Race Design Thread

[Brullnux]

Tour de France Stage 7: Irun - Col d'Erozate 151.8km

The first proper mountain test of the Tour de France kicks off a triptych of Pyrennean stages. This is the hardest MTF of the whole tour, and the three stages follow a formula sort of similar to the Giro 2011. A very hard MTF guaranteed to create gaps preceding an incredibly hard queen stage, so that even if riders are afraid of the upcoming day, action on the previous stage will still happen as the mountain forces it. Evene by riding at your own pace on this climb, even if it isn't as hard as the Zoncolan or Angliru, will still cause gaps. After probably the queen stage of the whole tour, there is one of those short mountain stages that has become popular recently.

For this stage, it begins in Irun in Spain and explores the Western Pyrenees, which are often left untouched by Tour organisers. Usually the Pyreenean action focus on anything further east than PSM - anything the other side is unthinkable uncharted territory. The beginning is not mountainous but just fairly rolling, with some hard enough hills, before entering France over the Col de Ispeguy, and through Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port for the intermediate sprint. Then comes the first HC climb of the enitre race. This categorisation is slightly generous perhaps, but hopefully the added points available will cause some riders to attack (I'm thinking the riders who are aiming for at best a top 10 or the polka dots). The Col d'Arnosteguy through this side is very hard. On a typically narrow road over green pastures, the first 7km average 11.5%. After that it quite considerably levels out, but it should definitely be enough to shake up the group.

Views

The descent is fairly narrow, but is not that technical and not steep, averaging at 6%, only maxing out at about 10%, so should be fine for the riders. The final climb of the day comes immediately afterwards. The climb is part of the Col Bagargui until the Col d'Asqueta, where the riders turn right instead of going straight on. After that it is only a kilometre or so of climbing. The Bagargui was last used in 2003, quite eraly on in the stage. But the Bagargui is considerably easier than this, as this makes up only the first half on it - the second is more or less flat. The final climb, therefore, is 10.3km at 9.4%. Granted, it is no Ovaro, but it would be one of the hardest Tour de France MTFs. At the top of the climb, there is a grass/gravel area which isn't large, but hopefully the enormous (flat) expanse to the left of the finish line will be up for use. Besides, I am sure if the Vuelta can finish at Cumbre del Sol, the Tour can finish here. Gaps could be substantial as it is the first MTF of the Tour, and hard.

Profile of final climb



Stage 8: Arette - Col d'Aspin 226.8km

The queen stage of the Tour. It's properly hard. At first it was easier, but then thinking about how the Tour was being raced, I decided to punish the riders. Seven categorised climbs, and 7000m of climbing (according to flamme rouge). It's the most unrealistic stage of the Tour, and with good reason. But fantasy tours don't have to be oppressively realistic. They can be exactly that, fantasy.

The riders overnight will stay in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, where there is more room and more hotels, but the stage start proper is in Arette, as otherwise the stage would have gone over 250km. Immediately the riders climb, over the Col de Labays, which is effectively the hard bit of the Pierre Saint Martin. Then a sprint, and then Marie-Blanque. Marie Blanque has a really hard second half, but at this point it is still only for softening up the legs and frustrating sprinters. Col d'Aubisque is next, an HC worthy climb used last year in the Vuelta a Espana as a MTF, where Froome and Quintana played their own little game of standstill, attack, standstill, attack, allowing Chaves to get a half a minute on them by riding his own tempo. Once again, this will be used to tire out riders rather than any exciting moves. After a descent, which shouldn't be too bad, comes the Col de Spandelles, which is what Spandeau Ballet were named after. Possibly. It is another tough climb, doggedly staying around the 8% mark for the more or less the enitrety of its 10km. It is very similar to Labays in terms of difficultly.

Tourmalet

Then comes the crunch time of the stage. To start, the Col de Trabaou (the opening section of Luz Ardiden), around 10km at 7%, which is a nice test before the highest climb of the whole tour, the Tourmalet. Now, I know it is overused. And I know that hinging the success of such a stage on such a climb is risky to say the least. And I know that it is from the easier side. But I hope that with 5000 metres of climbing already in the legs, after a hard MTF, but still in the first week, riders will be sufficiently tired for there to be enormous gaps but not so tired that they don't attack. And that this climb, not ridiculously steep but fairly so, is perfect for them to do so. So anyway, if they do attack, they have a fairly straighforward, but steep, descent, and the Col d'Aspin to go.

The final climb is a sort of homage to the mighty Ricco. The last Tour to begin in Brittany was 2008, and 2008 was the year Ricco climbed up Aspin like it was a descent. It is basically, from this side, 7km of irregular false flat ranging from 0 to 6%, before 5km at 7.8%. You really have to be an idiot to wait for this to attack, if you are a climber like Bardet and have a pretty huge TT coming up soon. It's a bit like the Sestriere (Finestre side) climb just slightly steeper. So hopefully it will be race as such. Riders should be soloing to the line with pretty large gaps, as the climb is hard enough to put in a final dig 2km from the line and gain good times considering how tired everyone will be if it is raced as it should be. The time limit will be extended as it is so hard.

Views from Aspin



Stage 9: Bagneres de Luchon - Oust 115.6km

To follow such a hard stage, there is a very short, sharp stage to Oust, still with four categorised climbs. It should be a bit like the Foix stage this year, just with the top GC guys attacking from further out as the final climb is not the hardest one. People will be tired from yesterday, and hopefully that will include domestiques from the likes of sky, so they won't be able to control the race. There is immediately a climb, which allows some GC contenders to attack from the gun if they so wish, like Contador, who someone who wants time before the TT after the rest day tomorrow.

The first climb is Col du Portillon, which actually means we re-enter Spain. The riders go up the harder side, and the descent the other side is fairly technical, so gaps could be made there. There is about 20km of very slight descent in the valley after the climb, which unfortunately could neutralise the action on the climb depending on the size of the group. However, the next two climbs are a great opportunity to try again. First the Col de Mente, which is pretty hard. Almost 10km at almost 9%, it should almost be enough, and hopefully will be enough, to once again cause small splits. After a descent comes the Col de Portet-d'Aspet, 5k at over 9%. This climb is a good place to attack, especially if you've put your team, or what is left of it, on pace making duties on Mente.

Mente

It is 20km to the next climb, but it is all power descent and a gap between small groups should really hold. The final climb is Col de la Core, or Port de la Core, which is probably the easiest climb of the day at 15.1 km and 5.8%, but peaks out at over 9% and has long sections at 7%. It is a bit of a grinder, but with the last two days in the legs and hopefully an intense day now, should cause gaps. Because of the climb, which shouldn't strike fear into anyone's hearts, hopefully the attacks should come on Portet-d'Aspet, or even Mente. After the climb is a descent which is of medium difficulty, albeit harder than, say, the Galibier or Peguere descents. 3km of flat (gentle downhill) precedes the finish line, where small groups will hopefully contest the finish. And that is the end of the first week. I hope to complete it all today, but that is optimistic I admit.

