.

At only 39km it isn't super long; it's a similar length to the Requena TT, meaning that we've had three tests against the clock in this Vuelta for a total of 88km, which is not a huge amount compared to some routes we've seen in here. However, my thinking is that the 49km thus far have been completely pan flat, and also this one will come in the final week so its inconsistent and difficult nature will be magnified; also while this whole route is about trying to dissuade defensive racing and producing a monster medium mountain Vuelta, showing that the current trend for shorter, steeper climbs does not have to mean Unipuerto finishes and conservative wait-for-the-MTF racing, it is also true that there will be plenty of more defensively-minded riders and DSes who would look at a route where the most difficult MTF is Valdelinares and say that, if there were over 100km of time trialling, it wouldn't be worth their climbing GC hand showing up (meaning that they obviously wouldn't have studied the road book, but you know what modern cycling is like). This is a Vuelta with a vastly decreased number of uphill finishes (it's stage 19, we've only had Valdepeñas de Jaén (uncategorized), Valdelinares (cat.1), Santuari de Queralt (cat.2), Albergue de Ancáres (cat.2) and Monastério de Yuste (cat.3) thus far, and there's only one left) and yet I still think that the likes of Valverde and Rodríguez could line up and feel they can win this.

This TT will suit the likes of Valverde, actually, though I would anticipate more durable and all-round riders with strong TTs to be those contending the win unless we get a Contador-Froome battle breaking out like in 2014. Luís León Sánchez or Ion Izagirre would be other potential candidates for the home win, while Tom Dumoulin, Ilnur Zakarin and of course current World Champion Vasil Kiryienka will be major threats from elsewhere. Also, the TT means the GC contenders will have to go hard, which they could pay for tomorrow...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Stage 20: Talavera de la Reina - San Lorenzo de El Escorial, 231km

GPM:
Puerto de Mijáres (cat.1) 22,2km @ 4,9%
Alto de San Juan de la Nava (cat.3) 8,0km @ 4,3%
Collado Mediano (cat.2) 4,0km @ 9,2%
Alto de Santa María de la Alameda (cat.3) 5,0km @ 6,2%
Alto de Robledondo (cat.3) 4,3km @ 5,5%
Alto de Abantos (cat.1) 11,5km @ 5,4%
Alto de Robledondo (cat.3) 4,3km @ 5,5%
Pinar de Abantos (cat.3) 5,3km @ 6,3%
Alto de San Lorenzo de El Escorial (cat.3) 3,8km @ 6,2%

The final weekend begins with the penultimate stage, which serves as the last in my trilogy of intermediate queen stages, following on from the Pamplona and Oviedo stages. This is the only one of the three with an uphill finish, however. This one is also the longest stage of the race, at over 230km in the saddle, so there should be some tired legs by the end of this; also given the likely gaps in the GC by now, hopefully some desperate times will call for desperate measures and we will see some aggressive racing with the GC on the line, just as we did in stage 20 this year.

Talavera de la Reina, a city famous for its pottery, sits at the southern tip of the Sierra de Gredos and as a result is a popular stop off for the Vuelta, recently hosting stages in 2007, 2009 and 2011 as well as the Spanish national road championships in 2008. In each of those years it hosted a flat stage (2007's won by Bennati, 2011's by Kittel, but in 2009 there was the awesome sight of the mighty Anthony Roux defeating the HTC train after a day long breakaway; then serving as the start town for the following day's stage. 2007's stage was the classic Mijáres-Navalmoral combo into Ávila with the cobbled finish, however unlike the legendary Vandenbroucke stage, a lengthy loop around Ávila rendered the Navalmoral climb a bit meaningless, while in the 2009 version Navalmoral was eschewed in favour of a duo of shorter climbs, moving Mijáres further from the finish. Both stages went to the breakaway, 2007's to Luís Pérez Rodríguez and 2009's to Phil Deignan (which made him the highest placed GC man with a stage win. In 9th). It is, however, to the 2011 stage, won by Joaquím Rodríguez, that I have turned for inspiration, where they entered Comunidad de Madrid for a difficult hilly/intermediate stage including a number of the smaller climbs I'm using in this stage.

My stage also takes elements from the 2007 stage from Ávila to Abantos, won by Samuel Sánchez in his last-ditch attempt to claw back time, while Denis Menchov merrily defended his maillot oro. Think of my stage as a combination of the two... on steroids.

