Race Design Thread

[Tonton]

STAGE 16 – AMIENS-ROUBAIX – 224.2K



After a rest day, things get tough immediately with a monument: Amiens-Roubaix, including all 19 “secteurs pavés” from the ’12 edition (last 100K - same course).



After crossing the battle lines of the Bataille de la Somme and an intermediate sprint in Péronne , the goody bag in Clary, the race truly begins. On week three, teams aren’t at full strength, so this stage has the potential to turn the GC upside down.



The finish on the vélodrome in Roubaix is always very special. My all-time favorite is this one: wearing the rainbow jersey, ahead of the greats Roger De Vlaeminck and Francesco Moser, it doesn’t get much better than that.

 

[Tonton]

STAGE 18 – BAR LE DUC-VESOUL – 177.4K



After two very tough days, a short liaison stage is not unreasonable. Today’s journey begins in Bar-le-Duc.



It’s a day for the sprinters. After crossing the Saône river, two small uncategorized climbs shouldn’t prevent a mass-sprint in Vesoul.



The finish is located on the edge of town on D457, an area with a lot of parking space, where the road is wide and free of roundabouts.

 

[Tonton]

STAGE 19 – BAUME LES DAMES-GRAND BALLON – 189.9K



Col du Mont de Vannes (Cat 2), 5.1K @ 6.7% - Côte du Souvenir Français (Cat 3), 2K @ 9% - Col des Chevrères (Cat 2), 3.4K @ 9.5% - Ballon de Servance (Cat 2), 11.5K @ 5.6% - Ballon d’Alsace (Cat 1), 8.9K @ 7% - Col du Hundsruck (Cat 3), 8.2K @ 4.2% - Grand Ballon (HC), 11.9K @ 7.8%.

Time is running out. This is the last chance for climbers to gain time, and here’s the dilemma: should I spend energy ahead of tomorrow’s ITT? It all depends on how fresh you are compared to the opponent(s), I suppose. In any case, this is a tough course. After the sprint in Ronchamp, the roads get narrow: it’s Thibaut Pinot’s back-yard at the southern tip of the Vosges. The Col des Chevrères is a notorious pest, and it’s when things begin to get rough.



Three Ballons (and one Col) left to climb: first, the Ballon de Servance; not too hard but it has a steep mid-section. Next is what was the first official climb in a Tour de France (’05 – first on top René Pottier), the Ballon d’Alsace. The Col du Hundsruck has a modest average gradient, yet the first part has 1.5K @ 6.7%. After the descent in the middle, the second part of the climb is a steady 5.8-6%. The descent is short, technical, and then the road heads North to Moosch: showtime!



Attacks are to be expected in the steep final 3K, as more riders fall off the back, some losing their top-10 placing.

 

[Tonton]

STAGE 20 – FONTAINEBLEAU ITT – 55.5K



Long flat ITT. Three time checks.



Freshness will matter as much as ITT skills.

 

[Tonton]

STAGE 21 – MELUN-PARIS – 102.4K



KOM: Côte des Bouleurs (Cat 4), 1K @ 5.8% - Côte de la Tour (Cat 4), 1.7K @ 4.8% - Côte de Montguichet (Cat 4), .7K @ 6.6%.

If the KOM jersey competition hasn’t been wrapped up, there will be action on the three small climbs of the day. Otherwise, it’s Champagne, and a retro finish at La Cipale, where it used to be.





Large crowds, here in ’74, Patrick Sercu edging Eddy for the win. I hope you enjoyed this Tour de France.

 

[Breh]

check pm

 

[Valv.Piti]

Im amazed by that route. I would have liked the posts to be a little longer, but you can't have everything! My favourite stage is the one in the Basque Country. I have never heard of the finishing climb in the Pyrenees, it looks like another Tourmalet (which you shouldn't feel ashamed for including, it can also be to hipster if you get the vibe), but more irregular. I like the Alps, obviously, how can you not? Looks like something I would want to spend 15 hours watching. The only thing I don't like that much is the cobbles this late and right after the mountains (just in terms of realism). Because I would obviously also want to watch that.

I see some patterns in this route and the 2016-route of TdF. The appetiser before the Pyrenees on stage 5, then a stage finishing downhill (2 in the Tour) and then finishing off with a MTF. Only 20 km more of ITT and a few leg breakers before the Alps... I like it. Altho this route surely is in another category entertainment-wise with those glorious passes which you seem to have gathered all of.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

Im amazed by that route. I would have liked the posts to be a little longer, but you can't have everything! My favourite stage is the one in the Basque Country. I have never heard of the finishing climb in the Pyrenees, it looks like another Tourmalet (which you shouldn't feel ashamed for including, it can also be to hipster if you get the vibe), but more irregular. I like the Alps, obviously, how can you not? Looks like something I would want to spend 15 hours watching. The only thing I don't like that much is the cobbles this late and right after the mountains (just in terms of realism). Because I would obviously also want to watch that.