Scenery at Col de la Core

 

[Brullnux]

Tour de France Week Two - Stage 10: Toulon - Marseille 66.9km ITT

A huge time trial. This is very strongly influenced by the wonderful 2009 Cinque Terre ITT: over 60km, hilly, and on the coast with great views of the riviera all the time. The main differences are the number of climbs and that the Cinque Terre one was less kind to specialists - this is less hard I'd say. It should be over 1h 30m, like the Giro one.

The opening 15km are mostly straight and flat, and will be done using a TT bike for sure. Then there is a climb, 2.5km at 5.5-6%, peaking in the first half (just before the time check) at over 9%. the descent is easy, and the route rejoins straight, flat roads along the coast until Le Ciotat. The first 33km should be dominated by specialists, despite the climb, as more than 90% of it is flat and straight, or descent. Then at this point the climbing begins proper. The second climb is 5km at 7% - in other words a real climb. This time, the beginning of the climb peaks at over 11%. The plateau at the top has not a metre of straight and flat roads, before the descent which is fairly twisty but not too bad.

Les Calanques

After the descent, another climb begins, which is more of a power climb which the likes of Dumoulin will love. It's 4km at 5% until the checkpoint, which will tell us which of the riders has paced themselves the best over the climbs after the flat. There's another 2km rise at the end of the uphill section again at around 4%, which follows a 3-4km flat plateau. This time the descent is tricky, for a bout 3-4km, before 6km of very gentle, straight downhill to the Orange Velodrome, where the stage ends. I would have put it more in Marseille, but that would've made it >70km, which is excessive even for me. This is the perfect TT for Dumoulin to win, but climbers will be able to combat their losses over the second half. It's possible the likes of Bardet and Chaves and Aru will get blown away, but hopefully that forces them to attack in the previous mountains, and in the upcoming ones as well.

Finish Line


Stage 11: Marseille - Ales 172.5km

A mostly flat trek across Provence. There could well be a lot of wind here, with the Mistral and all, so crosswinds are a possibility. basically, even the flat stages could put GC contenders in jeopardy. The finale is flat and safe. Would write more but running out of time.


Stage 12: Ales - Langogne 204.5km

A jump into where we will be spending the next four stages, the central massif (more or less). This is an excellent stage for the break, or for the likes of Sagan or Matthews. There are 5 categorised climbs and a fair amount of bumps along the way as well, but the last one is 40km from the finish so I don't expect any GC action from that far out (unless something major has already happened. It could act as an ambush stage, but this isn't the best one to do so this week. The first two climbs are nothing special, 7km at 5% and 10km at 4.5% respectively. The third is a very long and steady 15km grind, never going above 7 or 8% but never falling below 5%.

The Cevennes, where this stage takes place

The next two climbs are the most exciting ones. The Côte du Devès de la Cham is quite a tough climb, with the second half of it consistently above 10%. It averages out at around 6.5km at 8.5%, which could be a real test of some of the break and some of the puncheurs and hardman sprinters. The Col du Chap del Bosc is also fairly tough, but rather the other way around. The start is over 8%, before levelling off quite dramatically. The final bump is around 5km at 5.5-6%, before 40km of flat road. The final 5km feature a rise of around 5% for a kilometre and a half, before levelling off.

Stage 13: Montelimar - Le Puy 162.7km

A transitional stage which again could be good for the break, but I expect the likes of Sunweb and Bora to keep it close as the final 5km are very much suited to them and we could be in for a very fun end to the stage. The final Côte de Mons is 1.6km at 6.3%, but has a maximum gradient of over 10%, so is perfect for a late attack. The descent is not that technical and fast.

Last 5km


Stage 14: Labaresse - Col de Prat de Bouc 223.6km

This is the hardest medium mountain stage of the whole Tour, and if there is any stage in which it is possible to break Sky, I believe this stands a good chance. There are 8 categorised climbs, but there could have been four or five more. I am going to summarise the first 170km very quickly, and just say that they are hilly and not particuarly flat. It's a great ambush stage, despite the length.

The Massif Central

The last 50km are excellent for attacks and excellent to break any team's strangehold on the race and blow it apart. The first of the climbs is Pas de Peyrol. This climb is a parabola: it starts off fairly benign before reaching very steep gradients towards the end. The final 2km, over 12%, are a perfect springboard for attacks. However, as the last 20km are very tough, I either expect the whole race to explode into small groups or for only second/third tier GC contenders to go. The Col d'Entremont is a little kick up before the never before used Col de la Molede, which is really split into two parts. The first is 2km at 10%, before 2km of gentle descent, 1km of false flat and then 3km of around 9%. This I believe is an excellent climb to attack on and gain considerable time on the descent, which is technical, as it's so steep that drafting can make very little difference. The final rise up to Col de Prat de Bouc is 4.6km at 7%, so fairly steep but not long enough to make anyone wait for it.

The final climb - we start just after Albepierre


Stage 15: Brioude - Saint Etienne 181.4km

The final stage of the week, and final stage in the Massif Central, presents yet more opportunities to get time back. Saint Etienne is often used as a stage finish, but never that well in my opinion. There are a couple of Muri near the city that are often left untouched, and I am using now.

Col du Dorier

Once again, I am going to skip the first 150km. They are difficult and rolling and will tire out riders and force a decent-strength break, but I want to focus on the last 30km. The first climb is the Monteé des Chazournes, a long Vuelta-esque murito. It's 3km at over 10% on a narrow road, so even if nobody decides to attack, it will force a seletion. A 10km descent follows and the riders are into the last 20km, so if people don't attack on the next climb then I have lost hope in the Tour de France. I have the next climb, the Col du Dorier, marked at 2.5km at 10%, but the climb profile online says that 1.7km of it are at 12.3%, and 500m at 17.2%. As that is near the start, and then it levels off, so people can attack afterwards without fear of doing a Taaramae, and with everyone else around them already very tired. After the climb there is about 5km of descent, which takes the riders into the last 10km. There are two bumps. One is just over 2km at 4%, and another 700m at 8%. The rolling nature, and the very steep climbs on which hopefully all domestiques have been dropped, will hopefully help attackers.

Last 10km

Saint Etienne

 

[Gigs_98]

In 2015 I posted a 3 week long stage race, I called the "DACH Rundfahrt" which was a grand tour in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. It was a lot of fun to make the route back then but unfortunately I couldn't use anything close to all interesting regions of these 3 countries, I have therefore in the meantime made two more DACH Rundfahrten, but while I wasn't really satisfied with my 2nd I decided to post my newest attempt of the race. I will again leave out some obvious regions because I used them in my 2nd Rundfahrt so don't be surprised if I sometimes pass mountain ranges or great climbs without including them into my race.
About the rules of my race, I'll mostly use the rules of the tdf, so there is a mountain, a points and a young rider classification. While the rules for the mountain and young rider classifications stay the same I changed the points competition a bit and made it less of a sprinter competition.
The biggest difference is that I'll make a golden kilometer in every mass start stage, where you have 3 small intermediate sprints where the first 5 riders get 5 to 1 points (One sprint at the beginning of the kilometer, another sprint after 500 meters and the last one at the end of the kilometer. Additionally there are one or two intermediate sprints where the first 8 riders get 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 points. If you are one of the first three riders at an intermediate sprint you don't only get points, you also get 5-3-1 bonus seconds. This really counts for every sprint, so on a golden kilometer you could theoretically get 15 bonus seconds. Some might call that overkill but I'll try to place those golden kilometers on points of the race where they motivate riders to attack since they can gain a lot of time by going through that kilometer solo. The big similarity between my points system and the tdf points system are the points at the finish. I'll also make three different categories for mass start stages (and screw the fourth category for TT's. There simply won't be points in ITT's) which are mountain stages, medium mountain stages and flat stages and the points will be assigned just like in the tour. Therefore I still want that sprinters compete for the win but they shouldn't be sprinters who don't do anything except winning bunch sprints. If they want to win this competition they also have to attack and go into breaks. Moreover I think the points competition shouldn't be one for sprinters but also for riders like GVA or Gilbert who could theoretically win a few stags with a difficult finish and get a lot of points in breakaways.
There will also be one tiny change in the mountain classification, which is that there are mountain points in ITT's. There the climb will be timed and the fastest rider on that climbing sector will get points depending on the categorization. Moreover the mountain points in TT's will count double, so for example if there would be a HC climb in a TT the fastest rider on the climb wouldn't get 20 but 40 points.
The bonus seconds at the finish line will be like in the tour. I hope I haven't forgotten anything.

