Race Design Thread

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

who is libertine seguros and what she does for a living will forever be one of my life's mysteries....

PhD in omniscience is my guess.

Lmao

 

[railxmig]

Vuelta a España – opening post

I think i finally have a Vuelta (this version finished on 29 Dec 2017), which is sort of presentable, even if i'm still not 100% happy about it. It's based on my previous attempts at a Vuelta. I know that Spain is so extensively covered by LS and a couple of websites, that there's nothing new left. I still tried to be slightly original with either stages or start/finish places. That's why i don't check any of these sites and i wasn't following the last zillion LS Vueltas to not spoil the fun i had.

My own Vuelta is a mess of a race. It's by far the longest race i've ever did, clocking at 3630km (including two ITT's), which is 300-400km more than an average Vuelta length. It also has an additional ITT, which is replacing the normal Vuelta's prologue/TTT, because this one starts with a sprint stage (wonder, if Kittel will be interested with this one). There are 3 sprint stages in the 1st week to attract the Greipels and Kittels of this world, but there are also 3 other sprint stages for those, who are willing to finish the Vuelta.

As always, there are two (just over 60km) ITT's. One of them is flat and straight, other one is hilly and slightly less straight. There are 6 sprint stages, which i tried to spread throughout the race (not bunch them up, like TdF likes to do), plenty of Guillén-esque muritos and potentialy 6-8 mountain/GC-relevant stages. However, there are only 4 classic MTF stages, of which only one is a garage ramp, so i guess Guillén wouldn't be very happy with me. As always, i doubt i did a balanced route... i think i could go harder with the climbs, but there's some steep stuff. Because of that, this time i went mild with the amount of TT kms.

Because i've tried to limit the day-to-day transfers to below 100km and tried to cover as much Spain as i could, it resulted in long stages and long rest-day transfers. There are however some regions that i missed, which are Murcia, Valencia, Galicia & Cantabria. The race starts in Mérida, which is the Spanish equivalent (sort of) of Nîmes (Vuelta 2017) and ends in Burgos (not Madrid).

Vuelta has a very wonky climb categorisation system, especially when it comes to cat. 1/ESP. There are many borderline 1/ESP climbs in Spain or near it, but Vuelta is very stingy with ESP cat. There are normally 2-3 ESP climbs per edition, and because of that i feel this category is (like cat. 2 in TdF) sort of dying. I decided to be more generous and there are (arguably) 6 ESP climbs, which is a better number, than 2. Some of them are arguably cat. 1, but i also counted the max slope and avg steepness of some of them (Machucos deal). Also, there is a cat. 1 MTF, which for some reason is often ESP for unknown to me reasons (and also compared to Galibier, which is a heresy). Every stage has at least one categorised climb, so the breakaway specialists can win some additional money for themselves and the team.

Now about the Spain itself. It's a place with very rich history, which resulted in a large amount of monuments and a distinct architecture – mix between European and Arabian styles. However, it's also a very rural country and many places in more rural areas are either relatively new or just plain uninhabited. The pop. distribution is also very interesting, as there's no (sort of) real villages. It's constructed of small, but quite densly populated towns separated by long and straight stretches of complete nothingness. There are also many, many fine looking dirt roads in the country. Way more than in Italy.

Sorry for this information overload. This time i'm doing it differently, as i'm still in the writing process, so it can take more than 2 days per stage. I'll try to be short with my entries, but also try to give some bits of history, visuals and fancy naming conventions, that Vuelta loves so much (separated by dots... obviously). Also, sorry for any wrong names and my poor english.

 

[railxmig]

I tried to be fancy with the naming, but my spanish is abysmal, so i decided to just add in the start and finish places. I guess the real life Vuelta would have a fancy UNESCO name, forgetting about the city in the process. Who cares, what's the name of the depart town, if more important it's tied to a random jubilee (Vuelta 2017 stage 10). There is a random cat. 3 climb just to give someone the mountain jersey. Seriously, i watched Vuelta 2017 quite extensively and cannot rememer ever seing the climbers jersey...

...oh no... (side note: i have nothing against Villella). I'm also back to the 3-sprint system to differenciate it from Giro and Tour.

https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/181029
Vuelta a España – stage 1. Mérida. Teatro Romano – Mérida. Circo Romano, 195km, flat.

The start and finish is in Mérida... not the Mexican one. Extremadura was home to many conquistadors, so there are plenty of shared names. Mérida is the capital of Extremadura, but it's not a capital of the province it is in, as it's in the province of Badajoz. Extremadura consists of two provinces – Cáceres in north and Badajoz in south. This stage will focus on the Badajoz side (mainly Tierra de Barros and Vegas Bajas) visiting Badajoz itself, Montijo, Zafra (where the only categorised climb of the day is), Villafranca de los Barros and Almendralejo. Mérida was the grand depart in 1991, where the prologue was won by... Melcior Mauri, who absolutely killed that edition with better TT than Indurain himself. Since then i don't think it was ever featured in Vuelta.

Melcior Mauri in Vuelta 1991.

Mérida (this time not to be confused with a bike company) is the famous Spanish Roman city. It was not only a large at the time city of Emerita Augusta – capital of Lusitania (modern Extremadura and northern half of Portugal), but also the Visigothian capital of Spain and capital of a Moorish taifa. After the reconquista it was one of the seats of the Order of Santiago. The remains of Emerita Augusta include the Temple of Diana, a Roman circus, two aqueducts, the amphitheatre and theatre, the Roman bridge Puente Romano and at least two villas. Other sights include a Moorish stronghold Alcazaba and Catedral de Santa María la Mayor from XIII-XIV c. Because of the amount of quite well preserved Roman remains it's listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Temple of Diana, Mérida.

Roman circus, Mérida.

Roman theatre, Mérida.

Walls of the Alcazaba, Mérida.

For the start i for now decided on Calle José Ramón Mélida, even if it's just a pedestrian street. However, it's the only wider street in the centre, and i didn't wanted to have a Vuelta start on the outskirts. Calle José Ramón Mélida is next to the remains of a Roman theatre and amphitheatre. Other possibilities include Avenida Felipe Corchero, next to either of aqueducts and maybe also Parque de la Isla.

From Mérida the race goes west through Vegas Bajas (Vegas Altas is east of Mérida) towards Badajoz, alongside the Guadiana river. The biggest town in the area is Montijo. It's one of the main historical centers of Vegas Bajas, which to this day is mainly a rural region of vast nothingness. The town started as a Roman villa (the archeological area of Villa Romana de Torreáguila). The main sights include the aformentioned Roman villa, Iglesia de San Pedro Apóstol and Monasterio de las Clarisas from XVI c.

Birds on Guadiana, Vegas Bajas.

Badajoz is a major city (over 100 000 pop.) on the southern bank of Guadiana founded by a Moorish nobleman Ibn Marwan (creator of the Badajoz taifa) around 875. home to a citadel Alcazaba de Badajoz from IX-X c. Throughout its history it was the biggest fortress on the southern part of the Spanish-Portuguese border. It was in the center of constant skirmishes between Spain and Portugal. In 1812 it (in bloody battles) changed hands between Spain and France during the Napoleonic Iberian War (for some reason known as Peninsular War). In 1936 it was home to one of the first major nationalist (also bloody) victories in the Spanish Civil War. Badajoz is also home to a major tartessian museum, which houses quite important ancient finds from this major but rather forgotten civilisation. Like Mérida, last time Badajoz was a finish to a TTT in Vuelta 1991, which was won by ONCE.

Alcazaba de Badajoz.

Puerta Palmas, Badajoz.

From Badajoz the race heads towards Zafra and Tierra de Barros. First bigger town is La Albuera, where a major battle took place in 1811 between Napoleonic France (and sort of Poland – then french satelite Duchy of Warsaw) and a British-Portuguese-Spanish coalition. The battle technically ended in a draw, but it managed to slow down the French attack on Badajoz. Extremadura was in the center of Iberian war, so it was just one of many battles fought here. Near La Albuera is a swamp region Lagunas de La Albuera.

Lagunas de La Albuera.