I see some patterns in this route and the 2016-route of TdF. The appetiser before the Pyrenees on stage 5, then a stage finishing downhill (2 in the Tour) and then finishing off with a MTF. Only 20 km more of ITT and a few leg breakers before the Alps... I like it. Altho this route surely is in another category entertainment-wise with those glorious passes which you seem to have gathered all of.

Thanks! I like the idea of putting cobbles late, when teams are weak and it's every guy for himself. I like to even the playing field...I wanted to throw it out there, like starting counter, then going clockwise. Wrt the Pyrenees, I can't believe how many climbs are out there, like the Cirque de Troumouse for example. And the area around St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, man, I love it. I only had a bike there one year, in '84, and got my butt kicked and kicked again, and came back for more. Some of the most genuine folks you'll ever meet, the views are fantastic. Give me a big fat loto, I'm moving there tomorrow.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Lac de Cap de Long is a branch off of the road to Piau-Engaly which we saw only once, in '99 when Fernando Escartín put in a legendary long-range attack. Overall, a very good route, and with stages like Banne d'Ordanche you draw attention to the car parking spaces. I think the Brive stage could be very interesting given that the first part of the stage is sawtoothed but the climbs become further apart closer to the finish, meaning we really don't know what sized group could be there to contest the finish. With the Pays-Basque stage you have perhaps utilized some roads a bit too narrow for Le Tour (but hey, that part of France is kid-in-a-candy-store level of excitement with brutal climbs unknown to the main race, and I've certainly filled my boots there with stages that might be fine for La Vuelta or the Itzulia but for the increased race caravan of the Tour might be a problem). Irei I think is fine, but descending Arnostegui could be problematic I think. I did Arnostegui-Errozate-Sourzai-Bilgossa-Irei in my first Tour finishing in St-Jean-Pièd-de-Port (I really think that city should be to the Pyrenees what Briançon is to the Alps, Cortina d'Ampezzo is to the Dolomites, and Pola de Lena is to the Asturian mountains) and over Soudet, Bostmendieta, Bagargui and Ahusquy (which they've called Inharpu in La Vuelta) to Mauléon-Licharre in my second, I think the second is more reasonably achievable but like most I think we'd all kill to see some proper Iparraldean mountain stages in Le Tour.

Your final climb in the Borgo San Dalmazzo stage is Madonna del Colletto though, no?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Stage 7: Jämsä - Lahti, 168km

The penultimate day of the Tour of Finland, and we're now heading into one of the country's most famous cities. Before that, however, this stage begins in Jämsä, a decent-sized town a little way south of Jyväskylä, a municipality which is home to over 400 bodies of water as Finland enormously exceeds its reputation as the "Land of 1000 Lakes".

The stage sees us mostly trace the western shore of Päijänne, one of the largest of these lakes and the one that gives its name to the region of the country.

The stage is essentially lots of relentlessly rolling roads, however with no true hills or climbs yet lots of frustrating up and down that makes a rhythm hard to find, for the first 50km or so, before it eases up a bit. Always keeping the lake in sight, this should at least be scenic. Eventually, however, we arrive in the city of Lahti. "Lahti" literally just means "bay" in Finnish, so you can be aware that this is another lakeside city; with a little over 100.000 inhabitants it is the seventh largest city in the country. It also has two distinct claims to fame.

Firstly, it is home to the Lahti Sinfonia, northern Europe's most celebrated symphony orchestra, who have won many awards for their interpretations, especially of the works of Finland's most famous (by far) composer and national folk hero Jean Sibelius, whose name is given to the landmark concert hall recently opened in the city to house its famous orchestra. Built from wood and glass appended to a former factory building, it is an imposing and impressive piece of architecture, and a fitting location for such a renowned musical background:

After Sibeliustalo the riders join a 15,8km circuit which they will undertake three laps of. The start/finish is on the city's main thoroughfare, Aleksanterinkatu, which is cobbled but only in the way that, say, the Champs Elysées is cobbled. The actual finish line comes at the central square, which serves as the main departure point for short distance buses in the city (longer distance ones have now moved to the upgraded transport interchange by the train station a little south of the city centre).