DACH Rundfahrt stage 1: Nürburgring - Nürburgring (166 km)
category: medium mountain stage

The stage starts with a hilly mass start stage which is basically just 8 laps of the infamous Norschleife, one of the if not the most famous racing circuit of the world. Because it's too dangerous it unfortunately doesn't get used for Formula 1 anymore but there are still some smaller car races taking place there and because of its extremely hilly profile it is actually a perfect parcours for a cycling race.
The start of the race is on the new Grand Prix circuit which sometimes still gets used for Formula 1 races. The riders will ride one neutralized lap before they ride to the Nordschleife where the real race starts.

The Grand Prix circuit:

The Nordschleife:

Map of both the Grand Prix circuit and the Nordschleife:

The obvious option probably would have been to make an ITT on the Nürburgring but I am a huge fan of hilly first stages for gt's and therefore decided to make a mass start stage. I don't think it's very likely that this ends in a bunch sprint but since the leaders jersey is at stage I also wouldn't expect this stage to go to an early break. The most likely scenario is therefore probably a sprint out of a small group or a successful attack on the last climb.
This climb is also the reason why there will already be quite a big battle for mountain points since you could theoretically already get 16 mountain points. The intermediate sprints will be at the finish line after the 4th and the 6th lap, and the golden kilometer will be the last kilometer of the penultimate lap. If a break stays away long enough the members could therefore get enough bonus seconds to end up with the leaders jersey.

 

[Escarabajo]

Brullnux , very nice thanks.

I love the queen stage. I assume is stage 8. I don't think it will happen anytime soon. Too hard.
I would only change stage 12 a little. Maybe make it more hilly towards the end.

Very nice. Not sure about the logistics of going through all those nice and narrow roads. But might as well try something different.

 

[Gigs_98]

DACH Rundfahrt stage 2: Bonn - Dortmund (163 km)
category: flat stage

After a difficult start the races gets a bit easier with a completely flat stage. I know sprint stages on weekends aren't something very popular, but it kinda makes sense here. What I tried with this stage was to make a route which goes through regions where many people live where a stage during the week might be a bit complicated though since the cities probably wouldn't be happy that a cycling race uses roads while there is a lot of traffic because people are driving home from work. Moreover since I'm using a very densely populated region for a Sunday stage there would probably be lots of fans and it's likely to have a great atmosphere for the whole day. Big cities the stage goes through are Köln, Leverkusen, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Essen, Gelsenkirchen and Bochum. Other cities close to the route are Oberhausen, Bottrop, Wuppertal and Mönchengladbach.

Bonn:

Dortmund:

 

[Sestriere]

After a difficult start the races gets a bit easier with a completely flat stage. I know sprint stages on weekends aren't something very popular, but it kinda makes sense here. What I tried with this stage was to make a route which goes through regions where many people live where a stage during the week might be a bit complicated though since the cities probably wouldn't be happy that a cycling race uses roads while there is a lot of traffic because people are driving home from work. Moreover since I'm using a very densely populated region for a Sunday stage there would probably be lots of fans and it's likely to have a great atmosphere for the whole day. Big cities the stage goes through are Köln, Leverkusen, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Essen, Gelsenkirchen and Bochum. Other cities close to the route are Oberhausen, Bottrop, Wuppertal and Mönchengladbach.

Do that stage at the start of the summer holidays and the Autobahn 1 will collapse until Hamburg
Honestly, I'm looking forward to what you have in store. Oh, and the name, it's just awesome! Literally the top of all names

 

[Brullnux]

Tour de France Week 3 Stage 16: Metz - Strasbourg 157km

Basically a second rest day for GC contenders. Which is good, so they can take on the next four stages fresh. Nailed on sprint, and easy run in.


Stage 17: Colmar - Col du Petit Drumond

The classic number of climbs (five), but I feel like this is one of the most disappointing stages of the Tour. I actually quite struggled to track a good stage in the Vosges, and I was quite surprised by that, as I thought it would be easier. But I suppose that I do not know the area even close to well enough to be able to do so well. The stage isn't easy by any stretch of the imagination, and the opening three climbs go together well, with Petit Ballon linking well with Platzerwasel (which is, if I recall correctly, where Contador crashed and broke his leg in 2014). After those climbs comes a 30km descent before the intermediate sprint, and that is where the fourth climb, Grand Ballon, starts.

Vosges

The climb isn't too hard from this side, even if it does feature a 5km section at above 8%, so I don't expect any attacks to come here. At the bottom of the descent, there is a 6km flat section before the final climb to the top, the Col du Petit Drumond (as well as Col de Bussang, which I've clumped together here). the first part is about 6km at 5%, so really a false flat, before the real climb starts. It is only 5km long but averages almost 9%, so there will definitely be attacks and counterattacks on this section, even if before it is unlikely unfortunately.

Last 5km and climb


Stage 18: Belfort - Neuchatel 153.4km

This stage is the second excursion into foreign land, and is a similar stage to the Verbania one of the Giro in 2015, and serves a similar purpose, preluding two bigger and more important mountain stages. The final two climbs are pretty hard - the final one especially. The stage proper begins on the way to Col du Chasseral, an irregular 11km climb which averages at 6.6%. Then after a quite a steep and technical descent, the riders immediately hit the Combe d'Enges. This is shorter but much steeper, averaging over 8% for its 8.5km, despite the false flat at the end. The profile linked only shows the last 5km of the climb, as we take a different, steeper, route to the top than what is showed, which average around 9-10%. There is tiny bit of flat before the descent which has a total of seven or eight corners, so is not technical, but steep and very fast. It is possible that we get a move here towards the top of the last climb.

Neuchatel


Stage 19: Lausanne - Col de la Croix Bronchin 201km

The last two Jura mountain stages begin with a very hard stage which has the same Biche-Colombier combo that this year's Tour had, but without Chat this time as having them both on the same day is a bit excessive and wasteful, especially when you are trying to avoid the Alps like I am. Anyway, the day starts with a flat roll out of Lausanna and along the Lac Leman, before an early climb to soften up the legs and split the breakaway. Rolling terrain follows until the bottom of the Col de Biche, where the fun begins.

