Race Design Thread

[May0maniac]

Alright, over the weekend I had to work on an mportant presentation, but now I'll start posting my Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour.
Stage 1: Villefranche-sur-Saône - Villefranche-sur-Saône ITT 26.2km

A few words about the race, I already mentioned that it's going to be an U23 race that consists of 4 stages, an opening ITT, a hilly/medium mountain stage, a stage for the sprinters who can climb or the breakaway riders and a hard stage in the high mountains.
The race will take place at the start of June, right before the Criterium du Dauphiné, so normally snow shouldn't be a problem in the high mountains.
This is a TT for the specialists on long straight roads, only the final 3km are a little bit more technical.
After 8.1km we have a 900m long descent followed by 600m at 7.2%, but there are no sharp corners, so the riders will carry all the speed into the climb, so it's jut a short road bump.
The ITT starts and finishes in Villefranche-sur-Saône, a small town that lies around 25 kilometres north of Lyon.
The TT will start and finish in front of the train station.
Villefranche-sur-Saône:

The train station:

I know, it's a little bit long for an opening ITT, but it should force the climbers to attack on the mountain stage and i should give the strong TT-specialists who can limit their losses on the climb a chance to do well on the gc, to sum things up, it should make the race more balanced.

 

[Brullnux]

Tirol Rundfahrt/Giro del Tirolo Stage 4: Imst - Pennes/Pens 160.5km

Stage 4 is the last stage in Austria, and we start in the town of Imst, which the previous stage passed by. Effectively, the first 50k of the stage are all a long false flat: climbing, climbing but extremely slowly. Then the serious climbing starts once we reach Soelden. Unfortunately for some, we don't turn left, but keep going straight, until we crest the Timmelsjoch.

After a long descent, we immediately start our second cat 1 climb: Passo di Monte Giovo. Excuse the typo in the profile. San Leonardo in Bassiria should be Passiria. The climb is extermely, extremely regular. It is 20km long and barely reaches 10%, and rarely goes under 7% basically every kilometre averages 7.5%. It is very nice, though.

The next climb is the decider: Passo Pennes, or Penserjoch. This is less regular, shorter but steeper. This is where the moves will come for the stage win, no doubt. The descent after the crest is abput 9km long and after a technical start it does become less hard, but still fairly steep.

 

[May0maniac]

Great stuff, I recently thought about that combo, those 3 climbs would be brutal.

 

[Brullnux]

Does anyone think it would be possible to hold a stage finish at Plan de Corones? I am not sure at all it would, but could you imagine the spectacle...

 

[May0maniac]

Stage 2: Villefranche-sur-Saône - Tassin la Demi-Lune; 171km

After the opening ITT we get a nice hilly stage near the Metropolis of Lyon.
The stage starts in Villefranche-sur-Saône, so no transfer after the opening ITT.
For the first 67km the riders will ride southwards on rolling terrain, then the first categorised climb starts, Riverie, 12.3km at 3.8% (yeah, it's probably not a cat. 2 climb, but it's a French race, so I'm a bit more generous with the categorisations ). The climb ends in Saint-Didier-sous-Riverie.

After the climb we have 11km of slightly downhill false flat, followed by 13km of rolling terrain.
After that we have the easiest climb of the day, Duerne, 3.1km at 4.6%. The following descent is about 6km long and 7% steep, but not very technical.
After that we have 4km of rolling terrain, then the Col des Brosses starts, 6.1km at 4.6%.

The following descent is 7km long, then we have 4km of false flat before the next climb starts. It's the Col de Malval, 7.4km at 5.1% with a max. gradient of 7.1%.

http://cycols.com//wp-content/gallery/col-de-malval-et-col-des-brosses/5683255538_fd1e813237_b.jpg (it's the larger road in the background)
As you can see it's not the hardest climb, but after a whole day filled with climbs and rolling terrain that comes right after an 26.2km long ITT many riders will feel pretty pretty tired.
The following descent is a bit steeper than the climb, it's not a very technical one, but we have two tricky hairpins.
Right after the descent we only have about 2.2km of slightly downhill false flat, then the final climb of the day starts. It's the Col de la Luère, 7.3km at 5.8% with 1km at 7.5% and a max. gradient of 8%.