The circuit has three climbs in it, well, debatably four. Before we reach the climbs, however, we pay homage to the other thing that Lahti is famous for, which is of course skiing. The Lahti Ski Games were created back in the 1920s in order to create a Finnish competition of similar standing to the Holmenkollen Festival, and the venue has become one of the most famous and evocative in the Nordic disciplines as a result. Lahti has hosted the Nordic World Championships on six occasions, with a seventh to follow in 2017. The festival consists of cross-country, ski jumping and Nordic combined competitions over three days (going on at the time of writing, in fact), and it is perhas therefore unsurprising that many of the city and its vicinity's most famous children are competitors from these disciplines, such as ski jumpers Toni Nieminen, Janne Ahonen and current athlete Ville Larinto and cross-country skier Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, although arguably Finland's greatest ever footballer, Jari Litmanen, was also born in the city. The venue doubles up as a football and athletics stadium in the summer and has also hosted the biathlon World Cup, but it is for the Lahti Ski Games that it is best known by far, with its iconic triple-jump set-up being instantly recognizable.

The circuit passes by the wintersports venue and then snakes around the lake's northern side towards Messilä, the small alpine facility nearby, less accessible and dwarfed by its city centre Nordic equivalent. Before we get there, we turn inland and head up a gradual climb - it's about 2,1km at a little under 4% but with a kilometre at just over 5% in the middle, which I've categorized more about it being longer rather than harder than the other climbs, as the circuit's climbs don't all merit mentioning in a GPM competition!!!

The second climb is the hardest of the circuit really; it's effectively a bit of false flat followed by an ascent but its final 500m are at almost 9%. We then sweep down a technical couple of curves into a flat kilometre followed by a short final dig of around 600m at 5,5%. This enables us to arrive on the main road by the other side of the ski stadium and quickly head into town before a final short rise - about 200m in length and not at a serious gradient, but enough to be a final platform to attack from a small group - a cobbled stretch leading us to the back of Lahti City Hall before we swoop back onto a final downhill ramp on Vesijärvenkatu and then a 90º left onto the finishing straight.

With three laps of an energy-sapping, rhythm-breaking circuit like this, and small six-man teams, coming just a day after the dirt road odyssey in Jyväskylä, this one should see some exciting Classics-style racing as the gaps are sought to be closed once and for all.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Stage 8a: Hämeenlinna - Helsinki, 116km

The final day of the Tour of Finland is a classic split stage, since we're now away from where the hills are.

The stage begins in the city of Hämeenlinna, a famous and evocative place in Finnish cultural history, renowned as the birthplace of national cultural icon Jean Sibelius (as mentioned in the Lahti stage) and also Eino Leino, one of the poets of the national cultural awakening. It's also home to Häme Castle, a popular tourist attraction and renowned outpost.

The stage essentially is likely to be very fast, as it's generally slightly downhill for under 120km as we head directly to the nation's erstwhile capital city (more on that later). We head through a couple of notable towns and cities on the way - most obvious ones being Hyvinkää and also on the outskirts of Helsinki we go through Vantaa, home of the country's biggest airport and most people's first contact with Finland. I shan't go through the various landmarks of Helsinki just now, as there's stage 8b to come. This one should be a full-on sprint, as there's nary an obstacle at all, and it's almost certain that, following the tricky racing into Jyväskylä and Lahti the main GC men will probably be happy to let those who want to sprint do their thing in this one.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

Your final climb in the Borgo San Dalmazzo stage is Madonna del Colletto though, no?

That must be it. I looked at all sorts of maps, all I found was the name of the mountain, but I couldn't find the name of the pass. Thanks for the info.

 

[Tonton]

Shame on me and thanks Breh for pointing it out, I must not have hit "submit", and stage 17 was missing. And that's one particularly dear to my heart.

STAGE 17 – MONS-VERDUN – 233.8K



KOM: Côte de Chatelimont (Cat 4), 1.3K @ 6.2% - Côte du Grand Triot (Cat 3), 1.5K @ 8.1% - Cote de Sommauthe (Cat 4), 1.1K @ 6.2% - Côte de Belval (Cat 4), 1.5K @ 6.1% - Côte de Remonville (Cat 4), 1.3K @ 6.8% - Côte du Bois de Lonchamp (Cat 4), 1.1K @ 5.3% - Côte des Ruys (Cat 4), 1.2K @ 6.1% - Côte de Douaumont (Cat 4), 3.2K @ 4.2%.