Biche-Colombier

The combo is bloody hard, and this time should prove pivotal. The descent from Colombier as we know is extremely technical, so is great for a rider like Nibali or Bardet to gain time on. To gain a lot of time on this stage it is imperative to attack on the Colombier or on its descent, and not on the final short climb. After the descent, there is a quick section in a valley (only 6km) before a 6km climb to the finish. The climb is 5.8km at 6.9%, with the steepest section at 10%. Granted, if it is raced like this year's tour then that is where contenders will attack but I like to think they are not that stupid. It isn't a difficult climb at all and really shouldn't prevent attacks on the Colombier.

Grand Colombier


Stage 20: Culoz - Chambery 193.2km

The penultimate stage is also the second hardest I'd say (probably tied with the previous one). I guess it isn't that original in terms of using Mont du Chat, but it is the best option around and this is my first ever Tour (well, I've designed others but this is the first one I've posted) and I couldn't use the Alps so I decided I could use it. The stage immediately begins with a difficult climb, averaging 8% over its 9km, and then after a period of rolling terrain and flat, the riders climb Mont Revard, which is a generous HC, but perhaps it will ignite some action from anyone who wants the polka-dots, and who may well be nearby in the GC. It's 20km long, so very long, but not that steep, so is a perfect warm-up climb for what is to come. As soon as the riders pass Chambery, it is time for the Col d'Epine (from the wrong side), before a descent and then Mont du Chat.

Mont du Chat

Mont du Chat featured in this year's Tour obviously, and this time we are taking it from the other side. This side is longer but slightly less steep, but overall I'd say that it is probably slightly harder because of it. Not by much but very slightly. It is very regular at around 9-10%, so perhaps the other, more irregular, side is harder, but this side doesn't kid about. After a technical descent (we saw this year how Mont du Chat is), comes the Plateau de Belledigue, an irregular climb that ranges from 10.7% to 4.1%. The profile is linked, but in truth it is 2.5km shorter than that because of where the riders join onto it. The descent off it is difficult, before the final 6km of flat. The flat isn't really long enough to make inroads on someone's advantage, and only 15-20 seconds can be gained or lost if there is a large disparity in strength or there is a group working against one person (I struggle to see why that would be on the 20th stage). The stage is designed to give riders many opportunities: if you are really desperate for a lot of time or suicidal (or Landis), then you can go on Mont Revard; if you need over a minute and a half or two minutes, then you press hard on Chat and attack there; if you need 30 seconds or so, then Plateau de Belledigue is there for you; or if you are Uran, then don't. Hopefully this will be a fitting end to the Tour.

Chambery


Stage 21: Versailles - Paris 121.3km

The final stage, the classic into Paris. A grand tour needs a bit of unnecessary grandeur so the stage starts in front of the Palace of Versailles. The final KOM point is also up for grabs if that is wanted or needed.

Versailles

Champs-Elysees

 

[Brullnux]

I did it

Here is the overall map:

Some stats for those who want them:

Total distance: 3449.24 Km

Total high mountain stages: 6
Mountain top finishes: 4 (One HC, One Cat. 1, Two Cat. 2)
Total medium mountain stages: 6
Hill top finishes: 1 (Cat. 2)
Total flat stages: 7 (one with ribinou)

Total individual time trial stages: 2
Total individual time trials: 86.63km

Total KOM sprints: 62
Total HC: 8
Total 1st Category: 16
Total 2nd Category: 19
Total 3rd Category: 12
Total 4th Category: 7

@escarabajo
yeah it is too hard but it's fun to dream
The narrow roads might be a bit of a problem logistically but I am not pretending this to be a real and flawless Tour, so I don't really care that much. I try to think through stage finishes as much as possible (Stage 7 is the only dodgy one) and where riders will sleep but apart from that I don't bother with logistics. The initial plan with stage 12 was to have more hills, but they ran out near the finish unfortunately and it was only reasonable town so I just had to accept it.

Link to whole tour, for anyone who can't see the images:
https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/tours/view/6150

 

[Gigs_98]

After a difficult start the races gets a bit easier with a completely flat stage. I know sprint stages on weekends aren't something very popular, but it kinda makes sense here. What I tried with this stage was to make a route which goes through regions where many people live where a stage during the week might be a bit complicated though since the cities probably wouldn't be happy that a cycling race uses roads while there is a lot of traffic because people are driving home from work. Moreover since I'm using a very densely populated region for a Sunday stage there would probably be lots of fans and it's likely to have a great atmosphere for the whole day. Big cities the stage goes through are Köln, Leverkusen, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Essen, Gelsenkirchen and Bochum. Other cities close to the route are Oberhausen, Bottrop, Wuppertal and Mönchengladbach.

Do that stage at the start of the summer holidays and the Autobahn 1 will collapse until Hamburg
Honestly, I'm looking forward to what you have in store. Oh, and the name, it's just awesome! Literally the top of all names

:lol:

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Been a while since I've posted a race in here; this here is my first attempt at a World Championships since the brutal Aosta route I posted during the actual World Championships race in Doha. It's a slightly unusual World Championships in that it's in a part of the world that seldom sees racing, but it's still totally viable, unlike, say, my course in Kamchatka: South America.

South America is in some ways in vogue in cycling in recent years, following the second wave of the Colombian invasion with the emergence to prominence of a variety of talents like Quintana, Urán, Chaves, Henao and so forth, and the focus on South America as a source of new talents shows little sign of abating with the fuss surrounding riders like Carapaz and Bernal coming through the ranks as well (plus some Central Americans like Rivera too). We've just seen an epic Olympic Road Race (actually, two of them) in Rio de Janeiro, but South America has only hosted the World Championships in road racing twice.

Of course, we all remember those brutal 1995 World Championships in Duitama, the monstrous course with the high altitude and the climb of El Cogollo that broke the race into pieces and left us with Abraham Olano, Miguel Indurain and Marco Pantani sharing the medals, a sign of brutality if ever there was one. But while a World Championships in Colombia may be overdue given the country's contribution to the sport in the intervening period, their neighbours Venezuela were actually the first to get the Road World Championships (Uruguay hosted the Track World Championships in Montevideo in 1968), in 1977 when the traditional hub of cycling in Venezuela, Táchira, held the races in its capital of San Cristobál. In those days the Track World Championships typically followed the Road ones, so Venezuela also got those, but more recently that has changed; in 2014 Cali, Colombia held the Track Worlds, while the MTB and CX Worlds have yet to travel to the continent.

The 1977 Worlds were not on the most challenging parcours imaginable, especially given the region's topography (it's not, say, Zulia, which has a lot of money, but very few roads away from the flatlands), but the course has been repeatedly reused since in the Vuelta a Táchira, at least as much so as developments of the roads has allowed for. Francesco Moser won the reduced sprint ahead of Didi Thurau and Franco Bitossi, while Italy doubled up on success when Claudio Corti won the amateur road race, the start of a connection to South American cycling that ran through his management career to his most recent high profile gig, as the manager of Coldeportes-Colombia from 2012 to 2015. The all-conquering Soviet machine won the Team Time Trial, helped by the Soviet Anquetil Aavo Pikkuus, while Josiane Bost won the exceedingly short women's road race ahead of Connie Carpenter, who took her first World Championship medal.