Perhaps unusually for such a long and brutal up-and-down day, the hardest of the climbs is the very first one, mainly as the plateau on which much of Castilla y León sits is higher altitude than that of Castilla-La Mancha. The Puerto de Mijáres is of course a Vuelta classic, which though seldom decisive owing to a lack of suitable stage towns nearby, often thins out the bunch and serves as an introduction to the Sierra de Gredos.

In riders' favour is that the overall average gradient is not especially threatening and, unlike many climbs in this Vuelta, not especially misleading; it's a relatively consistent climb with only one ramp over 10%. Nevertheless, it is over 20km long, so attrition may play a role especially on day 20 of a difficult Vuelta. Anybody dropped here will have a long day of suffering ahead if they want to make it to Madrid. Following the descent, where the 2009 and 2011 stages went via Navalmoral to San Juan de la Nava over false flat, we will instead take the more easterly and more direct route, the Alto de San Juan de la Nava. It's not especially threatening, with 4km at a little over 6% in the middle being the main hazard. Shortly after the summit (5,9km later) we pass through the town of El Barraco, which with its population of just 2.000 is arguably the Spanish equivalent to Palù di Giovo - the town is the birthplace of Victor Sastre, and the home of his son Carlos; earlier it was also the birthplace of his brother-in-law José María Jiménez, and also the 80s climber Ángel Arroyo. I designed a one-day climbing race around the Sierra de Gredos which finished with this same combo (Mijáres + San Juan de la Nava) and then a finishing line at the Monumento Chava Jiménez, because I felt that given the other taken-from-us-too-soon mercurial 90s greats, Pantani and Vandenbroucke, have their own Memorial races, and it's sad that Jiménez doesn't. Here is a documentary. Rest in peace, Chava, a true king of the mountains.

After suitable tributes have been paid the race rejoins the 2011 stage route, and continues with its next climb, the short but nasty Collado Mediano. Including ramps of up to 17%, and a final kilometre averaging nearly 11%, it's a tricky one, although with over 100km remaining it's unlikely to see action.

There's no respite however as there's no descent, simply flat until Las Navas del Marqués with its scenic castle, which marks the transition of this one into a sawtoothed monstrosity. The next climb is known in previous Vuelta routes as the Alto Hoyo de la Guija, after a village passed partway through; I have named it the Alto de Santa María de Alameda after the village at the "true" summit a little later, though the end of the main slopes is at the Alto del Carrascal. The profile is here and shows fairly comfortable climbing until Hoyo de la Guija, after which it ramps up quite considerably for a kilometre at 11% with max ramps of 14%, then a final kilometre of, essentially, false flat.

This is followed almost immediately by the Alto del Robledondo, a comparatively unthreatening climb of 5,5% for 4km. Cresting at 77km to go, it is mainly worth mentioning as it descends into El Escorial, leading to our first passing of the finishing line, and therefore where we abandon the 2011 stage for pastures more brutal. While we do include the nasty ramps of a puncheur finish in San Lorenzo de El Escorial in this ascent, the finishing line is barely the beginning as this time, we're taking on a real Vuelta classic, the mythical Alto de Abantos.

If you include the initial ramps into San Lorenzo de El Escorial, the climb is closer to 15km and has a max gradient in excess of 20%, but 11,5km @ 5,4% are the official stats. It is a tougher climb than those statistics would let on however, owing to that flatter period in the middle. It's an inconsistent climb which makes finding a rhythm difficult; many a Vuelta has been broken up right at the end by the suffering incurred on this deceptively hard climb. In 2007 the favourites group blew up right at the base and in 2001 Simoni and Jiménez got away and rode through the initial escapees, while Sevilla failed to distance the stronger time triallists, paving the way for his final day heartbreak when Ángel Casero took the jersey from him in Madrid. In 2003, it caused heartbreak more directly, when Isidro Nozal, who had led since stage 4 and rumbled himself up the 5% grinders of that year's route trouble-free, exploded in the stage 20 MTT and lost the jersey to Roberto Heras, who a year later he'd be domestiquing for to add insult to injury.