As you can see, the whole are is just stunning:

The following descent ends with 9km to go, the final 9km are false flat and will bring the riders to the town Tassin la Demi-Lune.
Tassin la Demi-Lune:

This should be a fun stage to watch, the climbs aren't that hard, but after going up and down for the whole duration of the stage we could get some decent gaps. You also have to remember that it's an U23 race, so the racing could be pretty chaotic and fun to watch, we could see lots of attacks.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

To be perfectly honest that would make a good Tour de France or Dauphiné stage (and certainly l'Avenir) for transitioning away from the Alps towards the end of the race. Similarly the hills and medium mountains around Dijon offer more than they ever get used for.

Time to finish off the Vuelta with the regular parade though.

Stage 21: San Agustín del Guadalix - Madrid, 116km

While I often try to innovate in my many Vuelta routes, I have typically not messed with the final day parade. Which is strange as I'm not much of a fan of it; it's nothing like as ingrained and sacrosanct as the Tour's one. Only two of my Vuelta routes have strayed from the Paseo del Prado finish though, the fourth, which finished in Barcelona with an ITT, and the fifth which finished with a circuit race on the 2005 World Championships course. This time, but for the visit to Portugal and the two stages in Melilla, has been rather an "old school" Vuelta - visiting a lot of 90s-esque spots like Cruz de la Demanda, the '97 nationals circuit, and of course the Alto da Senhora da Graça, because the Volta a Portugal is the one race where you could be truly forgiven for thinking the 1990s really still are happening (unless anybody has any footage of Tabriz Petrochemical Team destroying the Asia Tour).

So this edition's Madrileño suburb of choice is San Agustín del Guadalix, an expanding commuter town east of Colmenar Viejo and north of San Sebastián de los Reyes, which has increased in population from just 500 a century ago to over 10.000 inhabitants. It is chosen as stage town for obvious reasons - after all, as you'll have noted I've been paying tribute to many great Spanish riders over the years, and so it is only fair that we go way back to one of Spanish cycling's first heroes for the final curtain call, as San Agustín is the hometown of the great Julián Berrendero.

Spanish cycling was rather in its infancy when Berrendero started out, although the likes of Vicente Trueba and Delio Rodríguez had already started to make themselves known by the time the man known at the time as "El Negro de los Ojos Azules" ("the negro with the blue eyes") due to his complexion had his first successes (yes, certainly that would be unacceptable nowadays, but this was the 1930s) with victories in the Vuelta a Castilla, the Volta a Galiza and the GP Eibar in 1935 as a 22-23-year-old espoir. He took on the Vuelta for the first time in 1936, finishing fourth - which made him the best Spanish finisher. This enabled him to be selected for the split Spanish-Lëtzebuergesch mixed team for the Tour de France, and while he was rather irrelevant to the GC he did take home the mountains prize to great plaudits. He also won the GP República, the Eibar-Madrid-Eibar mini-stage race that had served as a predecessor to the Vuelta, for good measure. He had two more tilts at the Tour de France, the best achievement being a stage win in Pau in 1937, before his career was rudely interrupted by war, first resulting in racing being suspended at home, and then beyond the borders of Spain.

In the 1940s, the Vuelta started out again after the end of the Civil War, however certain circumstances such as the biggest war the human race has ever seen meant the péloton was limited; Berrendero was one of the clear stars of the relatively scant talent field, and took his first Vuelta in 1941, a feat he repeated a year later - both victories including two stage wins although the latter was more notable for also including the GPM and for being the first man to lead the Vuelta start to finish. He also took the first of three straight national titles that year, along with the first of two national cyclo-cross titles. When the Vuelta resumed a second time in 1945, a catastrophic miscalculation left Délio Rodríguez miles ahead on time; Berrendero was left to provide the entertainment as he duelled with forgotten Portuguese João Rebelo for the mountains jersey, taking it by a solitary point en route to 2nd in the GC. He was second once more a year later, this time breaking his tradition of two stage wins by taking three; this was cut back to one in 1947 however, before he quit the race in 1948 due to the death of his father, and chose to end his career. He had won practically every stage race available in Spain at the time, from largest to smallest, but the lack of development within Spanish cycling and the country's ostracization under Franco coupled with the post-war economic climate meant that he had little opportunity to show his skills outside of Spain. Nevertheless, he remains revered as one of Spain's greatest ever cyclists, one hampered by the country and the time but a great nonetheless.