For years, TdF race organizers/designers were reluctant to use WWI and WW2 as themes. Not anymore, it seems. The ’16 edition will pay tribute to D-Day,while the ’14 edition paid tribute to WWI. And I scratch my head. As much as I understand that WWI began in 1914, let’s agree that 1944-2014 for WW2-D-Day and 1916-2016 for Verdun would have made a lot more sense. And I question ASO’s sincerity: for the centennial of the Bataille de Verdun in ‘16, the town was candidate to host a stage: it won’t happen. It looks like celebrating tributes to history is a business for ASO, not a noble enterprise. So I feel compelled, as a gesture of solidarity, appreciation, and respect for the civilians and soldiers of all sides to bring the Route du Tour back to Verdun. The peloton will go “over the (murito) top” for a finish at the ossuary, where the worst of the fighting took place, by the Fort de Douaumont.



Along the way, many cimetaries and monuments. Riders will enter Verdun using a road, “La Voie Sacrée”, Verdun’s lifeline during the battle, enabling the chain of supplies to reach the front. It was butchery.



Some, such as José Maria Javierre Rapun (a.k.a. Joseph Habierre 1888-1954 - see pic), first Spaniard to ride the TdF in ’09 (he also rode the Tour in ’10 - became a French citizen in ’15 when he enlisted in the Foreign Legion), got out of the meatgrinder (as it is known) covered with scars, maimed. Others, like (’03 and ’08 TdF rider) Armand Périn, or Ernest Anquetil (Jacques’ grand-father) didn’t make it. Captain Charles De Gaulle, wounded, left for dead on the battlefield, was picked up by the Germans. As for fighter pilot and ’10 TdF winner Octave Lapize, his plane was shot down south of Verdun and he died on Bastille Day, 1917. Respect.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Great Tour. I really like that design. I also love and always wanted to see the cobbles after mountains. That's an interesting idea and was done in 1948, I guess with Liège to Roubaix as stage 20. Why not put it on the final Saturday of the race?

 

[Gigs_98]

This tdf is indeed extremely good and some of the stages are little masterpieces. The only thing I would change is stage 15 because such a hard mtf might destroy some of the action on the two previous stages. Nevertheless great work

Btw do you think a cobbles stage on stage 19 or 20 would work?

 

[Tonton]

This tdf is indeed extremely good and some of the stages are little masterpieces. The only thing I would change is stage 15 because such a hard mtf might destroy some of the action on the two previous stages. Nevertheless great work

Btw do you think a cobbles stage on stage 19 or 20 would work?

Thanks! For the cobbles on stage 19-20, I think that the later the cobbles, the better: teams are depleted. Nothing that a dominating team can do, down to 6-7 tired riders. Say, stage 19 with ITT (Compiegne?) the next day, if a Dumoulin is within 5 minutes, it ain't over. Too early in the Tour is great for the hype and making a meh first week look OK, but I don't think it produces the kind of results that cobbles could/should produce.

Edit: I realize that cobbled stages have changed the race in several TdF, no doubt, but not as much as they can: when you see the time gaps in PR, a late cobbled stage could really turn things around in a dramatic way.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Stage 8b: Helsinki - Helsinki (ITT), 15km

Since the race should have been characterized by small gaps opening up in the hilly stages, and small groups in the rouleur stages, I'm not expecting the need for a 40km time trial here. In fact, this short to mid length one should suffice to settle the matter of the GC. And where better than the nation's capital? After all, this will be more interesting for the race than a series of circuits in the capital before a sprint, and allows us to see a bit more of the sights of Helsinki, or Helsingfors (as you will no doubt be aware, Swedish is co-official in Finland, and in areas where there is a sizable Swedish-speaking population you will find bilingual signs. I have mostly been travelling around monolingually Finnish areas, but Helsinki is one such area where the Swedish-speakers are numerous enough).

Helsinki is, of course, one of the scenic jewels of the European north, with its attractive architecture a mixture of pragmatic Scandinavian style and dynamic Russian Imperial style, a trait which enabled it to play the role of St Petersburg/Petrograd/Leningrad and other Russian cities in many a Cold War era film or serial, with the ability to look as glamorous or austere as required by the historical period of the setting.

The start of the stage, and the final podium ceremonies where the overall winners will be crowned, is in the iconic Senaatintori, or Senatstorget (Senate Square in English), surrounded by the most famous architectural sights in Finland.

We go past the university first up with a looping route that goes northward across the river as far as the Teaterhögskolan, then returns close to where it started, following the road along the Baltic coast past the scenic north harbour, Pohjoissatama.

We pass Salutorget, which we will return to as it is close to the finish so will probably be where a lot of the teams set up, and then head northwest on a long out-and-back. We then pass Musiikitalo, the city's most prominent concert hall, its modernist architecture bearing some similarities to the opera house in not-quite-neighbouring Oslo (I know Finland and Norway share a border in the north, but in Helsinki we're well away from that), and directly opposite it, the Finnish parliament building, Eduskunta.