Most of the climb is on tired but acceptable tarmac, however there are some sections that will absolutely need repaving before the race can go over them. They're still paved, but as you can see from the 2007 footage, the tarmac between the Puerto Malagón and the summit is pretty bad; it hasn't got better since. However, Abantos is pretty legendary in the Vuelta, and therefore if there was the interest in hosting again I can't imagine that there would be any problem in repaving it. It also keeps a bit of variation in the late Vuelta stages, offering different options. In my stage, there are 52km remaining at the summit of Abantos; I don't expect too much action unless there is a Tom Dumoulin-style rider in red who may be suffering by this point. The descent from Abantos is fairly rolling and gradual until the last few kilometres, which the riders will already be familiar with since they went through Santa María de la Alameda earlier. After this is a second ascent of Robledondo, which crests with 29km remaining, and then we descend into El Escorial once more.

In the 2011 stage, they rode directly from Robledondo into San Lorenzo de El Escorial and up to Pinar de Abantos (which they named Alto San Lorenzo de El Escorial) without crossing the finishing line, basically doing a second climb within the town parallel to the finishing one. I, however, am going from Robledondo into El Escorial before doing the main body of the climb. If you look at the coverage of the 2011 race, this therefore means that we climb the section from 15:00 to the finish, then shortly after the finish turn left, then right shortly afterward, onto the section of climb they ascend from around 03:00 to 07:00 in that video, with Taaramäe and Ángel Madrazo attacking. This climb profile was borrowed from PRC's 7 Estrellas Madrid classic which shows you both of the final two climbs in my stage - the first, Pinar de Abantos, is all of that ascent and crests with 12km remaining (my loop around the town is slightly longer than the one in 2011). The second is the final climb up to the finish and is the first 3,8km only:

As you can see from both that profile and the closing kilometres of the 2011 race footage in the link above, there are some stretches of relatively easy cobbles to deal with here, along with some ramps of up to 23% which will really shred some legs after a day with 9 categorized climbs and 230km in the legs. I expect this stage to be taken hard because of its position in the race; the pace should be high from Abantos onwards which should shrink the péloton down; the last two ascents around the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial should be brutally aggressive as the gaps are sought - you don't have to finish with a high mountain stage, in fact the Vuelta lends itself to this kind of racing if only Javier Guillén wanted to see it. That 2011 stage was one of the best-designed Vuelta stages of recent years, and here I've simply expanded on it a bit to create something that I think should explode the race at the last.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Stage 21: Madrid - Madrid, 168km

GPM:
Dehesa de la Villa (4a Paso)(cat.3) 1,1km @ 6,2%
Dehesa de la Villa (8a Paso)(cat.3) 1,1km @ 6,2%

Traditionally, since the decision to stop frequenting País Vasco in the 1970s, the Vuelta has ended in one of two ways.

1) a rather generic parade stage in the city centre, generally finishing on the Paseo del Prado. While ASO now owns the Vuelta and this is an obvious nod to the classic Champs-Elysées finish in the Tour, it is by no means as sacrosanct or as traditional as the Tour's iconic finish.
2) an ITT, which is usually into Madrid, although occasionally - such as in 2014 - they take place elsewhere. The 2014 ITT was short, acting almost as an epilogue, whereas the earlier tests against the clock were significantly longer and often saw dramatic last minute changes in the GC - 2001's 38km test saw Ángel Casero overhaul Óscar Sevilla for the race victory, while a year later a 41km journey from the Warner Brothers Theme Park on the outskirts of the city to the Bernabeu stadium saw the AITORMINATOR© destroy Heras by over 3 minutes, taking the stage and the GC. While in 2003, after the Abantos MTT the Madrid ITT was abandoned, it returned in 2004 when the Chris Froome of years past, Santiago Pérez, suddenly discovered he could time trial, and won a 28km test, but not by as much as he needed to capture the lead from Heras.

Since then, it has been all sprints when finishing in Madrid. There is, however, a third way. While it is still likely to result in a sprint, I am offering one last chance to the riders to break things up by finishing the race with a circuit race - eight laps of the 21km circuit which hosted the 2005 World Championships. Those Worlds were of course won by Tom Boonen, and did end in a sprint, however the course was reasonably selective and the group was not a particularly large one. This is thanks to a couple of climbs on the course, firstly the shorter and slightly steeper Dehesa de la Villa climb, and secondly, the more gradual but longer and less consistent Avenida Cardenal Herrera Oría.

These aren't really categorization worthy - the former is 1,1km @ 6,2% and the latter around 2,2km @ 3,8% - however I will give points out on laps 4 and 8 for Dehesa de la Villa. These could offer a platform for riders to try something if a classification is close, or at least make sure that the race ending sprint isn't a formality as it often is (although those Worlds did benefit because of the one-off nature and prestige of the race and also because VINO). There's also the infamous "McEwen corner" at 600m to go, which will make positioning key if it does stay together. You can watch the closing stages of the 2005 Worlds on this circuit here.