The stage is nothing to write home about; a little loop around the countryside of Comunidad de Madrid before heading into the city for the usual circuit to allow the winner to enjoy some spoils.

 

[May0maniac]

Stage 3: Lyon - Annecy; 158km

After an ITT and a hilly stage we're going to have the easiest stage of my Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour, right before the final showdown in the high mountains.
The stage starts in Lyon and the first 123km are mostly false flat, the beakaway will be formed and mmaybe someone will bother to keep the gap in check.
After 123km the only climb of the day starts, it's the Col de la Chambotte, 5km at 8.3% with a max. gradient of 11.5%.

The road is pretty narrow, but this isn't the TdF, for an U23 it should be ok.

The descent isn't steep and not very technical, but iit's a really narrow road, so we could see some gaps,that should be beneficial for the breakaway.

The descent ends with 24km to go, so I don't know if someone will bother to set a pace that is high enough to drop the sprinter who can climb.
On the final 21km we have a bit of rolling terrain, that should also be good news for the breakaway.
The stage ends in Annecy a stunning town that lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy, it's also the hometown of Vincent Vittoz, the winner of the the 15 km + 15 km double pursuit at the 2005 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Oberstdorf.
Annecy:

Lyon:

This one should go to the breakaway, I don't think that many teams will be willing to spend some energy to keep the breakaway in check, every team with a gc contender will try to safe some energy for stage 4.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Vuelta a España 8 Library Post

Stage 1: Melilla - Melilla, 171km

Stage 2: Melilla - Melilla, 13,1km

Stage 3: Almería - Cuevas del Almanzora, 140km

Stage 4: Águilas - Sierra de Espuña, 163km

Stage 5: Murcia - Albacete, 173km

Stage 6: Utiel - Teruel, 177km

Stage 7: Teruel - Calatayud, 184km

Stage 8: Soria - Ezcaray-Cruz de la Demanda, 198km

Stage 9: Burgos - Cueva El Soplao, 189km

Stage 10: Torrelavega - Santillana del Mar (Cuevas de Altamira), 49,2km

Stage 11: Llanes - Tineo, 225km

Stage 12: Luarca - Cedeira, 189km

Stage 13: A Coruña - Ponteareas, 203km

Stage 14: Ourense - Estación de Esquí La Manzaneda

Stage 15: Verín -Mondim de Basto (Alto de Nossa Senhora da Graça) , 192km

Stage 16: Vila Real - Guarda , 186km

Stage 17: Castelo Branco - Cáceres, 196km

Stage 18: Coria - Sierra de Béjar-Estación de Esquí La Covatilla, 205km

Stage 19: Béjar - Ávila, 219km

Stage 20: Santo Domingo-Caudilla - Toledo, 34,6km

Stage 21: San Agustín del Guadalix - Madrid, 116km

 

[jsem94]

Lots of good stages, but a lot of the hillier ones have too much false flat between the climbs etc. I guess it's inevitable in a lot of parts of Spain, but I hate seeing too much flat and false flat sections between climbs.

Still a hell of a lot better than any Unipublic course. Sprinters still get their fair share too, mountain stages are reasonably spaced out. Balance is key in GTs. Great overall route.

 

[52520Andrew]

Hello again everyone, been real busy with school but I have not forgotten my Tour of California. Will get back to work on that in a couple weeks once school is over. Some really good races on here as per usual.