Next town is Santa Marta de los Barros, which in the middle ages was known as La Pontecilla. Here the race enters a hilly region of Tierra de Barros (in the middle ages as the Duchy of Feria), which is the northwesternmost point of Sierra Morena. Tierra de Barros is mainly a clay and wine region, known for Cayetana grapes. The main wine produced in the area is Vino de la Tierra.

Just after Santa Marta de los Barros, and preseeded by Zafra is Feria. The town was founded in late XIV c. by Order of Santiago, but the region was inhabited since prehistory. In the middle ages Extremadura was divided between the Order of Santiago and the Knights Templar. Becasue of the location at the edge of Sierra Morena it was an important defensive fort. In the middle ages it was a capital of a local duchy. The main sight is Castillo de Feria built by the Order of Santiago.

Feria seen from the castle.

Castillo de Feria.

Zafra is known since Roman times, but it came into prominence during the Moorish rule, as it was an important fort on a trade route between Seville, Mérida and Badajoz. After the reconquista it was part of the Duchy of Feria, in possession of the Order of Santiago. In XV c. (thanks to the duke Lorenzo Suárez de Figueroa) Zafra begun to gain importance in the area as the seat of Duchy of Feria. Nowadays it's an important commercial centre on the crossroads between Seville, Badajoz and Mérida/Cáceres. The main sight is the XV c. castle – seat of the dukes of Feria.

Castillo de Zafra.

In between Zafra and nearby Los Santos de Maimona is the only categorised “climb” of the day. This climb is part of nearby Sierra de San Cristóbal. It's there only to serve somebody the climbers jersey (in my race – i guess sky blue, not this ugly TdF ripoff).

Next city is Villafranca de los Barros, which is the main wine center of the region. It's also an important archaelogical site from the copper and iron ages. The town was heavily involved with conquering the Americas (mainly Granada, Colombia and Venezuela).

Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Valle, Villafranca de los Barros.

Not far from Villafranca de los Barros is Almendralejo, which is the last bigger town before Mérida, as the road goes alongside the Ruta de la Plata highway. Almendralejo is sort of a Villafranca de los Barros copy (a similar situation will take place in the next stage) – inhabited since prehistory, developed by the order of Santiago after the Reconquista, major role in conquering the Americas and a wine centre. During the Spanish Civil War in 1936 a battle/massacre took place, where roughly 1000 poeple lost their lives. Stage 7 of Vuelta 2013 started here.

Iglesia de la Purificacion from XVI c. Almendralejo.

Mérida is located on a couple of irregular, rolling hills, hence the city is quite irregular. Because of that i couldn't find a good place for a finish. The first thing i've saw was Calle Cabo Verde and Avenida Estudiante with a finish in front of the Roman theatre, but there's no way to reach Calle Cabo Verde because of a tunnel on Avenida Extremadura and a nasty narrowing (road crossing) on Avenida Estudiante. Other option could be Avenida de Juan Carlos I after Avenida Extremadura with a finish near the Roman circus, but that would mean a rather difficult run-in with a small tunnel on Avenida Extremadura near the finish. A different option could be Avenida Felipe Corchero with a finish near one of the Roman excavation sites near the aqueduct. I've finally decided to go back to the Roman circus and approach it from the other way. It means a good and long straight with only one significant turn in the last 1km, but the road is not that wide. Considering it's the first stage of the race and it's a sprint stage i'm worried it might generate crashes. I'm still not sure about this finish option.

Finish in Mérida.

I guess that's all for now. Extremadura is not often seen in Vuelta, especially the porvince of Badajoz, so i guess it's some sort of a change from the usual Andalucian departure. Sadly, the biggest amount of historic places is closer to the Portuguese border (Olivienza, Alburquerque, Alcantara, Marvão, Castelo de Vide etc.), which would render this already long and boring stage way too long, but i really wanted Mérida to be my departure city. The next stage is hillier and it goes mostly through possibly my favourite (especially in winter) of Spanish regions – La Serena and La Siberia.

 

[railxmig]

This stage was created mainly for the guys prepping for the WC (unless it's extremely flat or mountain-heavy). It should not be an important GC stage but the guys should be close to the front as the finale is quite hilly. This stage will also have plenty of pictures, for good reason though. It's also one of the 2 remnants from my first draft (spring of 2017). I decided to use the form of Medellín de la Serena in the profile to differenciate it from the notorious Colombian city.

Last stage: link

https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/134872
Vuelta a España – stage 2. Medellín – Monasterio de Guadalupe, 232km, hilly, HTF.

Climbs:
Alto de Magacela – 3,5km, 3,3%, 3 cat. 459m
Puerto Llano – 4,2km, 4,1%, 3 cat. 660m
Collado de las Zorreas – 4km, 7,8% (max 20%), 2 cat. 852m
Monasterio de Guadalupe – 2,1km, 5,5%, 3 cat. 638m

The eastern part of Extremadura – La Serena and La Siberia at first glance are just remote, empty and not interesting. La Serena is home to some beautiful, bald and rocky mountain ranges of Sierra Morena while La Siberia is home to an entire lake system created in the 80's to regulate Guadiana and it's tributaries.

Medellín (not the Colombian one) is a hidden gem in the vast nothingness of Spanish interior, where Guadiana meanders between a small Sierra de Enfrente. One of the hills (Cerro del Castillo) is decorated by a medieval castle. Medellín is in a region called Vegas Altas, just east of Vegas Bajas (Mérida). It started as Metellinum – a Roman military base for the Sertorian War. Later it was overshadowed by Emerita Augusta (now Mérida). It was also an important bridge over Guadiana. After the Reconquista it was ruled by the Order of Santiago. Medellín was the site of a major battle during the Iberian War in 1809, which was the first major French victory in Spain. The town is the birthplace of a certain conquistador known as Hernán Cortés.

Seriously, Medellín is the best place on Earth. Only here you can find a Roman theatre accompanied by a hilltop Order of Santiago castle from XIII c. (HYYYPE!)

THE majestic creature.

The ancient bridge with the castle in the background.

Plaza Hernán Cortés with his monument and castle in the background.

Even if Medellín is a relatively small town (2500 pop.), it's very close (5-10km) to the Don Benito/Villanueva de la Serena urban area, which combined has over 63000 inhabitants, which is shockingly more than Mérida (59000 pop.). I thought Mérida was much bigger than that.

Now about this stage being a potential WC prep. It's the longest stage of the race, clocking at a respectable 232km. It's hilly for most of the part, but the hills toughen up in the last 40km (foothills of Sierra de Guadalupe). One of them – Collado de las Zorreas is the first cat. 2 of the race. It's cat. 2 mainly because of a very steep (over 12%) middle 1km with max slope at roughly 20%. The summit is 30km from the finish line. There are also some great views of Sierra de Guadalupe near the top.

Profile of Collado de las Zorreas.

Toughest part of Collado de las Zorreas.

Just after the start the race goes on the outskirts of Don Benito. This city is tied with its sister – Villanueva de la Serena. Both cities are considered the capital of Vegas Altas. Both were also founded in XVI c. after a major Guadiana flooding forced the local people to relocate. Guadiana was regulated in 1990 by creating a system of lakes just east of both cities.

Iglesia Parroquial de Santiago, Don Benito.

Next town is Magacela, which is a typical La Serena town located on a local rocky ridge (Sierra de Magacela) with a XIII c. post-Reconquista castle. It's mostly in ruins, but hilltop ruins on a lone, rocky and naked hill are very atmospheric. Magacela was also a major settlement during the prehistoric – a local dolmen, Estela de Magacela and cave paintings. The race goes straight through these rocks (BA-084 road) and tops just before the town with the first categorised climb of the day, a cat. 3 Alto de Magacela, which is 3,5km at 3,3%.

Castillo de Magacela seen from the top of Alto de Magacela, BA-084.

A random stack of rocks in Sierra de Magacela seen from BA-084.

Next town is Castuera – home to stunning Sierra de Benquerencia, which peaks in nearby village of Benquerencia de la Serena. It's a lone, thick (500m to 1km wide) and very rocky mountain range (highest peak is 767m) connected from the east with Sierra de Tiros, which with Sierra del Torozo creates sort of a tentacle of Sierra Morena. This range is home to Puerto Llano, a cat. 3 climb with 4,2km at 4,1%. For the next 140km there won't be any categorised climb, but the stage is hardly flat.