Despite this prominence, however, Venezuela has always been the poor relation to Colombia as a cycling nation, a role it has reprised in many sports. Baseball is the one sport that the country can almost undisputably call itself the best in the continent at, having won the World Cup a number of times. A large number of Venezuelans have managed to make it across to North America to compete in Major League Baseball, making them one of the best-represented countries outside of the US, with one such export, Luís Aparicio, even making it into the Baseball Hall of Fame. They are unique among South American nations in having never qualified for the Soccer World Cup, and as a result the sport is far less ingrained than elsewhere on the continent. In fact, it is arguably the case that the most recognizable and successful Venezuelan sportsperson at present doesn't even represent the country; I refer of course to Grand Slam tennis champion Garbiñe Muguruza, born in Caracas to a Basque father and Venezuelan mother, but raised in and representing Spain. She's also not the only sporting connection between Venezuela and the Basque Country - anomalous Venezuelans have made it into those signing policy anomalies of the Basque region, such as abrasive former Athletic Bilbao defender Fernando Amorebieta and, to bring us back where we began, Euskaltel stalwart of the golden (well, orange) era, Unai Etxebarria.

Relatively peripheral to cycling history though he is, Unai is one of only three Venezuelans to have won a Grand Tour stage, having won at the Vuelta in 2003. The first was Leonardo Sierra, who won the first stage over the Mortirolo in the 1990 Giro, en route to a top 10 finish at just 21 years of age. His is an interesting story; his parents fled from western Venezuela into Colombia illegally for work, and it was only when his cycling career took off that Sierra's official statelessness was resolved. And the third, and by far most famous, GT stage winner from Venezuela is the mighty Hulk himself, José Rujano Guillén.

One of cycling's most difficult characters, Rujano was capable of climbing like the second coming of Trueba when motivated, but when not motivated he made Juanjo Cobo look like Mr. Consistency. Having retired and returned more than Brett Favre, he's still only 35 now, but is relegated to a footnote after bouncing around teams year upon year and diminishing returns outside of South America where he feels more comfortable. And despite the country throwing its weight first behind Androni Giocattoli and then Wilier/Southeast, that's been it.

But cycling is still one of the most popular sports in Venezuela, especially in the west, where the regions of Táchira, Zulia and Carabobo throw a lot of money at it. And if Brian Cookson and his band of merry men are willing to sell out the World Championships in the pursuit of oil money and controversial politics be damned, well, we could at least go to an OPEC country that has a passion for the sport, no?

World Championships: Caracas

Set in the north of Venezuela's interior, shielded from the Caribbean by the Cerro El Ávila mountain range, the city of Santiago de León de Caracas (usually abbreviated to just Caracas) is the erstwhile capital of the country, with a metropolitan population of a little over 5 million. Obviously Venezuela has been through some pretty turbulent times in its history, and is currently the homicide capital of the continent, with one of the highest per capita murder rates in the world, as well as a number of violent clashes and protests in recent times meaning that in terms of current feasibility organizing a World Championships there is pretty unlikely, but yet there's also a long and storied cultural history which the country has a great deal of pride in too.

Chief among this is, of course, that Caracas is the birthplace and hometown of the legendary Libertador Simon Bolívar; while modern developments have sprung up around it in the two centuries since the South American colonies won their independence, the old colonial house in which Bolívar was born has been reconstructed and maintained to resemble its original appearance, with the adjacent museum dedicated to the life of Venezuela's most celebrated son also following this plan. The remains of the father of the nation were brought back from Colombia to great fanfare and his ashes are kept at the Panteón Nacional, a mighty setting now juxtaposed with the space-age national library.

So, why am I bleating about these? Well, the World Championships in Caracas are all about the combining of two circuits. One is rolling, and is mostly through urban settings and taking in some of the city's finery, because let's face it, given the kind of position the country is in now, taking on an undertaking like hosting the World Championships will see the Venezuelans wanting to really show off what they've got; the other is the main crux of the road races and is more challenging technically for the riders.

Circuito Bolívar

The Circuito Bolívar is almost exactly 25km in length and serves as the opening salvos of the road races as well as the basis of the time trial courses (though they don't start at Avenida Principal de Las Mercedes as the course does on the profile above). The profile is mostly rolling, with little in the way of strenuous climbing, although there is a rise of 4km at around 3,5% which does get steeper as it goes, but the steepest part is the last 500m after passing the aforementioned Panteón Nacional, which is still only between 6 and 7% and on fairly open roads. In addition to the landmarks mentioned earlier, the péloton also circumnavigate the scenic Parque del Este, named officially for Generalísimo Francisco de Miranda, another legendary Libertador and national hero of Venezuela, as well as taking in Avenida Bolívar, the city's best-known thoroughfare.

This leads us to the Teresa Carreño Cultural Complex, an iconic piece of architecture in its own right, and the mighty square and fountain at Plaza Venezuela, the city's central square.

The time trials will depart the circuit here for the start and finish areas are in the Ciudad Universitaria, however the road race will continue back towards the Las Mercedes area, part of the Baruta Municipality and the city's beating heart for retail and entertainment, featuring an array of high end boutiques, shops, galleries, restaurants, bars and clubs. It's around this area that we will focus for the decisive parts of the road race, with the start-finish on Avenida Principal de Las Mercedes, the central thoroughfare of this particular district.

Because of the start/finish of the time trials being around the Ciudad Universitaria, there is a brief lead-in from the UCV sports facilities and a sweeping out-run from Plaza Venezuela into the University campus that extends the length of the time trial. The women will simply do one lap of this course, which yields a total length of 26,4km, whereas the men will avoid the out-run and do two laps of the course, only taking the route to the exit after completing the second lap, leaving their TT at a length of 51,4km. These circuit TTs used to be fairly common with riders setting off in waves, with World Championships often seeing them, however after the Mendrisio debacle when three laps of a shortish course led to riders being towed around by faster riders catching them (hi, Gustav!) they have fallen rather out of vogue - the Rio Olympic TT brought back the formula, however, and was won by the same Fabian Cancellara that dominated in Mendrisio. The two stadia - for football/athletics and for baseball - serve as the focal points for the start/finishes in the UCV campus for the races against the clock.

The road races don't just use the rolling Circuito Bolívar, though; they also take on a more challenging parcours.

Circuito de Las Mercedes y La Alameda

Like with the other circuit, there's some convenience in the Circuito de Las Mercedes y La Alameda, in that its length is almost exactly 20km. This makes calculating race distances a LOT easier, let me tell you! It's also a pretty scenic area, as you can see from this drone footage which shows you large amounts of the area we will be encircling; at 0:25 you can see the descent from the first climb on the circuit; from 1:30 onwards you can see the finishing straight; at about 2:20 you see the full scale of the hillside the riders will be ascending on the second climb of the circuit, and at 2:47 you see the climb itself.