 

[Guillaume33]

I am new on this forum, this thread is very cool
When I have understood how to insert courses and photos, I think I will try a "Tour d'Aquitaine", my region in France

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Re:

I am new on this forum, this thread is very cool
When I have understood how to insert courses and photos, I think I will try a "Tour d'Aquitaine", my region in France

Once again, welcome to the forum (and this thread!). The more the merrier, as they say!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re:

I am new on this forum, this thread is very cool
When I have understood how to insert courses and photos, I think I will try a "Tour d'Aquitaine", my region in France

Once you've designed your course, depending on which route mapper you use, you can copy or download the profile it generates, then it's best to upload it to an image hosting site like imgur or tinypic.

Pictures and photos can be inserted with the usual [ img ] and [ /img ] tags.

 

[Le Blaireau_13]

As I'm new on this thread, this will be my first posting of a race I've created. I've seen dozens of interesting and original races, so I decided to create one myself. It will be a Tour de France - without Pyrenees.

I've used rumours, known long time, about Florence / Firenze wishing to host the Grand Départ some year. This was my starting point for this Tour de France. All the rest is based on my own preferences and imagination.

Saturday: Prologue; Florence - Florence; 9km

This Tour kicks off with a prologue - actually, it's a time trial - of 9 kilometers long. It's pretty flat, but in the middle we have a smooth climb, but probably not hard enough to trouble the 'big engines'.

Sunday: 1. Florence - La Spezia

The second stage of this Tour starts, again, in Florence and heads north-west through the northern part of Tuscany for a finish in La Spezia. It's likely that a lot of sprinters will be dropt in the final, especially because of the presence of the Biassa climb - also used in the great Giro 2015 stage 3. The GC contenders have to be alert, the 'puncheurs' should have their chance for victory.

Monday: 2. Sestri Levante - Fossano

The third stage should give the sprinters their first real opportunity, altough they have to work for it: in the middle of the stage the riders face a 2nd-category climb which could, with aggressive racing, drop some sprinters - like the stage to Albi in the Tour 2013, thanks to the pace of Liquigas-Cannondale on behalf of Sagan.

Tuesday: 3. Saluzzo - Briancon

I really like the idea of mountain stage being a kind of evenly distributed all over the three weeks of racing in a Grand Tour. The Grand Départ in Florence makes this possible. The stage starts in Italy but at the highest point of this Tour de France (Agnel) we enter France. After the descend, the riders tackle the Izoard, before the short, but steep finish in Briancon. A short, but probably very intense stage.

Wednesday: 4. Guillestre - Digne-les-Bains

The first totally French stage of this Tour, and a really hard one. Not real high mountains, not real hard climbs, but all these climbs combined could make for a very hard and entertaining stage.

Thursday: 5. Digne-les-Bains - Marseille

We head south, to the Mediteranean for a finish in Marseille, probably a finish for the sprinters. But, maybe the riders need some rest after two hard days, so the breakaway could have a chance for victory.

Friday: 6. Marseille - Montpellier

The flattest stage of this Tour, but 'mother nature' could make for one of the hardest. The riders ride from Marseille to Montpellier, through the Camargue, along the sea coast so the wind could create echelons.

Saturday: 6. Gignac - Mende (Aérodrome)

One of the hardest stages of this Tour is neither in the Alps, nor in the Pyrenees. We're in the Cévennes region of France for a long and very hard stage - I think we can rightfully call it a mountain stage. Plenty of climbs, plenty of opportunities to attack and a steep climb, just before the finish on Mende's aérodrome: the Cote de la Croix-Neuve. However, the riders will face this climb from the southern side, which is a little shorter, but a little steeper too.

Sunday: 7. Mende - Chastreix-Sancy

Before the first rest day, the riders head north towards the Auvergne region, facing another stage which is pretty hard, including a short mountain top finish. Some brave attackers could possibly take the stage, but maybe the GC contenders will try to take time on each other before the rest day.

Monday: Rest day in the departement de Creuse

Tuesday: 8. Chateauroux - Chartres

After the rest day, we continue with a rather easy stage from Chateauroux to Chartres, probably ending in a mass sprint finish.