Sierra de Benquerencia seen from EX-104 between Castuera and Benquerencia de la Serena.

The northern face of Sierra de Benquerencia with the castle.

Benquerencia de la Serena is a beautiful village carved in the rock face of Sierra de Benquerencia. It's located on Puerto Urraco, which splits the range in half. It's home to some brilliant rock formations and, of course, a hilltop castle (now in ruins). This moorish castle dates back to VIII c. In the middle ages it was a stronghold of Order of Alcántara. The race will continue in Serra de Benquerencia to Puerto Mejoral, which separates Sierra de Benquerencia from Sierra de Tiros, which is not as visually stunning as it's twin sister, but it's also a fine looking mountain range. The stage will go through the southern slopes of this range.

The main sight of the region is a small, but stunning Castillo de Almorchón from XV c. built on a rock near Almorchón, between Helechal and Cabeza del Buey. The castle can be nicely seen from the main (EX-104) road. From there the race will go via EX-322 to Embalse de la Serena.

Castillo de Almorchón.

Embalse de la Serena is one of the many large and irregular lakes in the region. This lake is full of enclosed bays and fjords. It's part of a very elaborate system (Embalse del Zújar, Orellana and Cijara) to control the flow of Guadiana and it's tributaries, as Guadiana was known to flooding. This lake was created in 1990. it's the largest lake in Spain, 2nd biggest in the Iberian peninsula and one of the biggest in Europe.

Embalse de la Serena.

The race will go through the middle of this lake system, where riders will stumble upon a 500m high Cerro Masatrigo – a random, volcanic-like hill in the middle of lake. The road goes around it and i guess i will leave both sides open, so everybody in the peloton can choose their prefered side.

Cerro Masatrigo on Embalse de la Serena.

Cerro Masatrigo seen from the EX-322 bridge.

After crossing the lake the road immediately starts to go up the Sierra de Lares (5,7km at 3%), leaving the lake with this view below. On the other side of Sierra de Lares is the town of Puebla de Alcocer.

Embalse de la Serena and Cerro Masatrigo seen from Sierra de Lares.

The first Puebla de Alcocer was probably founded by Carthaginians as Akra-Leukra in 230BC. In ancient Rome it was known either as Popula Coqueres or Popula Succosa. There are still some remains left from ths period. The new Puebla de Alcocer was founded in XIII c. after the Reconquista. The main sights include a hilltop castle from XIII c. and Iglesia de Santiago Apóstol (former mosque) from XI c.

Castillo de Puebla de Alcocer.

From there the race goes via BA-138 to an extremely picturesque place called Puerto Peña. It's sort of a village, camping spot, mountain, dam and Guadiana's gorge separating Sierra de los Golondrinos east and Sierra de la Chimenea west. Here ends one of those regulatory lakes on Guadiana – Embalse de García Sola. Peloton will first go under a high bridge of N-430 Valencia – Lisbon road, then alongside the rocky face of Puerto Peña peak (619m), dam creating Embalse de García Sola and then between the west side of the lake and Sierra de la Chimenea via BAV-7113. The whole place is gorgeous. Not far from here the race will move to the Cáceres province which, outside of the village of Valdecaballeros, is basically deserted.

Puerto Peña seen from a mirador on the other side of Guadiana. Riders will go under the rock face.

Puerto Peña from the peloton's perspective.

Guadalupe is home to Real Monasterio de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe from XIII c. The monastery was created after a statue of the Blessed Virgin was found on a bank of the Guadalupe river – one of Guadiana's tributaries, which starts near the town. The legend says the statue was carved by Luke the Evangelist and later given to the archbishop of Seville by Pope Gregory I at the end of VI c. and then hidden in the hills after the Moorish invasion. Since the discovery of this statue the monastery is a major site of pilgrimage. In XVI c. monks from Guadalupe founded the Escorial monastery. In the monastery there are various artistic works by Francisco Goya, El Greco and even Michelangelo.

Guadalupe with the monastery in the middle.

Front of the monastery.

Sierra de Guadalupe.

The toughest part of this stage (culminating at Collado de las Zorreas) is inside a 35km long lap through the foothills of Sierra de Guadalupe east of the town. The finish in front of the monastery is on top of a 2,1km at 5,5% hill through Avenida de Juan Pablo II, Calle Gregorio López and Calle Poeta Ángel Marina. The toughest part is at the beginning with 0,5km at 10% (max ~14%).

Finish in Guadalupe.

Profile of the last 2km.

The next stage is the first GC relevant stage, which will include the first cat. 1 of the race. While this is a Bettini stage, the next one is more of a Rebellin/Garzelli test.

 

[railxmig]

The first sort of medium mountain/mountain stage, first possibly bigger selection and first cat. 1 of the race.

Last stage: link

https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/180453
Vuelta a España – stage 3. Navalmoral de la Mata – Alto del Risquillo. Parador de Gredos, 165km, medium mountan, HTF.

Climbs:
Puerto de Pedro Bernardo – 17,3km, 4,6%, cat. 2, 1242m
Puerto del Pico – 15,1km, 5,7%, cat. 1, 1391m
Alto del Risquillo – 5.8 km, 4.2%, cat. 3, 1591m

This stage is mainly about Sierra de Gredos, which is a quite popular mountain range, at least on this forum. The finish is outside of Parador de Gredos, not Platforma de Gredos. Parador de Gredos is east of Hoyos de Espino, much closer to Puerto del Pico than Platforma de Gredos, which is opposite of Puerto de Peña Negra. The meat of this stage are cat. 2 Puerto de Pedro Bernardo and Puerto del Pico, which is also the first cat. 1 of the race.

Sierra de Gredos is part of a mountain range known as Sistema Central, which also include Sierra de Guadarrama and Sierra de Béjar. The highest peak is Almanzor at 2592m. Unlike many of Spanish sierras, it has an Alpine appearance. The main feature of this mountain range is its beautiful southern face overlooking the vast plains of La Mancha and distant peaks of Montes de Toledo.

Sierra de Gredos.

There are 5 main puertos in the area – Pico, Serranillos, Mijares, Pedro Bernardo and Centenera. Mijares is the hardest one with 20,5km at 5,5%, which is a good cat. 1, while Centenera the steepest one with a bunch of 9-10% sections. None of the climbs are anything to be really afraid of, but all of them provide beautiful backdrops over the La Mancha plains.

The stage starts in Navalmoral de la Mata, a quite popular cycling spot, because of the proximity to Sierra de Gredos and Sierra de Béjar. It's located in Campo Arañuelo. It's an important communication hub in the northeastern Extremadura, located on route E-90, which connects France with Lisbon and Seville. While being quite large (17000 pop.), it's a relatively new town founded only in XVI c. It has been extensively used by not only Vuelta, but also the users of this forum.

The first part of the stage goes through the southern foothills of Sierra de Gredos. There are plenty of villages with "-de la Vera" suffix, like Talaveruela de la Vera, Valverde de la Vera, Villanueva de la Vera and Madrigal de la Vera. The region boasts a slightly different architecture to many other Spanish villages, which is best seen in Villanueva de la Vera. It's sort of a mix between Spanish white, clean, Arabic inspired architecture (also saw the term "whitewashed") with German/Swiss stone & wood. After the last of "-de la Vera" villages – Madrigal de la Vera, the race enters the southernmost part of Castilla y León, just north of Castilla-La Mancha.

Plaza Ancieto Marinas, Villanueva de la Vera.

Valverde de la Vera.

Cascada del Diablo, Villanueva de la Vera.

The towns on the Castilla y León side are Candeleda (home to IIIC BC archaeological site Castro del Raso), Poyales del Hoyo, Arenas de San Pedro and Mombeltrán. Besides being on the other side of Sierra de Gredos, all of them are historicaly part of the province of Ávila. The biggest of them is Arenas de San Pedro, which is a quite popular traceur spot thanks to the proximity to Sierra de Gredos.

Castro del Raso, Candeleda.

House of Flowers, Candeleda.