Our next port of call is the spectacular Finlandiatalo (Finlandia Hall), its clean modern look in stark contrast to the National Museum of Finland, Suomen Kansallismuseo which is directly opposite. We then break from the out-and-back portion of the route to take in a couple of additional sights - on the way out we visit perhaps the iconic sports venue in Finland (the other option being Lahti's stadium of course ); despite its incredibly rich wintersport heritage, the Finns have never hosted the Winter Olympics, mainly owing to a lack of sufficiently sized mountains to offer a proper Olympic downhill skiing run (of course, the IOC have now deemed that to be no impediment as long as you can make sufficient money from nepotistically granting expensive construction projects in countries with far less heritage in the sports to friends as a money making exercise... thanks Beijing); they have, however hosted the Summer Olympics, in 1952, and the Helsinki Olympic Stadium has served as the national sporting cathedral for almost all summer sports ever since. And on the way back, the deviation from the out-and-back is into Sibelius Park, passing close by the controversially abstract Sibelius Monument, a sculpture designed by Eila Hiltunen to represent organ tubes (ironically, Sibelius was certainly not noted for his organ compositions, if indeed there are any) before public division led to the addition of a bust of the composer at its base.

The route after Sibeliuksenpuisto heads back to rejoin the original route after going through Hesperian Esplanadi, a pleasant urban park in summer, then heads back into the heart of the city via the sights previously mentioned, before finishing on Eteläesplanadi just before returning to Salutorget. The TT is pan flat, so should really suit the power guys, and is the right kind of length for the Adriano Malori type of time triallist rather than the more endurance specialist type like Kiryienka.

So ends the Tour of Finland... my next race will be a bit experimental/out of left field, but is something I haven't really tried yet which is perhaps a little surprising. Anyway, race summary:

Stage 1: Ivalo - Sodankylä, 167km

Stage 2: Sodankylä - Levitunturi, 217km

Stage 3: Rovaniemi - Iso-Syöte, 197km

Stage 4: Vuokatti - Ylä-Koli, 173km

Stage 5: Kontiolahti - Kuopio, 208km

Stage 6: Kuopio - Jyväskylä, 201km

Stage 7: Jämsä - Lahti, 168km

Stage 8a: Hämeenlinna - Helsinki, 116km

Stage 8b: Helsinki - Helsinki, 15km

 

[fauniera]

Giro d'Italia

week one (South)
(Mon) rest day
week two until friday (Center)
(Sat) stage 13: Valdobbiadene - Monte Grappa
(Sun) stage 14: Bassano del Grappa - Völs am Schlern
(Mon) rest day
(Tue) stage 15: Bozen - Villanders
(Wed) stage 16: Eppan - Salò

(Thu) stage 17: Desenzano del Garda - Parma, 158 km

This is the flattest stage of the race and the last chance for the sprinters. At km 82 the peloton will ride through Brescello, where the riders will be greeted by Don Camillo and Peppone.

Desenzano del Garda

Parma

 

[May0maniac]

Stage 3: Tolmezzo - Pontebba; 128km

Sorry, I was sick durrning the whole week, so I wasn't exactly in the mood to post stages.
Stage 3 of my Giro della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia starts in Tolmezzo, so no transfer after stage 2.
The first 20km are false flat, then the first climb of the day, the long Sella Razzo starts.

As you can see, this one is a really long drag, but it's a great climb to have as the first climb of the day, it should be a nice warm-up for the favourites and we should get a strong breakaway.
Right after the even longer descent the next climb starts.
It's the well known Sella Valcalda, 7.2km at 5.7km a nice short climb, but nothing compared to its brutal neighbors Crostis and Zoncolan.

After the following descent we have about 2km of false flat, the we already have the next climb, Forcella di Lius, a decent climb, the 3km before the false flat section have an average gradient of 9%.

The following descent is short and really steep, 4km at 10% with a max. gradient of 18%, it's a descent on a rather narrow road with a few tricky hairpins, so a few riders could loose some time.

Right after the descent to Paularo the final climb of the day starts.
It's the underrated Passo del Cason di Lanza, 15.1km at 6%, but it's an irregular climb with a short descent in the middle of it, the first part of the climb has 2km at 11% at the 2nd part has 2km at 12% with a max gradient of 15%, with a few climbs before it it's a hard final climb that should create big gaps.

The final descent is 15km long and not too technical, then the riders will reach the finish line in Pontebba, nice a small comune.
Pontebba:

This one should create big gaps, it's not a very long stage, but with so many climbs it should be hard enough to wear the riders down and the steep final climb should be a real challenge. It's also a descent finish, so you can't just attack on the final km of the climb to win the stage, all those ingredients should create a great mountain stage.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I really like Cason di Lanza, it always bugs me that it links so perfectly with Naßfeldpass, but you have to do the easier side of one of them to do that.