Wednesday: 9. ITT; Dreux - Evreux

We're like halfway of this Tour and today will be an important day for the GC contenders: a 42km individual time trial from Dreux to Evreux. It's almost pancake flat, so the climbers will probably lose (lot of) time today, hopefully forcing them to attack later on.

Thursday: 10. Rouen - Boulogne-sur-Mer

This could be an interesting stage, as we head north through Normandy for a finish in Boulogne-sur-Mer. The last part of the stage is a copy of the 2012 stage, when Peter Sagan claimed his second Tour victory. However, that was in the beginning of the Tour, with only fresh riders. This time, the riders will already be pretty tired, so this stage could be more entertaining than in 2012.

Friday: 11. Saint-Omer - Cassel

I'm sorry for this profile. I don't know what happened, but 'DFA' should be 'CASSEL'.

This is a very special stage, combining three important races on the calendar: Paris-Roubaix, Gent-Wevelgem and the 4 jours de Dunkerque. The riders start in Saint-Omer and head towards the cobbles of Paris-Roubais (10 secteur pavés). The cobbles will shatter the peloton apart, but there's no time to rest or to hesitate: we approach the hills of Gent-Wevelgem, most famously of course the Kemmelberg. Of course, we're in Belgium now and after the Kemmelberg we return to France for some hills of the 4 jours de Dunkerque and a finish in the city of Cassel. This should be entertaining.

Saturday: 12. Valenciennes - Monthermé

After yesterdays hard stage, this stage isn't easy either. We head towards the French Ardennes for a finale suited for the puncheurs, but the GC contenders could be seen at the front too.

Sunday: 13. Sedan - Pont-a-Mousson

Before the rest day, the riders will face a stage in which all kind of scenarios are possible: a breakaway could succeed, a strong sprinter could take the stage, even the GC contenders could be seen attacking each other on the steep slopes of the Butte de Mousson!

Monday: Rest day Nancy

Tuesday: 14. Nancy - Strasbourg

We continue and start the last week of this Tour with a stage from Nancy to Strasbourg. It should be suited for the sprinters, but the two climbs halfway could well disturb their plans.

Wednesday: 15. Strasbourg - Feldberg

After visiting Italy and Belgium, it's time for Germany to welcome the peloton. We start in Strasbourg, cross the border and enter the Schwarzwald, where the riders will have to tackle a handful of climbs that should provide enough opportunities for the GC contenders to gain time.

Thursday: 16. Freiburg im Breisgau - Gérardmer

This Tour will be decided in the Vosges and this is the first stage in it. The hardest climbs are halfway so if the climbers have to take time back, they need to be brave and start attacking before the last climb (which probably isn't that hard to create big gaps.)

Friday: 17. Gérardmer - Le Grand Ballon

This is the last mountain stage of this Tour. In my opinion, it's an interesting stage. The first part is never flat and contains some short but steep climbs. This should create an intense start, where some important tactical decisions could be made. The second part contains some longer climbs. With teammates op the road in the breakaway, and the need to take back time, this could well be the place for some riders to attack already. The last part contains some minor climbs - however, these could be important - before the finish climb to Le Grand Ballon. This side of the climb starts in Moosch and I think it's HC-worthy.

Saturday: 18. ITT; Remiremont - Plombières-les-Bains

The day before Paris. The riders face a hilly individual time trial to give the GC it's (probable) final shape.

Sunday: 19. Paris - Paris

Although I actually don't dislike the ceremonial stages in Paris, Madrid or Milano, I decided to make some changes to the original final stage on the Champs-Élysées by including two short climbs, of which the Cote de Meudon contains some pretty serious cobble sections. Those hills could disturb the sprinters' plans, could it disturb the GC contenders too?

 

[May0maniac]

Stage 4: Annecy - Bonneval-sur-Arc; 184km

The queenstage, it's going to be the final showdown in the high mountains.
The stage starts in Annecy, so no transfer after stage 3, the riders should like that.
The first 22km are mostly false flat/slighly rolling terrain, then the first climb of the day starts. It's the Col des Aravis, 19km at 4.5% with a ax. gradient of 8.2% and 6km at 6.2% near the top of the climb, not the hardest climb in the world but still a nice first climb.