Throughout the middle ages Tiétar valley (Valle del Tiétar) was a dispute area between the provinces of Toledo, Plasencia and Ávila. It can be mainly seen in the history of the main centre of the valley – XIV c. Arenas de San Pedro, which was often besieged and burned down. However, plenty of monuments are still present to this day – XIV c. Castillo de la Triste Condesa, gothic Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción from XVI c. or Palacio de don Luis de Borbón from XVIII c. Also worth noting is nearby Águila cave system or located in the centre of the Tiétar valley town of Mombeltrán, which is home to a quite massive castle from XV c. The castle itself can be perfectly seen from the main road to Puerto del Pico.

Castillo de la Triste Condesa from XIV c. Arenas de San Pedro.

XV c. Castillo de Mombeltrán.

The first obstacle of the day is Puerto de Pedro Bernardo, which takes name from a nearby village located halfway through. The run-in to the village is slightly different, as i'm partly using a smaller road known as Camino Agricola. However, i'm not using it fully, omiting the hormigón parts in the village. While the road isn't that narrow, the surface is in pretty poor stage. This section has a number of 10% parts, but overally it's not that hard. However, it should force a fine initial selection of the peloton.

The alternate road to Pedro Bernardo.

Next 10km from the village to the top are... awful. It's closer to a Navalmoral-type 3-5% grind. The peloton at the top should be relatively large (>50 heads). However, it's one of the prettiest puertos not only in the area, but i think in the entire Spain, as most of the last 10km have a very nice backdrop. The mostly 5-7% descent to Mombeltran is quite narrow and technical. Immediately after the descent starts the ascent to Puerto del Pico.

Profile of Puerto de Pedro Bernardo, including the alternate run-in to Pedro Bernardo.

Views from Puerto de Pedro Bernardo.

Puerto del Pico is the biggest/most important pass in the region, connecting the Tiétar valley with the Alberche valley. It was used since Roman times and the old Roman road is still visible near the top. It's actually one of the best preserved Roman roads in the country. Sadly, it's way too rocky to be usable by a road bike. Puerto del Pico is a beautiful, scenic road with a great backdrop towards the Alberche valley. Interestingly, in the modern times it was used very sparsely – only in 1983 and 1988. It is planned for 2018 though, but only mid-stage to Covatilla.

Section of the Roman road near the top of Puerto del Pico.

Views from Puerto del Pico.

The climb itself is not that bad – good enough to be the first cat. 1 of the race. It's 15,1km at a relatively regular 5,7%. There is one tougher 1km at 8,5% (max 12%) in the middle, after Cuevas del Valle. It resembles more a Tour de France ascent, than murito-heavy Vuelta. I guess it should result in a good selection with a 30-40 man group at the top. There's hardly any descent, as riders enter a vast plateau north of Sierra de Gredos.

Puerto del Pico.

Next 6km from the top of Puerto del Pico are relatively flat. In San Martín del Pimpollar the peloton will leave the main road (N-502) for AV-941 (Barco de Ávila/Béjar road), where soon they'll start climbing for the last time.

Vuelta loves convoluted names, so i decided to add in the climb/place the oldest of paradores is located on – Alto del Risquillo. Parador de Gredos was founded in 1928. Paradores are sort of a group of high-class hotels and restaurants located in varioud scenic places throughout the Spain. There are plenty of them in the country. I think they were created solely for touristic reasons.

Finish at Parador de Gredos.

Parador de Gredos.

The climb to Parador de Gredos is easy. It's 5.8 km at 4.2% with only a small part in the middle reaching 6-7%. Last 1km is flat-ish. It's a typical punchy finish for a guy with some sprint capabilities. I assume Pedro Bernardo and Pico will leave the more punchy sprinters behind, so i guess it's for someone like Dan Martin, Esteban Chavez or Ruben Fernandez (unless Valverde still has it, then there's no competition). I guess it'll be sort of a 15-20-man sprint with potentialy only symbolic time splits.

Next two stages are transitional, bunch-sprint-fest, because Sierra Morena and Montes de Toledo just have no roads (but Alto del Robledillo near San Pablo de los Montes) and i have two (maybe) interesting ideas waiting in the province of Almería.

 

[railxmig]

The 2nd sprint stage of the race, dedicated to Don Quijote and Spanish windmills (molinos) and wetlands (lagunas) of La Mancha.

Previous stage: link

https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/181739
Vuelta a España – stage 4. Talavera de la Reina – Campo de Criptana. Tierra de Gigantes, 193km, flat.

Climbs:
Alto de Vertedero – 2,5km, 5,2%, cat. 3, 505m
Alto de los Montes de Orón – 3,6km, 4,4%, cat. 3, 673m
Puerto de Marjaliza – 2km, 8,2%, cat. 3, 1023m

The main features of this stage are the Spanish windmills, wetlands full of birds, don Quijote and contender for the most awesome name ever – Puerto de Marjaliza. The stage goes through the vast plains of La Mancha, south of Madrid, with the first half north of Montes de Toledo, not far from Toledo itself. This stage has three cat. 3 climbs of which Puerto de Marjaliza is the hardest one with 2km at 8,2%. The last 80km are flat, so it should end up in a bunch sprint.

The stage starts in Talavera de la Reina, which is (like Navalmoral de la Mata) a popular cycling spot, being quite close to Sierra de Gredos and Montes de Toledo. It's often tied with Ciudad Real on the other side of Montes de Toledo. Interestingly, the town is as big as way more known Toledo, which is the capital of the eponymous province.

A typical transitional stage including Talavera de la Reina and Ciudad Real – stage 17 of Vuelta 2009.

Talavera is all about ceramics. Even entire home interiors are covered in it.

Talavera de la Reina is an important ceramic center known since the Roman times. In the early middle ages it was a major trade center, hence plenty of remains from the Moorish times – Alcázar de Abderramán III from IX c. and plenty of Albarrana towers, which are sort of barbicans. After the Reconquista it was mainly a poterry center. Talavera was heavily damaged during the Battle of Talavera of 1809, part of the Iberian War (or Peninsular War). It was sort of an Anglo-Spanish win, but it didn't stopped the advance of French troops. Notable people from the city include Juan de Orellana – if i remember my history lessons, he was the first European to sail the Amazon river in its entirety; Juan de Mariana – an important Spanish historian from XVI-XVII c., author of "Historiae de rebus Hispaniae"; and David Arroyo, who i don't think needs any introduction.

One of the Albarrana towers, Talavera de la Reina.

Remains of the Alcázar de Abderramán III, Talavera de la Reina.

Basilica de San Prado from XVI c. Talavera de la Reina.

Rather than going south towards Almaden or Ciudad Real, the race goes east alongside the northern slopes of Montes de Toledo. The first cat. 3 climb starts right at the km 0. It's Alto de Vertedero and it's 2,5km at 5,2%. The first roughly 50km are in the hilly regions of Valdepusa (Valdelpozo) followed by Montalbán, not far south from Toledo.

The historic capital of Valdepusa is XV c. San Martín de Pusa. In the middle ages it was home to a local duchy/state of Valdepusa, related with the Gómez family from Toledo. It's home to plenty of XV-XVII c. monuments, like Ermita del Santísimo Cristo from XVI c. Iglesia de San Martín Obispo from XVI c. Palacio de los Señores de Valdepusa (seat of the local lords) from XVI c. or the remains of Castillo de Santisteban from XIV c.

Remains of Castillo de Santisteban, San Martín de Pusa.

Palacio de los Señores de Valdepusa, San Martín de Pusa.

The historic capital of the duchy/state of Montalbán is XVI c. San Martín de Montalbán. It's home to the remains of XII c. Castillo de Montalbán – first built by the Templar Knights, later seat of local lords. Near the town is the Visigothic Iglesia de Santa María de Melque from VII c. It was part of a larger Visigothic monastery, part of the Visigothic kingdom of Toledo. There are some rumours, that a sizeable Visigothic treasure could be hidden underneath the church, hidden during the Arabic conquest of the Iberian peninsula. Not far from San Martín de Montalbán is possibly the oldest town in the region – Cuerva, which was a Roman village/villa. It's home to the remains of XII c. Castillo de Peñaflor.