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

I really like Cason di Lanza, it always bugs me that it links so perfectly with Naßfeldpass, but you have to do the easier side of one of them to do that.

Yeah, but then you could use the hard side of Forcella di Lius after Naßfeldpass-Cason di Lanza.
You could go full Zomegnan and use those 3 climbs + Sella Valcalda before Crostis/Zoncolan, that would be nasty.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

I may or may not come back to posting the Dauphine Libere, I may not. Currently though, I'm bored of it. It is too much work to do for something that I like to do for fun. So I give you another race. That hasn't got very inspiring terrain at all. In fact the landscape isn't either.

Yesterday we got the news that Nibali was apparently linked with a new Bahrain sponsored team (along with Lampre Merida, which is old news). This got me thinking. A race in Bahrain! So here is the scenario:
The organsiers if the Triathlon race Challenge Bahrain were looking for other sports events to take place here. They looked across the Persian Gulf and saw the countries of Qatar and the UAE already holding bike races in the Middle East (Bahrain can't see Oman!). So the organisers of the triathlon event sprung into action and contacted the ASO. However they were not willing to make losses on another race, due to the fact that Oman was starting to falter. However they then contacted RCS Sport who were wanting to expand their amount of races in the Middle East. RCS were more than happy to oblige and sent Mauro Vegni to investigate. Toing and froing took place and a race soon formed. RCS believed this was their answer to the wind swept Tour of Qatar!
This event would probably take place inbetween the Tour Down Under and the Dubai Tour. However it can not be called the Bahrain Tour as this was Copyrighted by Sepp Blatter as he looked into cycling after his ban from football (atleast in the hypothetical Race Design Thread world anyway!). So It shall be called the Bahrain International Cycling Tour


Bahrain International Cycling Tour Stage 1a: Bahrain Financial Harbour - Bahrain Financial Harbour (6km)

Sprints:
None (ITT)

Time Split Point:
3km @ Road 4607


The first stage will take place in the Early/Mid morning to take advantage of the cooler temperatures. It will start outside the Bahrain Financial Harbour next to the coast. Then the ITT will head out along a small causway towards a man-made island that the Four Seasons Hotel sits upon. Then the riders head onto the Road 4607 for a Time Split Point, before passing an area where theBahrain National Museum resides. It is then onto the King Faisal Highway for the finish outside the Bahrain Financial Harbour.

Bahrain Finacial Harbour:

 

[52520Andrew]

Very nice TDF, some great stages in there

 

[Libertine Seguros]

So here's my next race, heading outside the box somewhat, however a race it might be surprising I haven't had a go at at all yet.

You see, having looked at the prospective "World Tour" that we have this year replacing the women's World Cup, I note something quite concerning about it - a lot of races with similar characteristics. And when they aren't, they're a bit limited in scope. While I understand why La Course and the Madrid Challenge have been included, they are flat short-circuit races, little more than crits; the most left-field selection, the RideLondon race, actually is a crit. There are only a handful of stage races, and few of them feature any real climbing. It's true that the women's péloton is less specialized than the men's, and so including a large number of races with similar characteristics (short punchy climbs, technical descents, Classics-style racing) is a way to ensure the very best are up there at all times, but it also doesn't encourage wider variety. Apart from the Giro, the most grimpeur-friendly races are La Flèche Wallonne and the Trofeo Alfredo Binda (although the Giro dell'Emilia will be included from 2017). No sign of other mountainous stage races such as my personal favourite, the Emakumeen Euskal Bira, or mountainous one-day races such as the Giro del Trentino.

Personally I went through a bit of a revamp of the available options and have some ideas, but ultimately what I thought was that, well, since the Giro Rosa is the only Grand Tour available for the women right now, and is the only World Tour level all-round stage race, with big mountains, full length ITTs and so on, they should really go all-in on it and make it as Grand as they can. There really isn't enough full-on stage racing on such varied courses for the women, and as this is the pinnacle of the stage racing calendar, it needs to truly reflect that.