So, what's the circuit like? Well, it's a fairly balanced one I think, it will favour riders who are strong at climbing, but the run-in after the final descent is very wide-open and will favour the chase; one part of the course is, essentially, a fairly straightforward flat power battle on wide roads, the other part is very technical and difficult. The first climb is fairly straightforward. The official stats are 2km @ 6,5%, but really it's about a kilometre of gradually increasing false flat at around 4-4,5%, then a much tougher kilometre of 8,5-9% including a steepest ramp of 18%. There's then a wide open and fast descent before a short flat around the Club de Golf. Then the riders double back on themselves sharply to take on the more sustained climbing battle on the circuit, on the Calle de Los Estanques, which later becomes the Calle Suapure along its 2,9km length which averages 8,1%. This is somewhat more consistent than the earlier climb, and so though it is a longer climb and does get up to 15% max, and though it crests just 8,5km from the line, it may not be as well suited to an attack as the shorter but sharper Mirador Colinas de Valle Arriba climb, which has more meagre stats and as a result may be more underestimated. We shouldn't forget that Greg van Avermaet won the Olympic Road Race, which many would previously have considered outside his remit, and so those riders who are not suited to the flat and open run-in and who know that the likes of van Avermaet would readily beat them in a sprint will need to get one over on them early to avoid the risk of coming to the line with them. The same goes for the women, where the likes of van Vleuten will be keen to prevent a rider like Coryn Rivera repeating her success from Trofeo Binda and the likes of Moolman-Pasio and Niewiadoma will want to get rid of as many Dutch and Italian riders as possible to even the odds a bit.

After passing the Concha Acústica de Bello Monte, the descent from the Alto de Suapure is extremely technical, which is good - the roads, helpfully, don't have that scary gutter we saw in Rio that led to Annemiek van Vleuten's horror crash being perhaps more violent than it already would have been, among others. The descent is steep and has a large number of corners, but it is not narrow, so we should have some tough and technical, but ultimately safe racing. Which I'm sure we can all agree is a good thing.

The descent leads us to a loop around the district of Los Chaguaramos, adjacent to the university campus and a renowned scenic part of town, albeit not as upmarket as Las Mercedes, partially owing to the large student population thanks to its proximity to the university; from here we move onto major motorway roads to lead us back to the finishing line with around 4km where the chasers ought to be able to see their prey all the way.

So - who's doing what?

Well.

The junior women will do 1 lap of the Circuito Bolívar, then 4 laps of the Circuito de Las Mercedes, for a total of 105km.

The junior men will do 2 laps of the Circuito Bolívar, then 5 laps of the Circuito de Las Mercedes, for a total of 150km.

The elite women will do the same route as the junior men, for a total of 150km.

The U23 men will do 3 laps of the Circuito Bolívar, then 6 laps of the Circuito de Las Mercedes, for a total of 195km.

And the elite men... 4 laps of the Circuito Bolívar, then a full 8 laps of the Circuito de Las Mercedes, taking us almost exactly to 260km and giving us a nice hilly World Championships.

What we have here is a longer circuit than Mendrisio but with similar characteristics; though the climbs are somewhat longer than there, there's also more time for it to come back together on the wide open run-in; the final 4km are mainly on a wide open highway, with a sweeping right-hander at 1,2km remaining, then a 60º left at 800m from the line, but with 8 times over the two climbs above I don't anticipate we're going to be talking a group big enough for that to be an issue. After all, Firenze had a final kilometre which was entirely straight, yet just four riders disputed that final lap, and Fiesole isn't as tough as the climbs I have here, although the circuit was taken more times (10 rather than 8). Nevertheless, of recent World Championships I think that is the most viable comparison to make - this isn't as brutal a Worlds course as my Aosta ones, but it's still difficult. I've always thought that the Worlds are like a sixth monument, this one's perhaps more Liège than Lombardia but still on that spectrum. Plus humidity will likely come into play; not so much heat, although the altitude is hardly enough to kill off the heat as a factor, just 800-1000m above sea level is hardly comparable to Duitama.

 

[Tonton]

I had to catch up with a lot in this thread. Nice to see good designs for a change...this year's TdF pretty much was a borefest for two weeks . Keep going LaFlo, that's a Tour I really like. Pinot would like it too .

Brullnux, as always you rock. And I always love to see a Basque stage. Arnosteguy-Errozate, sweet .

I have a ton of work for the next three weeks, afterwards I'll (finally) finish my Vuelta and post it.

 

[bp92]

...And LaFlorecita's Pyrenees went and made my Tour's Pyrenees look easy :lol: . That Tourmalet-Aspin stage's just ridiculous.
Really nice stages from Brullnux too. A bit of a shame that the Langogne stage's finish is so far from the mountains, but the final stage in the Massif Central (how much elevation change does that stage have, by the way?) and the Jura stages look amazing.

 

[bp92]

Tour de France Stage 12: Limoux - Montpellier, 184km

Climbs: None

We're out of the Pyrenees at last! As a reward for enduring those stages, the riders will get a pan-flat stage, with the classic post-Pyrenees finish in Montpellier. Beware of shenaningans along the way...
The caveat? Instead of the inland route that the 2011 stage connecting the same two locations used, riders will take a far more exposed route, to the south of the Étang de Thau. If the wind blows in the right direction, the peloton may very well get ripped into pieces in the second half of the stage. GC contenders will have to be extremely careful to stay clear from crashes and avoid being caught offguard by echelons. Same with sprinters; we're heading into the Alps soon, and they will have little to do other than survive the mountains once they get there.

 

[bp92]

Tour de France Stage 13: Montpellier - Le Castellet (Circuit Paul Ricard), 234km

Climbs: Romarins (cat. 4), Allauch (cat. 4), Camp (cat. 3), Le Castellet (cat. 4), Vieux-Camp (cat. 2)

Next comes the longest stage of the race, clocking in at a whopping 234km. The route follows the Mediterranean coast closely, although the more exposed roads come during the first half of the stage, as riders cross the Rhône delta.
For the second half of the stage the route's far less exposed, as we head into the hills along the western Côte d'Azur. Riders will take on five categorized climbs; while the first three aren't very steep (and the fourth, the ascent to the small town of Le Castellet, is very short anyway), the final one, the Montée de Vieux-Camp, is actually fairly steep, with two kms around 9% halfway through. Not incredibly long (and admittedly the climb's cat. 2 categorization may be somewhat inflated), but with over 220km on the legs, it's going to hurt quite a bit.

After the summit there's still 8 km left to go, 3 of which we spend taking half a lap around the Circuit Paul Ricard. The circuit's namesake and main financer, an eccentric pastis businessman, saw the potential for sports to serve as an advertising tool and became the Tour's first commercial sponsor, back in 1948. In 1970, Ricard decided to build a state-of-the-art motor racing circuit, which would become renowned for its advanced safety features for its time, and would quickly become a very popular testing facility. It would also host the French Grand Prix a total of fourteen times, between 1971 and 1990, after which the race would move to Magny-Cours. The Circuit Paul Ricard is expected to host the revived French GP, starting next year.
This stage should suit hilly classics specialists, with the short and steep climbs at the end of a 230+km route. Attacks by stage-chasers will have to be carefully planned, though, since there's 8 pan-flat kms between the end of the final climb and the finish line. GC contenders will probably be content with letting a breakaway fight for the stage win, but there's still the chance that someone may be caught offguard by the final climbs, so they can't take it too easy.