Castillo de Montalbán.

Iglesia de Santa María de Melque, San Martín de Montalbán.

The remains of XII c. Castillo de Peñaflor, Cuerva.

Just before the next town – Sonseca, is a quite nice looking Palacio del Castañar (or Palacio de los Condes de Finat), built in 1909, inspired by Scottish Abbotsford House. I have no clue, why this palace was built in the middle of nowhere. I guess someone with vast amount of money wanted to have a private summer residence in the shadows of nearby Sierra del Castañar.

Palacio del Castañar, Sonseca.

The biggest town in the region is Sonseca (over 11000 pop.). It was a minor Visigothic town – part of the kingdom of Toledo. In the town are the remains of Iglesia de San Pedro de la Mata from VII c. Nearby is also an Arabic watchtower Torre Tolanca, which was part of a bigger defensive system of Montes de Toledo. After Sonseca riders will finally, but only briefly enter Montes de Toledo.

Iglesia de San Pedro de la Mata, Sonseca.

After Sonseca the race enters Sierra de los Yébenes, which is the northeasternmost part of Montes de Toledo. The highest peak is Cerro Arisgotas (1126m). It's home to Puerto de Marjaliza, which is the last categorised climb of the day and the highest point of the day at 1023m. While lasting only 2km and being only cat. 3, it's quite steep with 8,2% (max 15%) with 500m at almost 10%. The descent is also short, wide and steep. It was used by Vuelta at least once in 2008. The views from the top into Montes de Toledo and La Mancha are glorious. I think that even Sierra de Guadarrama (130km north) can be seen from here.

Profile of Puerto de Marjaliza.

Views from the top of Puerto de Marjaliza into the La Mancha plains and Sierra de Guadarrama north of Madrid.

After the descent riders will enter the town of Los Yébenes, where the race enters the plains of La Mancha. It's also the first town to sport the characteristic Spanish windmills (here known as "molinos"). The area, full of historic windmills, is also known as Tierra del Quijote or Tierra de Gigantes. Both names are taken from Cervantes' work. In 1809, during the Iberian War, there was a minor battle between a small Polish regiment (the short-living Duchy of Warsaw was basically created by Napoleon) and some b-side Spanish forces. Of course it was won by Spain. Just south of the town is Castillo de las Guadalerzas, which was one of the main Arabic strongholds in Montes de Toledo.

Castillo de las Guadalerzas.

I know that La Mancha can be quite windy and starting from Los Yébenes the area is very open and the roads are very straight. I'm not sure, but wind could be a potential factor for the last 70km. 20km from Los Yébenes is Consuegra.

The landscape of La Mancha.

Consuegra is located on a lone hill called Cerro Calderico (829m), which is quite close to a small hilly range of Sierra de las Alberquillas (highest peak – Alberquillas, 993m). it was found by Romans during the Punic wars of III c. BC. In the early middle ages it was a dispute area between the Catholic kingdom of Castille and Muslim Almoravids (culminated in the battle of Consuegra of 1097). That's when the castle was built, which after the Reconquista became the seat of the Order of St. John (founders of the Great Priorate of La Mancha).

Castillo de Consuegra.

The modern windmills of Consuegra are from XVIII-XIX c. and were operating to 1980's. The oldest one, nown as Molino Sancho, is from XVI c. Possibly such windmills were an inspiration for Cervantes. I think it is possible to have a Vuelta finish on top of the hill amongst the molinos. It would be on top of a roughly 1,5km at 6,5% hill with parts up to 10%. It seems to be also a finish to a local Cicloturista de Consuegra (feat. Marjaliza). Other sights include mudéjar Iglesia de San Juan Bautista from XVI c. and a reinassance town hall from XVII c.

Profile of Cerro Calderico, Consuegra.

Windmills of Consuegra.

No description needed.

On the outskirts of Consuegra is the town of Madridejos, which is home to plenty of reinassance churches from XVI-XVII c. like Iglesia del Salvador, Convento de San Francisco, Convento de Santa Clara or Ermita Cristo del Prado. It's also home to one remaining ancient windmill "Tío Genaro". Over 15km from Madridejos is Villafranca de los Caballeros. It's home to Palomar de Pintado, which is a major archaelogical site of Iberians and Celtiberians from 7th and 6th century BC. Near the town are a couple of lakes/wetlands, here called "lagunas" – Laguna de la Sal, Laguna Grande & Laguna Chica.

Laguna Grande, Villafranca de los Caballeros.

These wetlands continue towards Alcázar de San Juan, which is the biggest city in the region (over 30000 pop.). It's home to a lagoon complex consisting of Laguna de la Veguilla, Laguna de las Yeguas and Laguna del Camino de Villafranca. It's an important nature reserve full of birds. It's even part of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Some early studies thought Cervantes was born in the city and not in Alcalá de Henares near Madrid, based on a baptism note preserved in a local church Iglesia de Santa María la Mayor.

Birds in the lagoon complex of Alcázar de San Juan.

Only 5km from Alcázar de San Juan is the stage's destination – Campo de Criptana (15000 pop.). It's located on the slopes of Cerro de la Paz (771m), part of a small hilly range Sierra de los Molinos (very creative). Founded by the order of St. John in XII c. after Reconquista, later property of the Order of Santiago. It was one of the agricultural (mainly grain, olives and grapes) centers of La Mancha, hence the existence of a relatively big park of large windmills (30-40) and a XVI c. granary (pósito). It is possible, that the windmills (gigantes) of Campo de Criptana were the main inspiration for Cervantes. Nowadays 10 windmills are still preserved, of which 7 are museums. Molino Burleta is one of the oldest preserved mills in Spain (XVI c.). Nearby these windmills is XVII c. Ermita de la Virgen de la Paz.

Windmills (gigantes) in Campo de Criptana.

XVI c. granary (pósito), Campo de Criptana.

I'm still not sure, where to place the finish line. For now i'm towards Avenida Juan Carlos I at the end of a 360m straight, but i think Avenida Hispanidad might be safer, as it excludes the town's center. The run-in is wide, but there is a 90-deg turn into the last straight. If you like "garage ramp" finishes, then it could be possible to have a finish amongst the windmills using Calle Costanilla.

Finish in Campo de Criptana.

The next stage is slightly harder, as peloton will move from La Mancha into Andalucia through the vast nothingness of Sierra Morena (mainly Sierra de San Andrés) and the historic Despeñaperros
pass.

 

[Gigs_98]

ALBERTO CONTADOR TRIBUTE VUELTA:
I already wrote about posting this race after last years vuelta finished but I never had enough motivation to write the posts.
As another forum member has already done (I unfortunately don't remember who it was) I designed a Vuelta a España route which will honor the most decorated gc rider of his generation. This will probably be the first of three tribute gt routes I'll post in the coming years, since I also plan to make a tribute giro for Vincenzo Nibali and a tribute tdf for Chris Froome. But since they haven't retired yet, I'll start with La Vuelta, btw the first Vuelta I have ever designed.

I tried to make a somewhat realistic route and although the route will be relatively mountainous. I also tried to keep the new Vuelta route formula of making hardly any boring flat stages and use many steep uphill finishes, although I will include more real high mountain stages than the vuelta usually does.

Vuelta a España stage 1: Lugano - Verbania (210 km)

Did I say my Vuelta is realistic? Well, tbh that's only partly true because the first three stages aren't very likely to ever appear like this in a real vuelta. The reason for that is that the first three days of my tribute vuelta will take place in Italy and a little bit in Switzerland. Of course a country which hosts a gt itself is unlikely to offer that much money just to host another gt (Actually this years vuelta started in France but the big difference is ofc that they didn't need an extra restday and a big transfer to get back to Spain) but when I was thinking about in which country outside of Spain I could design three stages to honor Contador Italy really was the only possibility.
Since an extra restday will be necessary to bring the riders from Italy to Spain, this stage will take place on a Friday and since that means it's the only stage in Italy not on a weekend I decided to make this a stage for sprinters.
La Vuelta starts in Lugano, a beautiful city in the south of Switzerland, and also Alberto Contador's part time residence.