My personal position on it is therefore to extend it to a 15-stage race, running three weekends with a rest day in the middle. For all the UCI's posturing on this, the women are capable of doing such; Evelyn Stevens a couple of years ago did the eleven day Giro followed immediately by a long drive through Austria and Germany and then doing the seven day Thüringen Rundfahrt, totalling 18 straight days of competition. Admittedly, Evie Stevie is helped by the fact she is great, but still: it's doable. This will enable us to really reflect the full variety of Italian racing, as well as allowing a better geographical spread than they often are able to. When designing women's races, like with U23 or amateur events, other things have to be taken into account as well. Firstly, the UCI's mandated average distance can only be 100km, which is woefully short when you consider it's 180km for the men. I'd prefer it to be 120km to make a more fair comparison, but you've got to work with what you're given. Therefore my 15-stage race is 1496km in length (pushing it to the limit!). Secondly, the real Giro Rosa includes some enormous and monolithic transfers sometimes; for the most part because of the lower budget and resources available for the women's teams this is problematic. Some of the most popular races have used only a couple of "base" cities and then moved around them, for example the Thüringen Rundfahrt has several "Rund um..." stages as was traditional in the Ostbloc days, enabling the whole team to stay in the same location for the duration of the race, much like the men's elite péloton with the Tour Down Under. That's not really popular with the Giro, but I have limited the hell-transfers to only one or two lengthy ones, and with a few stages starting and finishing relatively close to one another to keep things logistically smooth.

This is my attempt at producing a race which allows women's cycling to show all of what it can be, and use what Italy has to offer. There are stages for the pure sprinters, there are stages for the pure climbers (what few there are). I have tried to ensure that there are stages for every type of rider, and there are also some classic sights. After all, some of the most interest that the Giro has managed to obtain is on those occasions when the women have had the chance to showcase their skills on the hallowed grounds famous to any cycling fan; such as Emma Pooley and Mara Abbott duelling on the Stelvio in 2010 (just a week before the two best male climbers in the world had a spirit-crushing bromance on the Tourmalet) or the 2014 MTF at Madonna del Ghisallo (the third Pooley triumph in the mountains of that edition). This would hopefully maximise the potential entry list, and as such I will add a "woman of the stage" section where I will tip somebody to look out for on a stage of this sort, should this be a real life Giro; there will be 15 of these, and all 15 will be different even though realistically there are several women capable of winning multiple stages here.

Nevertheless, however, a number of highly prominent women will not be featured, for a variety of reasons, to warn beforehand. The most important omissions, for me, are these:

Marianne Vos

The greatest cyclist of the 21st century, and the greatest female cyclist full stop, Vos won the Giro outright in 2011, 2012 and 2014. The latter she only won due to bonus seconds, but given 2nd place went to a teammate that's hard to criticize too harshly. She has simply been omitted because, as Ina-Yoko Teutenberg once said, "everything is Vos territory". Picking a single stage that Vos can win is a thankless task; picking a stage she can't is a tough enough call (although looking at the 2010 and 2013 Giri where she was unable to take the prize, I think I have a couple); she's also been omitted simply because everybody knows what Marianne is good at: everything.

Emma Johansson

The best Swede since Gösta Pettersson, Emma J has amassed one of the biggest collections of 2nd and 3rd places in cycling history. Equally adept at being there to contest the win in flat and hilly to intermediate terrain, she however is not a big fan of the Giro Rosa, which has never really fit in to her calendar well, preferring to race elsewhere in the period. She also aims to retire after the Olympics.

Lisa Brennauer

A former World Champion in the time trial, but also possessing a mean sprint, especially in a reduced bunch, Brennauer has also been omitted because of preferring not to race the Giro; its closeness to the Thüringen Rundfahrt, a favourite race of hers, on the calendar makes it less attractive to her when planning the year and as a result I wouldn't expect her to start.

Claudia Lichtenberg

Née Häusler, Claudi is one of my absolute favourites. The 2009 Giro winner, she's a very strong climber who races aggressively but has a tendency to get caught napping at inopportune times. She's moved to Lotto from Liv this season so hopefully the change of scenery will do her good, but sadly she's always just coming up slightly short of what's needed for the win in the mountains these days; while I'd love to see her take a win, I'd expect her to pile up the top 5s and top 10s but fall short of a victory.

Tiffany Cromwell

Cromwell is one of those riders who, in all manner of stages from flat sprints to hilly circuits, crops up in key moves and in the top 10 of the results sheet, but who, all too often, just doesn't quite have the final kick needed for victory. Like Lichtenberg, I'd expect to see her compile an impressive list of placements but without getting a first place finish while less consistent riders than her may well take wins.

Francesca Cauz

Cauz burst onto the scene when this little-heralded Italian espoir flew over the mountains of the 2013 Giro. She remains a top quality climber and a very aggressive racer (especially as the 2014-15 Giri have both passed through her local area) but has struggled to really regain that form and kick on from that position. Expect her to animate the mountain stages but don't expect her to win.