 

[Finn84]

Just thinking that since first three stages of 2018 Tour have been published, I'll do my own starting from stage 4 to the end. While I generally like more Pyrenees before Alps, I think it's time to go other way around this time since last three editions have had Alps as the last mountain range.

 

[Gigs_98]

DACH Rundfahrt stage 3: Wuppertal - Schmallenberg (214 km)
category: medium mountain stage

After a flat stage the DACH Rundfahrt continues with a very tricky hilly stage. The start is in Wuppertal, a pretty big city which I think is most known for its pretty unique monorail.

The stage already starts quite hilly, although not extremely difficult with two, relatively easy climbs. First the first cat. 4 climb of the day to Remlingrade, and then a Giro like intermediate sprint in Lüdenscheid which comes shortly after an ascent. The next four climbs, which are all 4th category, come partly shortly after each other and might already hurt some bad climbers but at the end won't make a big difference. The first 3rd category climb of the day called Jagdhaus is a bit harder but since it comes around 100km before the finish we will probably only see a fight for mountain points in the breakaway but nothing more.
After the intermediate sprint in Bad Berleburg there is a chance that the pace goes up and the (probably relatively large) break will start to split. However it's only the 3rd category climb to the Albrechtsplatz where I'd expect the real action for the stage win to start. If the win goes to the break the crucial attack could already happen here and if the peloton still has the chance to catch the break I'd expect a pretty high pace on this climb which could narrow the peloton down a bit.

The Albrechtsplatz might be the last categorized climb of the day but it's not the last difficulty since there are two uncategorized bumps after it, and on the first of those the golden kilometer is located. I hope this motivates some stage hunters to attack here and let's not forget the fight for the leaders jersey might still be very open so the bonus seconds on the golden kilometer will be important.
The finish of the stage is in Schmallenberg.

 

[Gigs_98]

DACH Rundfahrt stage 4: Marburg - Eisenach (171 km)
category: medium mountain stage

To get this out of the way, I would personally call this a flat stage not a medium mountain stage, the "medium mountain stage" only means that at the finish the winner will only get 30 and not 50 points for the points classification.

The stage starts in Marburg, an incredibly beautiful town which is unsurprisingly a popular goal for tourists. The most famous sights there are the gothic Elisabethkirche which was built in the 13th century, a castle, which is now mainly used as a museum and the historic centre. The cameramen of this race will surely have something to film.

And it doesn't take very long until the race gets scenic again because after only 15 kilometers riders have to climb to the beautiful village Amöneburg.

From now on the stage becomes a typical transitional stage, with two intermediate sprints and an actually not that easy climb halfway through the stage. However that far away it will hardly have an impact on the final classification of the day. The golden kilometer also comes at a rather unspectacular point of the stage, before the hills in the final of the stage. I decided to do that because the finish isn't suited for riders like Kittel but I thought that since the golden kilometer is already quite close to the stage finish the pure sprinters teams might try to catch the break before this point of the stage so they can also get something out of this day by gaining some point on puncheurs.

The finale of my stage was heavily inspired by the stage in the 2014 tdf to Nancy with this profile. I found that stage very entertaining and since I wanted to make all stages something special and not just make half of my stages pan flat like in this years tdf I wanted to get an interesting battle between attackers and sprinters on this day. The climbs are neither very long nor hard but could be hard enough to make enough of a difference to stay away and they make sure that we don't get a 100% controlled bunch sprint won by a rider like Kittel.

The finish is in Eisenach a town which is probably mostly famous for the Wartburg in the south of the city. The Wartburg wasn't that insignificant for the history of Europe since this is the place where the church reformator Martin Luther was brought to by his friends and supporters after be was outlawed. The Wartburg is therefore also the place where he translated the new testament which wasn't only important for the reformation of the church but also for the development for one consistent german language.

Eisenach:

 

[bp92]

Tour de France Stage 14: Toulon - Monaco (Circuit de Monaco), 197km

Climbs: L'Etoile (cat. 4), Croix-Valmer (cat. 4), L'Esquillon (cat. 4), Villefranche (cat. 3)

The first stage of the second weekend of the race takes us into another world-famous circuit... although this one is technically not within France.
The riders will resume their journey along the scenic Côte d'Azur, going along mostly flat terrain, with only a few cat.4 hills along the way until Nice. Wind may end up spicing things up, but the hilly terrain along the route may protect riders somewhat.
After Nice there's a more difficult ascent to Villefranche, only 18km away from the finish line, followed by some more hilly terrain until entering the Principality of Monaco, where the route will eventually follow almost a full lap of the famous Circuit de Monte Carlo. Held for the first time in 1929, the Monaco Grand Prix has remained one of the most prestigious races in the world. Alongside the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Indy 500, it's considered one of the three legs of the Triple Crown of Motorsports, which has only been completed by British driver Graham Hill. The circuit itself is famous for its unique and challenging layout, with very tight corners, elevation changes and very narrow roads. It's often regarded as the ultimate test of driving skill in Formula One, although the narrow layout means most races in Monaco are defined by pitlane strategies and attrition, rather than actual overtakes.
Sprinters will want to fight for this stage, but Villefranche and the hilly terrain afterwards may keep them from the fight for the stage. A reduced sprint among classics specialists and any sprinters that manage to survive Villefranche is likely, although there's always the chance that someone catches everyone offguard with a big attack and Villefranche and manages to keep them at bay during the final kms of the stage. GC contenders will probably want to take it easy; the Alps are right around the corner, so they'll need to get ready.

 

[bp92]

Tour de France Stage 15: Vence - Briançon, 229km

Climbs: La Bonette (Souvenir Henri Desgrange, HC), Vars (cat. 1), Izoard (HC)

The Alps in this Tour start with a bang, with the queen stage of the race right at the beginning. This is a very long high mountain stage, with "only" three categorized climbs, but two of them are HC climbs, including the Souvenir Henri Desgrange of the race at Cime de la Bonette, the highest paved mountain pass in France.
We start off near the coast, at the town of Vence, then after a short descent start the slow, gradual climb up the Var and Tinée valleys, all the way to Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée, right at the foot of the highest climb of this Tour de France.

The ascent to La Bonette is very long, with 25km averaging 6,6%; the average gradient is brought down slightly by the relatively shallow first 10kms, though. The final km of the climb is also the hardest, including the final 500m before the summit at around 14%. Plenty of terrain for brave climbers to try and go for the stage from afar, and plenty of suffering for poor climbers. GC contenders will have to watch out despite the climb's location over 100km away from the finish, be it for surprise attacks by climbing specialists trying to sneak back into GC contention, be it for potential breaks in the main group during the ultra-steep final km.
The territory after Bonette is not an easy one for chasing, either; after a long and fairly technical descent, there's only 10km of flat respite before entering the second climb of the stage, the Col de Vars.

The easiest climb of the stage isn't too long, but it's fairly steep, especially at its last 5km averaging 9%. Not too difficult (we climb the shorter and arguably easier southern side of the climb), but still enough to further filter down the groups left after Bonette.
After the descent there's another "break", with 18 kms of flat and shallow hills, finishing at the foot of the decisive climb of the stage, the Col d'Izoard.