I'm actually not sure if he lives there now, if he only lived there during cycling season or if that was simply he only lived there to train. Anyway the race then heads southwards to Italy, where after 32 km the riders will pass the first intermediate sprint of the tour, in Varese. Both this and the 2nd intermediate sprint don't really have a lot to do with Contador but I passed a few cities like these two anyway so I decided to put the two sprints in two cities which hosted giro stages in editions Contador won instead of cities like Arona, Stresa or Domodossola, which will all be passed by the riders later in the stage. However before the riders will actually pass the 2nd intermediate sprint they first have to climb the only categorized climb of this stage, the ascent to Druogno.

Although this pass is probably too far away from the finish to give attackers a real chance it will at least cause an interesting battle for who leads the mountain classification after day 1. A very long descent, which only gets difficult at the very end, brings the riders back to Switzerland, where they pass the 2nd intermediate sprint in Locarno. The peloton won't stay will be back in Italy very soon though since they follow the coast of the Lago Maggiore southwards until they reach Verbania, where the finish is located.

Contador tribute:
In 2015 the Giro d'Italia was basically a battle between Alberto Contador and Team Astana with their two leaders Fabio Aru and Mikel Landa. The battle for the gc was extremely tight for almost two weeks, until Contador crushed his rivals in an ITT where he gained minutes on both gc dangers from Astana. However the riders hadn't reached the Alps yet so the pistolero still had a lot of work to do. On an infamous stage 16 over the Mortirolo, finishing in Aprica Contador had a mechanical before the Mortirolo. Astana took the chance to set a very high pace in the valley before they even reached the bottom of the famous climb. When the ascent started Contador was almost a minute behind all other gc contenders, completely isolated, while there were still a few Astana guys in the front group and it seemed like he was about to lose the giro. However he fought back, dropped the better placed Astana rider Aru and went on to finish the stage on third place. His lead after that stage was enormous so the giro was basically decided and since Contador was attempting the double he was expected to ride the rest of the giro in energy saving mode. Of course that's not what happened and when Mikel Landa was caught up behind a crash shortly before the final climb on stage 18 finishing in Verbania it was time for vengeance.
Without any teammate to set up an attack and reduce the peloton Contador just attacked as soon as the street went up and left everyone in his dust almost 50 kilometers from the finish. Due to a mechanical near the top of Monte Ologno, the last climb of the stage, he got caught by Ryder Hesjedal, who rode the remaining 35 kilometers together with Contador. The rest of the peloton however lost a minute to Contador that day.

 

[railxmig]

If i knew, i would wait with my race... oversaturation is not good, and Vuelta already suffers from that (thx LS).

It's actually not that far away, so maybe this will work?
Alberto Contador and Paolo Tiralongo (partly Frank & Andy Schleck) tribute. Tandem TT. Verbania - Macugnaga, 62km. (it can be longer)
The gimmick is, and it's very loosely tied to the theme of sharing - tandem ITT - the guys do the time trial in pairs. Each pair is sudo-randomized. None of the riders in each pair are from the same team. To ease things up, the pairs are published the day before, so the guys have time to socialize. The better work each tandem do, the higher chance of getting a better time. If someone won't get along with his "teammate", then bye bye good chunks of time. The same, if you're reserving yourself to attacking your "teammate" in the last km(s), as then i guess your """"""""""teammate"""""""""" wouldn't want to work with you either. If you're Dumoulin or T.Martin, you just ride away from your partner. It's stupid but... why the hell not.

Now back to Spain. There are only a couple of (at least surfaced) roads between Andalucia and La Mancha. Sierra Morena is one of the wildest, least inhabited places in the entire Europe.

Last stage: link

https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/180965
Vuelta a España – stage 5. Argamasilla de Alba (Tomelloso) – Linares, 185km, hilly.

Climbs:
Collado de los Jardines – 10,2km, 3,3%, cat. 3, 1029m
Alto de Santa Elena – 4,3km, 4,3%, cat. 3, 767m
Barranco del Lobo – 2,5km, 4,3%, no cat. 467m

In span of almost 200km there are only 4 roads (excluding one motorway) linking La Mancha/Montes de Toledo with Andalucia (provinces of Granada and Jaén). This time i'm using the Desfiladero de Despeñaperros route, which goes alongside the Madrid – Granada A-4 motorway. The main obstacles on this stage are cat. 3 Collado de los Jardines, cat. 3 Alto de Santa Elena and a small hill of Barranco del Lobo just outside of Linares.

The start starts in Argamasilla de Alba, which is a small town attached to much bigger Tomelloso. I decided for smaller Argamasilla de Alba, because it's nicely tied with the last stage's theme of Don Quijote. Tomelloso can be always an alternate departure.

The legend says Cervantes was imprisoned in Argamasilla de Alba, hence a rather mocking reference of the town in Don Quijote. This legend is not confirmed by modern scholars though. This XVI c. town is located on the northwestern edge of Campo de Montiel, on the Guadiana river. Nearby is the natural park of Lagunas de Ruidera – typical wetlands of La Mancha spiced up with small waterfalls. Argamasilla de Alba is home to Cueva de Medrano cave which, according to the legend, was the place, where Cervantes was held before being imprisoned in the castle – Moorish Castillo de Peñarroya. I wasn't expecting this, but Argamasilla de Alba was a finish for stage 4 of Vuelta 2005, which was won by Petacchi.

Lagunas de Ruidera.

Castillo de Peñarroya, Argamasilla de Alba.

Because this stage goes mainly through mostly uninhabited regions, there aren't many towns on the way. The biggest one are Valdepeñas, Santa Elena and Navas de Tolosa. Valdepeñas is one of the La Mancha's wine centers. Santa Elena and Navas de Tolosa are one of the historic gateways to Andalucia located near a mountain gorge of the Despeñaperros river.

XV c. Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, Valdepeñas.

In 1212 near Santa Elena the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa took place between the coalition of various Spanish Catholic kingdoms and Muslim Almohad Caliphate of Córdoba. It was historically one of the most important battles on Spanish soil. The aftermath was winning back La Mancha and Extremadura from Almohads. Nowadays near Santa Elena is a museum dedicated to this battle.

A painting by Francisco de Paula Van Halen of the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa.

The main feature of this stage is the Despeñaperros valley (desfiladero des Despeñaperros), located just north of Santa Elena. It's home to an eponymous national park. It's part of Sierra de San Andrés, part of Sierra Morena. This gorge is very rocky (sort of resembling pipe organs?), like many other gorges in the world. However, it's also heavily covered in a quite characteristic moss (grass?). It's also an important historic pass from La Mancha to Andalucia with a couple of archaelogical sites and the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa.

Desfiladero des Despeñaperros.

There are three main roads in the area, of which only one is not tied to the A-4 motorway – the Collado de los Jardines, which is the main obstacle of the day. It's 10,2km at 3,3%, rarely reaching 7%. Near the top is a cave Cueva de los Munecos, which is home to an antique religious temple Sanctuario Iberico del Collado de los Jardines, used to IV c. BC. The descent to the Despeñaperros river is quite technical and not that wide, but with plenty of great views of Andalucia.

The road system of desfiladero des Despeñaperros park.

In the last roughly 10km i'm using A-312, which is a Linares' bypass (if my spanish is correct – carretera circunvalación). It's a hilly road, with plenty of ups and downs including a quite gentle 2,5km at 4,3% Barranco del Lobo. I'm not sure about the name of Barranco del Lobo. It's just a name that popped out the closest to the top of this hill. The top is roughly 6km from the finish line. These last 6km are not entirely flat, as there are plenty of tiny ups and downs. Also, the last 1km is slightly uphill.

I decided to have the finish on Calle Julio Burell (Plaza Colón) at the end of a 740m straight. The run-in can be tricky with two 90deg turns on Plaza San Juan Bosco and a chicane (two sort of roundabouts) on Plaza de los Mineros inside the last 2km. The finish is slightly uphill with a small part of 6-7% on Avenida María Auxiliadora, almost 1km from the finish line. If you want to win this stage, you need to put slightly more effort into your sprint than yesterday. It's important, as it's the last sprint stage before a long-ish medium-mountain/mountain break. I guess if the WC course is flat-ish, then plenty of sprinters will leave the race here, as it should be a good enough training before the WC.