Then we have a 24km long descent, the 2nd half is rather gentle, but right after the descent the shot but steep Col de la Forclaz de Queige starts, 8.6km at 8.25% with a max. gradient of 9.2%.

As you can see the rod is rather narrow, but the following descent isn't too technical, so it shouldn't be a problem.
After the descent to Queige we have 9.3km of rolling terrain, then the long Cormet de Roselend starts, 20km at 6.0% with a max. gradient of 10% and 5km at 8%, this one is a proper alpine climb.

=https://gpsrepublic.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/d902-cormet-de-roselend.jpgAs you can see, the following descent to Bourg St Maurice is long (almost 20km) and stunning.
After the descent we have 8km of false flat, then the monolithic Col de l'Iseran starts. From Bourg-Saint-Maurice onwards it's 46.9km at 4.2% with a max. gradient of 9.2%, but we have 2 sections of false flat, the 8km bfore the start of the sctual climb and 9km in the middle of the climb, the actual climb consists of two 15km long climbs at 6%.

The climb isn't filled with ungoldly steep ramps, but it's a really long monster at high altitude, after such a hard stage we could get huge gaps.
But the stage doesn't end here, we still have the over 13km long descent to Bonneval-sur-Arc, so a good descender could gain/crawl back some time on the descent, even if it's not the most technical one.
Bonneval-sur-Arc:

This is the queenstage and the only real chance for the pure climbers, the long opening ITT should force them to attack and we could get huge gaps on such a hard stage.

 

[May0maniac]

Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour Library Post

Stage 1: Villefranche-sur-Saône - Villefranche-sur-Saône ITT 26.2km

Stage 2: Villefranche-sur-Saône - Tassin la Demi-Lune; 171km

Stage 3: Lyon - Annecy; 158km

Stage 4: Annecy - Bonneval-sur-Arc; 184km

 

[Gigs_98]

@Le Blaireau
Really cool tour and something completely different than usually. Having high mountains in the first week, cobbles and hills in the second and then a low mountain range like the vosges in the third one looks like a great idea. IMO the only little flaw is that of the last 3 mountain stages, 2 have a mtf's and the last one even a pretty hard mtf. That might kill some of the action which could otherwise happen in week 2 because everyone still sees enough chances to gain time in the third one.

I thought about making a race a little bit like this just that I would use the hills and cobbles in the north in the third week. Generally I think this would be a very good task for a new race design challenge to make a tour de france without the alps and the pyrenees.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I have a somewhat unusual Tour route to unveil although it's not quite as multinational or revolutionary in its design as Le Blaireau's - still it has some unusual features. I might put a couple of shorter races in first, however, having just done two Vueltas back to back.

 

[fauniera]

Giro d'Italia

prologue - stage 8
stage 9 - stage 12
stage 13 - stage 16
(Thu) stage 17: Voghera - Santo Stefano d'Aveto, 242 km

(Fri) stage 18: Santa Margherita Ligure - Acqui Terme, 135 km

After the brutal Appenine stage the riders deserve a short and relatively easy stage. This could be one for the escape artists.

Santa Margherita Ligure

Santa Margherita Ligure is a gorgeous town between Rapallo and Portofino. It is called la Perla del Tigullio. We start with a 7 km climb at 3 to 4 percent, featuring villas, stone walls and brillant views.

Not sure if this is enough to establish the break of the day, probably not. The route then runs along the coast and through Genova before we leave Liguria via two climbs and enter Piemonte.

The final 50 km are quite hilly, the last climb has a section of 1 km at 11%.

The finishing straight is uphill, 200 meters at 5%.

Acqui Terme

 

[SammyLarns]

I'm loving these races and they're very impressive and accomplished so I've decided to move away from Europe to Asia, Cambodia in particular. The Tour of Cambodia will take place over five days and six stages, beginning and ending in the countries' capital of Pnomh Penh. The real action will take place on the south coast and the Cardammon Mountains.