One of the more famous climbs of the Alps, Izoard's slopes have been the scene for many memorable moments of the Tour, featuring the likes of Fausto Coppi and Louison Bobet, among others. The southern side is also the hardest, with its final 10km almost constantly between 7 and 10%, save for a small downhill section 2km away from the summit. With the wear of over 200km of racing, with almost 5000m of elevation gain along the way (plus the 14 stages before that), only the strongest cyclists will be able to keep up, especially if climbing specialists take advantage of Izoard's slopes to their fullest and attack there.
There's still about 20km of descent after the climb (the first 6km being very steep and technical), which are followed by a shallow final ascent to the finish in Briançon. Good descenders may steal additional seconds from their opponents at the descent, while anyone still left with energy in the tank after so much climbing may try and shave off a couple seconds off their opponents right before the finish line.
Anything could happen here; if the pace is high among contenders we may see massive gaps among them, be it through long-range breakaways or simply through attacks at Izoard. There's always the chance they just let a non-threatening break fight for the win and only attempt anything at the final 2kms of Izoard; if the latter happens, it will be a shame, but climbers will reach the finish line with only a few seconds of advantage (if at all) and the knowledge that they wasted possibly their best chance at winning the Tour de France.

 

[Gigs_98]

DACH Rundfahrt stage 5: Erfurt - Meerane (168 km)
category: flat stage

Stage 5 starts in Erfurt the capital of the state Thüringen and a city known for its historic centre where you can see among other things, the Erfurter Dom, the Krämerbrücke and the oldest synagogue of central Europe.

After only 24 km there is an intermediate sprint in the famous town Weimar, which, at least in german speaking regions, is known for the Weimarer Klassik, the most important german literary epoch. I have absolutely no knowledge of whether names like Goethe or Schiller are known in other countries as well but anyway, they lived there and wrote books and plays like Wilhelm Meister, Faust, Wallenstein, Wilhelm Tell and many more.
Moreover 1998 the centre of Weimar became a UNESCO world heritage.

The next city the riders pass is Jena, which is followed by the only categorized climb of the day the 4th category Windknollen. While this might be the only categorized climb you can see on the profile that the route is still a bit bumpy, so while being flat this still won't be as flat as some po-valley stages we've seen in the giro.
The 2nd intermediate sprint of the day is in Gera.

The next town the riders pass is Zwickau but while there is no intermediate sprint taking place there I put the Golden Kilometer there, so the city will get some attention as well. At this point the riders are already pretty close to the finish and the teams will start to prepare the sprint. It won't be a usual sprint though since the final hundred meters are very remarkable. This won't be a simple bunch sprint because the finishing straight looks like this:

This is the quite famous Steile Wand von Meerane, a brutally steep, and cobbled wall. The exact numbers are that this ramp is 250 meters long and 11% steep. The big question on this stage will be if the wall is short enough for sprinters to win or long enough of puncheurs to beat the fast men. So at the end this stage will be a lot like a normal flat stage but it has an unusual highlight at the end which should hopefully make this stage a bit different and rememberable.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

...And LaFlorecita's Pyrenees went and made my Tour's Pyrenees look easy :lol: . That Tourmalet-Aspin stage's just ridiculous.

That's not my stage

Keep going LaFlo, that's a Tour I really like. Pinot would like it too .

Thanks, can't help but design races that suit my favorites
I took a little break from posting because bp92's Pyrenees stages were quite similar to mine or at least 1 of them was almost identical

 

[LaFlorecita]

Stage 14: Saint-Gaudens > Carcassonne - 227km - medium mountains
https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/hd/133618

The 2nd stage in the Pyrenees, after the Superbagnères MTF the day before. It contains a climb that we saw in this year's Tour, the Col de Péguère with the super steep final 3km. It comes in the first part of the stage and is followed by two other categorized climbs, the Col de Montségur and Col du Bac. This stage should be too hard for the pure sprinters and it seems likely it'll be a breakaway stage. The finish is in the famous city of Carcassonne.

The climbs:
Col de Péguère (1st Category, 1352 m, 10.5 Km at 6.9%, Km 81.2)
Col de Montségur (2nd Category, 1046 m, 8.4 Km at 5.7%, Km 138.6)
Col du Bac (3rd Category, 620 m, 5.0 Km at 4.8%, Km 178.3)

Col de Péguère

The Cité de Carcassonne fortified part of the city

Stage 15: Narbonne > Ax-les-Thermes - 182km - high mountains
https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/hd/133624

Another day for the GC contenders. The first part of the stage is easy, but in the last 70km we have two big climbs: the Col du Garabeil and Port de Pailhères. Garabeil is steep at the start, then flattens out a bit, Pailhères is a pretty gradual climb although the first half is the toughest.
This stage is really similar to one bp92 posted earlier, except he chose to finish with the climb to Ax-3-Domaines. I preferred a downhill finish, as we have already had the Superbagnères finish 2 days earlier.

The climbs:
Col du Garabeil (1st Category, 1256 m, 14.8 Km at 5.4%, Km 134.9)
Port de Pailhères (Hors Catégorie, 1994 m, 17.7 Km at 7.3%, Km 162.8)

Col du Garabeil

Port de Pailhères

The final part of the stage

Col du Garabeil

Port de Pailhères

Port de Pailhères descent

 

[bp92]

Re: Re:

...And LaFlorecita's Pyrenees went and made my Tour's Pyrenees look easy :lol: . That Tourmalet-Aspin stage's just ridiculous.

That's not my stage

Whoops, I meant Brullnux. I no can read :redface: .

 

[rghysens]

I am working on several races and have completed a Deutschland Rundfahrt.
I hope it doesn't interfere too much with Gigs_98's DACH Rundfahrt, but given the larger scope he's working on, I guess any overlapwill be very limited.
My race will be a 9-day event, starting on a saturday and without restdays. I think a 9-day race is the ideal format for a Deutschland Rundfahrt, because although the country is bigger than Italy, much of it is flat or not hilly enough to create a race that's varied enough from year to year if it would take 2 or 3 weeks .

I'll start in a way that's not very common for week-long stage races: with a medium length tt. Given the (eastern)German focus on timetrialling in the past, it still feels kind of suitable. The amount of timetrialling looks rather much, if you compare it with some recent gt's (I'm looking at your direction, ASO),but I think there will be enough to compensate for it.

Anyway, let's start....

1. Etappe: Berlin - Berlin, 20.8km einzelzeitfahren

The first stage is a double lap of a course around Brandenburger Tor. It sets of at the aforementioned icon, goes through the Grosser Tiergarten, passes the Potsdamer Platz and Checkpoint Charlie before crossing the Museuminsel and heading for the Brandenburger Tor again.

 

[Gigs_98]

DACH Rundfahrt stage 6: Dresden - Dresden (27 km)
category: individual time trial

On stage 6 we have the first ITT of my Dachrundfahrt. It's only 27 kilometers long but still on this day the first serious time gaps between gc contenders will open up. The route isn't completely flat but has a 3rd category climb after around 10 km. Moreover this climb to the Fernsehturm is partly cobbled so this is a TT for guys like Cancellara.

Both start and finish are in one of the most beautiful cities of Germany, Dresden.