Sure, at 168km it shouldn't be as selective as the Worlds race was, but then the Worlds race didn't come after three weeks of punishing racing either. Either way, this should be a bit more interesting than the Paseo del Prado circuit.

OVERALL RACE SUMMARY

Stage 1: Sevilla - Sevilla, 7,5km

Stage 2: San José de la Rinconada - Córdoba, 148km

Stage 3: Córdoba - Valdepeñas de Jaén, 165km HTF

Stage 4: Úbeda - Albacete, 200km

Stage 5: Requena, Requena, 39,4km

Stage 6: La Vall d'Uixó - Estación de Esquí Aramón-Valdelinares, 167km MTF

Stage 7: Alcañíz - Vilanova i la Geltrú, 190km

Stage 8: Vic - Bergà (Santuari de Queralt), 182km MTF

Stage 9: Solsona - Monestir de les Avellanes, 189km

Stage 10: Huesca - Pamplona, 194km

Rest day (Pamplona)

Stage 11: Pamplona - Bilbao, 208km

Stage 12: Castro Urdiales - Santillana del Mar-Cuevas de Altamira, 158km

Stage 13: Reinosa - León, 172km

Stage 14: León - Oviedo, 185km

Stage 15: Grado - A Pontenova, 217km

Rest day (Lugo)

Stage 16: Lugo - Albergue de Montaña "Club Ancáres", 146km MTF

Stage 17: La Bañeza - Salamanca, 177km

Stage 18: Salamanca - Monastério de San Jerónimo de Yuste, 171km HTF

Stage 19: Guadalupe - Guadalupe, 39,0km

Stage 20: Talavera de la Reina - San Lorenzo de El Escorial, 231km HTF

Stage 21: Madrid - Madrid, 168km (Circuito Mundial, 8 vueltas)
Total 3354km

 

[fauniera]

Giro d'Italia

prologue: Napoli 3,8 km
stage 1: Napoli - Napoli 169 km
stage 2: Castellammare di Stabia - Avellino 105 km
stage 3: Benevento - Termoli 214 km
stage 4: Peschici - Vieste 161 km
stage 5: Manfredonia - Ostuni 228 km

(Fri) stage 6: Santa Maria di Leuca - Otranto, 52 km ITT

This is the longest time trial of the race. It takes place at the southernmost tip of the Salento peninsula, the "heel" of the Italian "boot". The starting place is the beautiful Basilica De Finibus Terrae above the little village of Santa Maria di Leuca. The adjoined lighthouse is second most important in Italy, after Genova.

The coastal road is not completely flat, but the hills are much less dramatic than in Gargano. Still it won't be easy to settle into a rythm at first. After 15 km the terrain becomes easier and except for two little hills it is a flat time trial for the rest of the stage.

One key characteristic of this stage is the very open terrain. This is obviously the case for the the sea on the right hand side of the riders. At the left hand side rocks provide some shelter at first, but for the last quarter of the stage there is no shelter at all, the riders will be totally exposed to he wind. Tiny climbers will hate this, but they will soon have a chance to strike back.

Otranto (finish)

 

[May0maniac]

The Apulian coast has to be one of the best places in Italy to design potential crosswind stages.
Libertine's stage 20 is just awesome.

 

[jsem94]

Dat stage. Dat Vuelta.

Unipublic, take notes!

 

[Gigs_98]

DACH Rundfahrt stage 19: Spiez - Martingy (225 km)

difficulty: *****

The DACH Rundfahrt is almost over but before the riders can rest, there are still two brutal mountain stages. Generally this is a kind of strange mountain stage. There are numerous 1st and 2nd category climbs, the riders are in the part of the alps with the highest mountains but there isnt one single climb over 1500 meters. However that doesnt mean that the stage isnt very difficult. It's absolutely brutal, probably the queen stage of the race but the riders aren't on super high alps passes, but on narrow roads in the woods.
The start of the stage is still located on the coast of the Thunersee, in the scenic town of Spiez.