99% of the roads are paved but they are narrow so we're limiting the number of riders to 18 teams of six riders each. Putting the number on the startlist at 108. This will be a UCI 2.1 ranked race and those teams will be made up of 4 Pro Continental teams, 10 Continental teams and 4 National teams. An example of these teams, if the race were this year, are below:

Pro Continental Teams
Team Novo Nordisk
Gazprom Rusvelo
Wilier Triestina-Southeast
United Healthcare Pro Team

Continental Teams
Bridgestone Anchor Cycling Team
Cycling Academy Team
Kinan Cycling Team
Madison Genesis
Pishgaman Giant Team
Rietumu-Delfin
Shimano Racing Team
Skydive Dubai Cycling Team
Synergy Baku Cycling Team
Tabriz Petrochemical CCN Team

National Teams
Cambodia
Thailand
Malaysia
Laos

The whole race will be 738km in length with very little in the way of climbing until the stage 4 Queen Stage. That will likely create the main gaps but if that hasn't split the peloton the final half of the stage 5 split day is a prologue length time trial around Pnomh Penh.

King of the Mountains
The Tourism Cambodia Jersey (Blue with red stripes), will basically be given to whomever wins the HC climb on stage 4, however, there are points to be won most days:

3rd Cat - 3pts, 2pts, 1pt
2nd Cat - 5pts, 3pts, 2pts
1st Cat - 10pts, 6pts, 4pts, 2pts
HC Cat - 20pts, 16pts, 12pts, 9pts, 5pts, 3pts, 2pts, 1pt

Points Jersey
The Royal Cambodian Railways Jersey (White), will be a highly fought for jersey with all the stages featuring sprint points, apart from the time trial. Most stages will also finish in a mass sprint unless the weather conspires to stop this.

Intermediate Sprint - 10pts, 8pts, 5pts, 3pts, 1pt
Mountain Stage Finish - 20pts, 17pts, 15pts, 12pts, 10pts, 7pts, 5pts, 3pts, 2pts, 1pt
Flat Stage Finish - 30pts, 25pts, 22pts, 20pts, 17pts, 12pts, 10pts, 8pts, 5pts, 3pts, 1pt

Best Asian Rider Jersey
The Telecom Cambodia Jersey (Red top half, yellow bottom half) will be awarded each day to the best Asian rider on GC.

Overall Leader
The Tourism Cambodia Overall Jersey (Gold with Blue trim) will be awarded each day to the rider with the lowest overall time. There are time bonuses each day to be won:

Intermediate Sprint: 3', 2', 1'
Finish Bonus: 10', 5', 3'

The stages will be posted next

 

[SammyLarns]

Stage 1 - Pnomh Penh - Pnomh Penh - 186.3km

We're starting outside the Cambodian Olympic Stadium and heading north along the mighty Mekong river. The Mekong originates in Tibet and flows south through Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. We're riding against the flow though until the town of Koh Khsach Kran where the stage will turn to the west, away from the river. We're crossing another river though, the Tonle Sap, which is fed by a large freshwater lake 100km to the north. It's back south before a long drag west on dirt roads before a loop back at Krong Chbar Mon for a straight run back into the capital and a finish at the Olympic Stadium.

Screen Shot 2016-05-05 at 5.21.30 PM by Sam Larner, on Flickr

This will be the first opportunity for the sprinters. A well timed breakaway might succeed in the high temperatures however.

Stage 2 - Samrong - Kep Beach - 127.8km

Samrong is located a little to the south of Pnomh Penh and it's the start of the second stage of this race. It's another flat day but complicated by a final circuit around Kep Beach. The climb isn't too hard but the dirt road will kick a number of contenders out the back before the sprint finish.

Screen Shot 2016-05-05 at 5.22.57 PM by Sam Larner, on Flickr

The next few days will all be set around Kep Beach so the riders will be able to stay here and not travel.

Stage 3 - Kep Beach - Kamchay Dam - 192.7km

Kep Beach is on the shore of the Gulf of Thailand but we're heading north almost immediately towards Angk Ta Saom. From there we head west and then immediately back south. At Krong Kampot we turn back north towards Kamchay Dam for a gradual uphill finish at the dam buildings.