Annemiek van Vleuten

Part of the original multi-headed Rabo onslaught, Annemiek's palmarès exploded relatively late as she was able to benefit from competitors' reluctance to pull in groups containing Marianne Vos; since flying the Rabo nest she's reinvented herself as a stage racer for flat to hilly races, and also quite simply the finest prologue racer around due to good burst, good time trial skills and excellent technical capabilities from dealing with the 548792 pieces of road furniture in your average Dutch time trial. However, my race does not have a prologue.

Kirsten Wild

The queen of the echelon, Kirsten is a pure powerhouse of a rider who specialises in the track and in hard rouleur stages and sprints. In the flat stages she could be a beast; she has simply been omitted as she doesn't tend to race the Giro.

Evelyn Stevens

Another favourite of mine, "Evie Stevie" as she's often affectionately dubbed is a top notch all-rounder who has podiumed the Giro GC before and won some very tough stages. She also has one of the best backstories in the sport, which you should check out if you don't know. Very popular rider. However as she makes moves towards time trial specialization ahead of her assault on The Hour, I simply ran out of stages that she would be suited to.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Stage 1: Pescara - Pescara, 126km

The first stage is what you'd call fairly typical women's cycling fare: five laps of a moderately but not overly hilly circuit. It links in with two pieces of Italian sporting heritage, which is why it serves as a good starting point. Firstly, the hills above Pescara have been for many years - since 1945 in fact - the location for the Trofeo Matteotti, one of those classic Italian one-day races with a spectacular list of winners - Moser, Marino Basso, Vandenbroucke, Argentin, Bugno, Casagrande, Baldini, Bartali and Bettini all among those who've triumphed in Pescara, crossing the finishing line of the old Grand Prix circuit.

Speaking of which, that's what we're doing today - five laps of the old Pescara Grand Prix circuit. This makes the race a bit less of a hilly rider's festival, because while each lap contains a long, bumpy uphill and downhill, the last few kilometres are flat and absolutely dead straight from Montesilvano to Pescara; escaping solo will be a tricky undertaking in such circumstances, especially given the strength of certain superteams - Rabo-Liv, Boels-Dolmans, Wiggle - in the women's péloton. Hosting races since the 1920s, the circuit was renowned for a combination of breakneck speed on furious straights, and bumpy, terrifying and dangerous twists and turns going up and down the hillside. On a bike, of course, these issues are less extreme; cyclists face more dangerous descents than this in the vast majority of hilly races (although it is rather technical, which will help break the race up). However, for people driving fast automobiles at the safety standards of the time... chaos. At over 25km in length, it's also the longest circuit to ever host a Formula One Grand Prix, when it held a World Championship race in 1957. Circuits of the Past fill in the details of the circuit, as well as showing the twisting roads through Adriatic coastal roads that provide a beautiful backdrop to start the Giro to.

The main obstacle is a gradual ascent to an altitude of around 180m (the QOM points are given out around 170, at the end of the actual climbing) in the town of Spoltore. You may recognize its name - it's the hometown of one of cycling's more notorious villains, Danilo di Luca. It is, like so many towns around this part of the woods, built atop a scenic hillside.

Most of the climbing is gradual, though there is a 500m at 8% section partway up, before it lowers down to false flat before ramping back up again. It's not a serious climb, but the cumulative effect and the expectation of some serious heat (hopefully not as bad as in the 2015 Giro!) will likely see an attritional effect, as this kind of circuit typically does. The technical descent leaves us in Cappelle sul Tavo, in its era one of the most beloved spots in motor racing for its aesthetic appearance and sweeping fast sections.

From here, it's a fast charge to the sea, and then a final 5km straight to Pescara with the wind side-on, so if it blows, this could be trouble. I don't expect big gaps, but some people could already suffer.

Lady of the stage: Lizzie Armitstead

Having come from the track, Armitstead knows about placement, and has a strong finish on her. She's never really been a GC player in this type of race, with no results to speak of except that 2009 maglia bianca in the toughest climbing stage races, but she's the current World Cup overall winner and the reigning World Champion, and that doesn't happen by accident. And given I've pointed out that a lot of the current World Cup and World Tour races have similar, hilly, circuit-based characteristics, and I've presented here a typical circuit-based course with some hills but enough of a run-in to make pure climber attacks likely to be fanciful, and that Boels are one of the strongest teams out there, it doesn't seem much of a stretch to think that Lizzie could be the strongest in a final sprint that makes it over this one after five times over those hills. It's not a secret that I'm not a fan of hers, but realistically, nobody has been better than her on this kind of route in the last 12 months and therefore, while her immense power and talent may need to be used - as it was in the 2015 Giro - to protect riders with greater GC ambition - who can say no to the possibility of a couple of days in the maglia rosa to begin?