The first 35 kilometers are probably the most easiest ones of the stage. They are always slightly uphill but not steep to effect the rest of the stage. The first two climbs aren't big highlights too, although their names aren't even that unknown. First comes the Saanenmöser Sattel a little warm up climb which also wont hurt anyone but its a little teaser for what is still to come. The next climb is the Col des Mosses, a long but flat climb which is used in cycling races quite often because it is a perfect transition from the Kanton Bern, to the south of Switzerland where many of the most famous passes of the country are located.

After a long descent the first serious climb of the day, up to Villars sur Ollon, starts. Villars sur Ollon is a town located in the middle of the Col de la Croix, but although the climb could be way harder if you climb it up to the pass the part I use is still pretty hard and a 1st category climb.

(up to the black bar)

Directly after the descent the next climb starts. This one goes up to the little village Giettes and it is about as difficult as the first 1st cat. climb. After this one the peloton should already be a bit smaller, because bad climbers normally don't survive two climbs like that directly after each other. However The riders are still pretty far away from the finish so the pace probably wont be that high yet, although some teams might try to make the race hard to isolate the leader on one of the following climbs

After the descent from Giettes the riders first arrive in Saint Maurice where an intermediate sprint takes place. This is followed by a long flat section of about 20 kilometers, but at least its the last flat section of the day because it now becomes even harder. The first ascent of the final triple of climbs is the easiest one. The Petite Forclaz was used in this years Tour de Romandie and is basically the first half of the Col de la Forclaz, which was used in last years Dauphine and will be used in next years tour, in both cases before a mtf in Finhaut Emosson.

As in this years Romandie the next climb is the Col de Champex but in my DACH Rundfahrt I use it as a pass and not as a mtf. This is probably the hardest pass of the stage. This is the point where some riders who have a big disadvantage in the gc might try the first attack. Thats mainly because there is no flat before the final climb of the stage and because the descent is very technical, so riders like Nibali could build there advantage there.

The already mentioned last climb is the Col des Planches. Although this is also a first category climb it is clearly shorter climb, than the Col de Champex. However the gradients of this ascent are still hard enough to make this a very interesting last climb of the day with gc action almost guaranteed. This is the penultimate chance for the climbers so they should really go for it. And if not on the ascent then maybe on the descent, because this last descent which leads directly to the finish in Martingy is extremely technical.

Martigny:

ps: sorry if there are some mistakes, but its 00:30 and I'm so tired that its hard for me to look on the computer screen

 

[May0maniac]

Stage 3: Brugg - St. Gallen; 168km

The stage starts in Brugg, so no transfer after stage 2.
The first half of the stage is mostly flase flat, then we get some rolling terrain, nothing special.
After that we have the descent from Hebrig to Altstätten on the Stossstraße, it's not very technical but we still have a few nice hairpins.
Altstätten is a small town near St. Gallen that was destroyed in the Appenzell Wars 1410 by the habsburgian troops.
Right after the descent the only categorised climb of the day starts, the Ruppenpass.

After that we have 8.5km of flase flat, then a gentle descent will bring the riders down to St. Gallen.
When you hear St. Gallen most of you will probably think about the famous Abbey of Saint Gall, one of the most important cultural centers of the Early Middle Ages, and its library, the most important and comprehensive collection of early medieval books in the German speaking part of Europe.
It's an interesting stage, if the climb is raced hard enough a guy like Valverde could win the stage, if his team is able to set a high tempo on the false flat before the descent, otherwise this should be a stage for the likes of Sagan or Matthews.
St Gallen:

 

[jsem94]

Insane.

 

[52520Andrew]

Some great stages by Gigs and Libertine, I will be finishing my Tour here tonight

 

[Steven Roots]

Silk Road : The Race

I talked earlier about a special project. Here we go.
No, the plan is not to move drugs around the world. Well, technically, at least, not that kind of drugs.

Anyway, the race will be one of a special kind.
Consider this as the Monaco GP or the Safari Rally, the weird excentricity of the schedule, the race-that-shouldnt-exist-but-does.

Thanks to a very rich and deep cultural background, at least, it is a believable thought.
The route is not, though, quite obviously. But this time, its not my fault, and because of my habits, but because of the areas we're going through.

The distance between the starting and finishing points is huge : Over 8.000km.
It is obviously impossible to reach this distance in 3 weeks, i'm not a monster (as hard as it is to believe, i am not !), but it also means that we're going to disobey the UCI rules on a consistent basis.
It will be an extravagant and outrageous race, with horrible difficulties, fantastic scenery and an insane variety of regions and people on the way, as we're going through 9 different countries.