Screen Shot 2016-05-05 at 5.24.07 PM by Sam Larner, on Flickr

The main GC favourites will want to take it easy, tomorrow the ascend to hell.

Stage 4 - Krong Kampot - Thansur Bokor Highland Resort - 144.3km

This is it, the Queen Stage. The town of Krong Kampot is located barely 40km from the finish but the riders will be sent eastwards first before a large loop takes them to the bottom of the final climb. From here there's 22.1km @ 4.2%. The climb finishes before the end of the stage but the last 6km are rolling and trending upwards to the finish outside the resort. Whoever wears the gold jersey at the end of this stage has a good chance of keeping it until the finish.

Screen Shot 2016-05-05 at 5.26.24 PM by Sam Larner, on Flickr

Stage 5a - Kampong Seila - Krong Chbar Mon - 80.1km

A nice gentle day for the riders after their exertions yesterday. The stage reaches its high point at 25.9km at 168m before a long descent down towards Krong Chbar Mon, a town just to the west of Pnomh Penh. This is the last opportunity for the sprinters to take home a win.

Screen Shot 2016-05-05 at 5.28.02 PM by Sam Larner, on Flickr

Stage 5b - Pnomh Penh TT 7.1km

There's just 11m of elevation on this stage but it could well decide the race if it's still close at the top. It's a quick course which heads straight east from the Olympic Stadium then loops around to come straight back before heading up the main boulevard for the last half of the course. Speed will be of the essence in this time trial.

Screen Shot 2016-05-05 at 5.37.08 PM by Sam Larner, on Flickr

I hope you enjoyed the race

 

[lemon cheese cake]

@Guillamme33: Nice tour route. Very unorthodox start to the race (into the High Mountains on stage 5) and very unorthodox final mountain stages (In the Vosges). I really like the final stage in Paris, as the two climbs could create a much more attacking race (i.e Vino and his win type of attacking) than what we see in the actual race. I created a tour de france that hasn't been posted that had a day of going up to the Sacre Coeur and back to the Champs Elysee.

@SammyLarns: 1000 metres elavation in about 23kms! Nice!
Being a 2.1 level race it could have WT Teams (I think), but whether WT teams are in it, it would be a great tune up for the Tour de Langkawi.

 

[SammyLarns]

@lemon cheese cake - I was shocked when I found that road. There's very few roads in that part of Cambodia that are paved and will handle a race finish.

You're quite right! I changed it to 2.1 from 2.2 at the last moment but you're correct. It would be a nice ease into the season and because it doesn't move much you can just shack up in one 5* hotel for a few days. Possibly a pre-Langkawi ride or something to start the season with/end the previous one.

 

[Brullnux]

Rundfahrt Tirol/Giro del Tirolo Stage 5: Merano-Bolzano 35.6km ITT

Did you think this race would be all mountains? Well apparently it is possible to have a decent length flat TT in Sud-Tirol. So I made one. I don't have much time, so I'll be brief.

The ITT starts in Merano, a very pretty city/town surrounded by mountains in a large valley, well, towards the end of one. The start of the TT begins fairly technically. A few tight turns and a few sections where a rider may have to pay attention. However, this ends pretty quickly, and then we are on flat, good roads with few bends surrounded by natural beauty for the remainder of the stage.

This is here to annoy the climbers, who probably hoped there wouldn't be a flat TT in a race based in Tirol. It is also here to balance the race out a bit. If it were just mountains then we could expect riders to come in packs, attacking 3k out on climbs and sprinting for bonus seconds. Here, they need to attack, or else good TT-ers will gain much time on them.

This is the first of two stages that finishes in Bolzano, and the next couple of days base themselves in the east of the city.

 

[vedrafjord]

Theory question (I'm messing around with a one day race south of Dublin) - if you had a mix of irregular but not insane cat 2/3 climbs, and plenty of walls, how would you place them? Walls first? Big steady ones first? Mix them up?