Finish in Linares.

Now about Linares. It's a relatively new city (60000 pop.) on the southern edge of Sierra Morena. It's one of the industiral centers of Andalucia. In XIX c. it was mainly a lead mining center, hence the large number of abandoned mines in the area (last one discontinued in the 80's). It's the birthplace of Andrés Segovia – creator of the modern acoustic guitar. Not far south from the city are the remains of a Roman city of Cástulo, which was the capital of the province of Oretania – modern Andalucia.

Linares.

Roman baths in Cástulo.

Having Andalucia as the weekend's mountain block is not very creative, but maybe i have some less explored ideas to add in. Next stage however is a short, but very gimmicky ITT between two Italian cities of Andalucia, which deserves a prologue.

 

[Forever The Best]

ALBERTO CONTADOR TRIBUTE VUELTA:
I already wrote about posting this race after last years vuelta finished but I never had enough motivation to write the posts.
As another forum member has already done (I unfortunately don't remember who it was) I designed a Vuelta a España route which will honor the most decorated gc rider of his generation. This will probably be the first of three tribute gt routes I'll post in the coming years, since I also plan to make a tribute giro for Vincenzo Nibali and a tribute tdf for Chris Froome. But since they haven't retired yet, I'll start with La Vuelta, btw the first Vuelta I have ever designed.

I tried to make a somewhat realistic route and although the route will be relatively mountainous. I also tried to keep the new Vuelta route formula of making hardly any boring flat stages and use many steep uphill finishes, although I will include more real high mountain stages than the vuelta usually does.

It was me. Though my route wasn't realistic. It was like Eshnar's all-mountain Giros. Looking forward to your and railxmig's designs.

 

[Gigs_98]

Vuelta a España stage 2: Milán - Milán (14 km ITT)

The first weekend stage of my Vuelta will also be the first gc relevant stage of the race. A 14 km ITT will cause the first gaps between gc contenders while still not be decisive. Meanwhile the best time trialists of the field will battle for the leaders jersey.
The start of the stage is on the court of the castello sforzesco.

Right after the riders exit the castle walls they turn left and ride around the north side of the beautiful Parco Sempione, then riding back and forth one of Milan's most beautiful streets, the Corso Sempione and then completing the lap around the park by riding around its south side. The riders are now very close to where they started, but before they could return to the castello they turn right make make almost a full lap around the historical centre of Milan. They come close to the start again but this time they turn right riding streight to the centre of the city, the Piazza del Duomo, where the stage finishes. This is also the place where the giro usually finishes when the last stage is an ITT to Milan (like last year)

Some might notice that there are a few mistakes in my map, for example I actually don't want the route to go all the way to the Arco della Pace, because of tramlines and for the same reason the way how the riders enter the centre of the city is logistically hardly possible too. Just don't pay too much attention to the details

Contador tribute:
Alberto Contador has won the Giro d'Italia 2 or 3 times, depending on who you ask. Anyway, all these giro's had one thing in common, they all ended in Milan. The final stages of 2008 and 2011 were also time trials, while stage 21 of the 2015 edition was a surprisingly entertaining road stage ending with the surprising stage winner Iljo Keisse who won from a two men breakaway. When I originally planned the route for this vuelta I wanted to just copy either the 2008 or 2011 TT route, but since both were around 30 km long, which is quite a lot for the 2nd day of a gt, I went with a slightly shorter version. Still, this stage should remember people of the times when El Pistolero celebrated on the Piazza del Duomo with the Giro trophy in his hands.

 

[railxmig]

I've shortened it from the initial length of over 30km (it was from Baeza to Baeza), because the mountain stages won't be the 2nd coming of Jesus and there will be a 40km flat ITT later in the race. Maybe it's a bad decision, but i have tendencies to put too many ITT kms and i want to be more kind towards the climbers this time.

Last stage: link

https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/184088
Vuelta a España – stage 6. Baeza – Úbeda, 23,4km, ITT, hilly.

This is a slightly different time trial to a normal, hilly test against the clock. It starts with a 5km bumpy ride around Baeza before 8km descent at a regular 5% (max ~8%), after which is a complicated 10km long ascent to the finish line. This ascent is splited into a couple of parts. First part is 6km at a regular 3,6%. next is the hardest part of the entire stage – 1,5km at 8% (max 10-12%). It's followed by a much less regular, but also less steep venture around the historic center of Úbeda before a flat-ish run-in to the finish line.

The stage goes from Baeza to Úbeda. Both are sort of twin cities located on top of a hilly range of Loma de Úbeda (Sierra de la Loma?), which is the source of all the climbing and descending on this stage. They're right in between Linares north and Jaén south. Both are Italian-like reinassance open-air museums and both are listed into the UNESCO WHS as "Conjuntos monumentales renacentistas de Úbeda y Baeza". The majority of the work was done by a Spanish architect Andrés de Vandelvira. Vuelta loves convoluted names, but i think this one is way too long for the profile names.

First is Baeza, or as called by poet Antonio Machado, "the lady". I would argue that Baeza is slightly better preserved to "the queen" Úbeda, but that's probably only me. Baeza started as a minor Roman town of Beatia. After being conquested by Visigoths it was a seat of a bishopric (VIII c.). During the Islamic rule it was a capital of a local taifa. From this time are the remains of an Alcázar on top of a local hill called Cerro del Alcázar (how creative) and the remains of the city walls with Jaén and Úbeda gates. After the reconquista it was a textile centre with strong Italian ties, which can be shown by it's reinassance architecture, mainly from XVI c.

Catedral de la Asunción de la Virgen, Baeza.

A crazily detailed entrance of Palacio de Jabalquinto, Baeza.

The are plenty of sights in the city. Catedral de la Asunción de la Virgen from XV c. built on top of a former mosque, XVI c. town hall, buildings of former University of Baeza from XVI c. Palacio de Jabalquinto from XV c. Remains of Arabic city walls with two aformentioned gates, Fuente de Santa María fountain from XVI c. Romanesque Iglesia de la Santa Cruz from XIII c. Plaza & Casa del Pópulo with Puerta de Jaén gate, mudéjar Iglesia de El Salvador from XIII c. and many, many others.

Iglesia de la Santa Cruz, Baeza.

Iglesia de El Salvador, Baeza.

The start is on Plaza de Toros, where a bull ring is located. I guess the buses etc. will be concentraded on nearby supermarket and Pabellón (pavilion?) San Andrés parking spaces. The race then goes via quite narrow Calle el Carmen towards Plaza Cánovas del Castillo, where Puerta de Úbeda can be found.

Puerta de Úbeda.

Sadly, the roads in the historical center (centro histórico) are very narrow, so the race continues alongside the now nonexistent city walls towards the aformentioned Plaza del Pópulo, passing near another remnant of the city walls – Torre De Los Aliatares. From Plaza del Pópulo the race leaves the historical center leading towards the outskirts via Calle Puerta de Córdoba, where a short downhill section starts.

Torre De Los Aliatares.

Plaza del Pópulo.

500m later riders will start a small, but sharp 350m at roughly 8,5% ascent on Avenida de Sevilla towards (i think) a military compound Academia de Guardias de la Guardia Civil. After that is a flat-ish transfer using Carretera Circunvalación into Avenida de Andalucía, where a gentle descent will lead back to the downtown, and then via Avenida Alcalde Puche Pardo out of the city.

Avenida de Sevilla, Baeza.

Next 8km from Baeza are downhill (avg. 5%) towards the Guadalquivir valley. Sadly, it's not really technical with only a handful of gentle turns. After that the climb towards Úbeda starts immediately. First 6km to A-401 (Cerro Picón) are gentle (avg. 3-4%). The first tough part starts after joining A-401. Next 1,5km to the southern edges of Úbeda are at 8% (max 10-12%).

Profile of the hardest part of the climb to Úbeda.

Panorama of Úbeda (thx Libertine).

The ride through Úbeda is an interesting one, as the race goes through the historical center. The focal point of this detour is a 2,5km cobbled section. The quality of the cobbles are very varied. The first section is a very picturesque 700m long ride on Ronda Antonio Muñoz Molina, which includes XIII c. Iglesia de San Lorenzo and Puerta de Granada – one of the still standing gates of the Moorish city walls. The cobbles are very smooth.