I tried as hard as possible to make a route that is within the limits of whats acceptable.
The daily average is under the 240km mark, no stage will go over 300km, and we will have 4.629km of racing over 21 days. Im not sure that the best format for the race, but its the way it is.

I have to mention that some cities that will receive the race are seriously secluded. Size should not be a big problem, but the lack of urban centers in some areas will be a serious issue. We'll have to assume that this kind of race has the logistics it deserves.
After all, this is a race going through thousands of kilometers with some severely inhospitable lands and a race that should be instantly propelled as the major race of the year.

Still, a lot of potential routes have been avoided on safety or practicality grounds.
Several stages will be under scrutiny for that very reason as the roads we're going through will separate heroes from men.

We're not exactly going to follow Marco Polo, one of the few that actually did travel between Europa and those lands far away in the East.

The Silk Road is itself a standardized name for a small set of trade roads and tracks linking Europa and China back then. Way back, as we're talking about a route used on a consistent basis since 2000 years.
Thanks to them, we were able to copy the chinese and import their marvels, silk, yes, but also compass, gunpowder, and so much more.

Here, its going to be a terrible challenge for cyclists.
Now that we're settled, lets talk about the first stage.

STAGE 1 : Antioche - Alexandrette, 104km.

What ? A 104km stage ? Is this the hardest you can find ?
Be patient my friend.

Still, even though it is going to be a very short stage (the shortest of all), its going to be an intense day.

Antioche (now called Antakya, Turkey) is the theater of the start of the race.

The city is largely considered to be one of the major christian centers in history. Like two thousand years ago, when some people you may have heard of supposedly exist. I'm not going to make jokes on them as i dont want to be crucified.
The Church of Saint Peter is one of the oldest of the world, and thats where the start will take place. No, the race is not a disguised form of proselytism.

But it is a remarkable site, historically meaningful. And Antioche was also considered as one of the starting point of the Silk Road.

We'll have to reach Alexandrette (Iskenderun in turkish), not that far, and on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
Founded by Alexander the Great (of course), theater of some of the inter-war intrigue in the Middle East, of an Indiana Jones movie, and also the biggest port of the area.

That is last time we'll see the sea in three weeks.

The road between those two cities is in fact split by a mountain chain, the Nur Mountains, who separated the Cilicia, on the Coast, from inland Syria, behind those mountains. Just to be clear, we're not actually going in Syria, the country.

After 30km of racing, we'll start with our first climb of the race, the Belen Pass, also known a long time ago as the Syrian Gates. Closer to a spanish autopista at this point, things will get more narrow later.

Thats where Alexander the Great and Darius III fought in ther Battle of Issus, fight which led, eventually, to the fall of the Achaemenid Empire.
We should see some fighting too, but of a less intense kind, and hopefully, with less blood on the road.

The ascent can be split in two parts, a relatively rolling 12km part first, on the large road shown earlier, and then we'll have a change of pace was we move to the smaller road, at Halilbey, after a small descent.
The gradients are much more difficult over the next 2km, and should allow attacks. The road is of dubious quality, but its good enough for me.

After the descent, we'll already reach Alexandrette, but as this is too soon to end the fun, we're going back up again on the Belen Pass, but through the village of Güzelyayla. Once again, the road is not exactly up to the usual standards, but we'll have to get used to this.

With almost no flat and a climb which is once again much harder at the top, we should already see the leaders and the outsiders struggle on the road.

On a positive note, though, for the ones worried about struggling, the short distance, the relatively limited length of the properly difficult parts and the fact that everyone is at 100% will allow more people than usual to hang on with the best riders.

On a standard Tour de France, we'll know that they'll finish 12th. But in this race and with whats coming, they're right to believe in themselves, this one is wide open.

To give you an idea, its not as hard as Mende (usually 3-4 riders will split from the rest), but is harder than Manse (10-12) in Gap, or the Lacets of Montvernier. That second climb got a profile for the last 5km quite close to the Mont Faron in Toulon, often seen in Paris-Nice.
Problem for the best climbers : The distance between the summit and the finish line (21km, with more than 10km of flat) also leaves a question mark about whats going to happen after that, since there is largely enough time to organize a chase and we'll possibly (probably ?) see some riders come back in the leaders group.

We can expect a fight between something like 15 riders and gaps to be relatively small for the next 15-20 riders. Is it too difficult for a slovakian guy ? I think so.
A versatile murcian should have a good shot at the win today, but this is likely going to end up with a "surprise" winner (and leader) as tactics will play a part in the finish.

Gradients, km by km :
-Belen Pass/Halilbey : 8.5 - 2 - 5.5 - 3 - 4.5 - 7.5 - 6 - 4 - 2.5 - 4 - 0 - 0 - 10.5 - 11.5 - 1.5
-Belen Pass/Güzelyayla : 8.5 - 3.5 - 2.5 - 2.5 - 6.5 - 0 - 0 - 8 - 8.5 - 10 - 9 - 2 - 9.5

 

[52520Andrew]

Right, sorry for the delay guys, been busy this past weekend so gonna have to put the Tour completion off for one more day here to tomorrow night.

I will give you a hint though about the stage, it will not be the exact route but it plays a large part in the stage. 1910

 

[jsem94]

GREAT idea for a project. I can't wait for the rest of the tour.

 

[May0maniac]

Stage 4: St. Gallen - Davos; 210km

The stage starts in St. Gallen and after a short descent the riders will race alongside the shores of the Bodensee, then they'll climb the Ruppenpass and visit St. Gallen and the Bodensee a 2nd time, then after 80km they'll go southwards.
The next 70km are false flat and near the Austrian and Lichtensteinian Border.
After that we have 2 short consecutive climbs, Fanas, 4km at 7,7%, and Lundenstraße, 6,3km at 6%.
After the descent to Küblis the final climb of the day Wolfgangpass starts.

(From Küblis onwards)
It's an irregular climb with lots of false flat, but after the 2 short climbs it should be a decent climb.
The climb ends with 5km to go, the final 5km are mostly false flat and will bring the riders to Davos, the highest city in Europe. Davos became an important health resort durning the 19th century and is also an important winter sports resorts, many of you will know the Spengler Cup the oldest international ice hockey tournament in the world.
Libertine probably associates Davos with the Davos Nordic, the x-country skiing WC event.
This should be a stage for the guys that do well in races like Lombardia and LBL, if raced hard enough it could come down to a pretty reduced sprint between the gc-contenders, but the next stage is much harder, so they'll probably try to save some enery for that stage. With stage 5 being a hard stage in the high mountains this one could go to the breakaway, I don't think that many teams will be willing to control this stage, the gc-contenders will try to save the firepower of their teams for stage 5, maybe if a Puncher has a stong team with no gc-ambitions, but otherwise trying to be in the breakaway should be the better option.
Davos:

 

[jsem94]

Davos is one of the greatest places on Earth.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

You are correct, I associate Davos primarily with the Nordic events

 

[May0maniac]

Stage 5: Davos - Miralago; 201km

The first really hard high mountain stage of my TdS.
The stage starts in Davos and only 500m later we have the first climb, Füelapass.

It's not the hardest climb in the world, if you consider the altitude it is a great climb to have right at the start of a hard mountain stage.
After the descent we have 6km of false flat before the next climb starts, Ofenpass/Passo dal Fuorn.

The descent is nothing special, but after the descent we have the first real monster, Umbrailpass

We cross the Swiss border and descent down to Bormio, then we have 32km of false flat/easy, gentle descent before the iconic Mortirolo from Mazzo starts.

After the technical Mortirolo descent and about 5km of the Aprica climb Monte Padrio starts, 9,4km at 9,8%.
After that we have the really technical descent to Tirano and only 1km of false flat before the final climb of the day starts, Miralago, 7,8km at 6,7%, it's the first ramp of the Passo del Bernina from Tirano before the false flat section.

.
I know it is a little bit unusal to have the Mortirolo in the TdS, but the stages starts and finished on Swiss soil and I really wanted to use the Umbrail in my TdS.
This will be a really hard stage, we have 2 climbs as a warm-up, then the Umbrail should be ideal to wear the riders and their domestiques down, the Mortirolo will already create a very small group of gc-favourites and the race should really explode on the Monte Padrio. Add the technical Monte Padrio descent and the easier final climb and you have a stage that should encourage the riders to attack on the penultimate climb.
The next stage will be an easier stage for the breakaway/reduced sprint, so the gc-contenders don't need to conserve energy for that stage and can go all out on this one.
This stage has the potential to create great racing and big gaps and should be fun to watch.
Miralago:

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Going through Santa Maria di Val Müstair without a mention of Dario? Tsk tsk.