Ronda Antonio Muñoz Molina, Úbeda.

Iglesia de San Lorenzo, Úbeda.

Puerta de Granada.

Plaza Vázquez de Molina, Úbeda.

Next in line is Calle del Prior Monteagudo, which leads to the absolute center of the city – Plaza Vázquez de Molina. These 200m are not only uphill (~10%), but the cobbles are also way rougher. I wouldn't say it's more than a 2-star difficulty type cobbles, but for Spain it looks quite tasty. However, it's still only 200m long.

Ride through the historical center of Úbeda.

Calle del Prior Monteagudo, Úbeda.

Locales from Plaza Vázquez de Molina: XVI c. Palacio del Deán Ortega, XVI c. Palacio de Vázquez de Molina, XIII c. Basílica de Santa María de los Reales Alcázares, remains of XVI c. Palacio de don Rodrigo Orozco, XVI c. Sacra Capilla del Salvador and many, many others. This plaza (including Calle Baja del Salvador) is 200m long. The cobbles are easier, than on Calle del Prior Monteagudo.

Plaza Vázquez de Molina.

Basílica de Santa María de los Reales Alcázares.

Sacra Capilla del Salvador.

Palacio de Vázquez de Molina.

After a very short descent on Plaza Santa Lucía, whci has surface similar to that of Calle del Prior Monteagudo, the race continues to go uphill alongside the city walls on Calle Muralla de San Millán and then Corredera San Fernando towards Calle Trinidad. The surface also varies in quality. Calle Trinidad is the last cobbled street of this stage. It's 400m long, roughly 3-4% uphill and possibly the narrowest part of the whole stage. The cobbles are quite easy however. The finish line is located on Calle Bétula near a sizeable Parque Norte city park.

Finish in Úbeda.

City walls on Calle Muralla de San Millán.

There are plenty of other sights in the city, which i ommited. These include XVI c. Palacio del Marqués de Mancera, XVII c. Hospital del Salvador, XVII c. Iglesia de San Pablo, Casa de las Torres or very Italian-like Las Antiguas Casas Consistoriales.

Las Antiguas Casas Consistoriales.

Casa de las Torres.

This stage exists mainly because i wanted to showcase a potential for a prologue/ITT opener between Úbeda and Baeza, as originally i wanted to have only one ITT, because that's how Vuelta rolls and i don't want it to be a clone of Tour de France... which lately abandoned the 2 ITT system, so maybe i'm just overreacting. Last time both cities were featured in Vuelta 2014 stage 8 to Albacete and on Vuelta 2015 stage 6 to Cazorla. Sadly, both cities are not that much used by Vuelta, as Jaén and Valdepeñas de Jaén normally takes the cake.

Vuelta 2014 stage 8.

I don't know, how important this stage can be in the greater scale. It's short, but the downhill/uphill format combined with a tricky detour around Úbeda could slightly widen the potential gaps. I'm also not sure, how someone like Landa or Chavez could fare in this one. I guess they'll lose around a minute to somebody like Dumoulin, Jungels, Froome or in-form Uran.

Next stage is one of the longest of the entire race. It also features (only) 14km of sterrato (camino de tierra?) and a cat. 2 finish.

 

[railxmig]

Yet another mess of a stage. Originally it was not only shorter, but it was also set on Sunday, after the first mountain block. It suffered after i decided to go for the Baeza ITT and a particular climb in eastern Andalucia.

Last stage: link

https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/180506
Vuelta a España – stage 7. Cazorla – Vélez-Blanco, 223km, Medium Mountain, HTF.

Climbs:
Puerto de Tíscar – 11,3km, 5,5%, cat. 2, 1183m
Alto de la Fuente – 11,7km, 3,6%, cat. 3, 966m
Alto de Carrillos – 11,3km, 3,3%, cat. 3, 1139m
Alto de Vélez-Blanco (Puerto de María) – 7,7km, 4,8% (max 8%), cat. 2, 1131m

Caminos de tierra:
Los Pardos – 5,1km
El Bancalejo – 9,1km

I was torn apart between Cazorla and Jódar. I decided for Cazorla, as it's a bit closer to Vélez-Blanco. This town located on the edge of Sierra de Cazorla is a quite popular cycling spot, used many times by Vuelta. Last time in 2015 as a finish to stage 6 won by Esteban Chavez.

Vuelta 2015 stage 6.

Cazorla with XIV c. Castillo de la Yedra.

Sierra de Cazorla.

This stage is very hilly. Plenty of smaler climbs were left uncategorised, so there's not like a million of cat. 3. The first difficulty of the day is Puerto de Tíscar – one of the hardest ascents of Sierra de Cazorla. It's cat. 2 with 11,3km at 5,5%. Puerto de Tíscar was an important border route between Granada and Castilla in the middle ages and at the top you can find a XIII c. watchtower Atalaya del Infante Don Enrique.

Puerto de Tíscar.

Atalaya del Infante Don Enrique, Puerto de Tíscar.

The short descent will lead to the village of Tíscar, which is located inside the Tíscar gorge. In the middle ages it was at the border between the Emirate of Granada and Kingdom of Castillia. From these times is a hilltop tower, which was part of a bigger structure. Tíscar is also home to a sanctuary, which houses an icon of Virgen de Tíscar – patron saint of Sierra de Cazorla. Apparently the Virgen appeared to some local Moorish nobleman in 1319 in nearby Cueva del Agua, which is a large cave/waterfall combo.

Castillo de Tíscar.

Cueva del Agua, Tíscar.

After Tíscar is a small bump (max 7%) before another short, but quite steep (max 10%) and technical descent to Pozo Alcón. The road is in some places quite narrow-ish. Pozo Alcón will be the finish for stage 7 of Vuelta 2018. Near Pozo Alcón is a stunning Guadalentín valley. The stages goes on top of the valley (A-326) to Embalse de la Bolera (created in 1970's), where it crosses the river and then turns into GR-9106 towards Cúllar.

Guadalentín valley seen from A-326 bridge.

Guadalentín valley.

In Pozo Alcón the race enters relatively large plains (valley?) of Hoya de Baza located between Sierra de Baza and Sierra de los Filabres south, Sierra de Cazorla west, Sierra de las Estancias and Sierra de María-Los Vélez east. The stage goes through Hoya de Baza from west to east. Of course the name of this region derives from the town of Baza on the northern slopes of Sierra de Baza (another popular traceur spot).

Hoya de Baza with i assume Sierra de Baza in the background.

Next 50km to Cúllar are sort of empty, with the only inhabited places being the villages of Campo Cámara, La Teja, Cortes de Baza and Benamaurel. Peloton will leave Hoya de Baza in Cúllar for the western part of Sierra de las Estancias – Sierra de Lúcar. The stage also starts to go uphill, where it peaks at 1250m (highest point of the stage) near Oria – the only bigger town in the region. From Oria a long and sweeping descent on sometimes narrowish road (AL-8101) leads to Albox in Almanzora valley, which separates Sierra de los Filabres from Sierra de las Estancias.

Cúllar.

Remains of Castillo de Oria, possibly of Moorish origin.

Albox was found by Moors in XIII c. on an important trade route in the Almanzora valley. However, the town was in the continuous danger of earthquakes and flooding of Almanzora hence the only remaining Moorish structure is the Alhambra tower. There are however plenty of churches from XVII-XVIII c. like Iglesia de Santa María or Santuario de Nuestra Señora del Saliente, which commemorates an appearance of the Virgin Mary in the town in XII c.

Iglesia de Santa María, Albox.

The main meat of this stage is in Sierra de las Estancias. It's a typical Spanish sierra with rocky peaks and large, rolling valleys. It's not very high, barely reaching over 1500m in a couple of places. It's a very dry region, so the area is basically a half-desert. It features a big amount of quality dirt roads, which are in local valleys. They're mostly in south-north direction. I don't know, if these tracks are seasonal river beds or mining roads, as there are some talc mines in the area. I also don't know, how accessible these dirt roads are.

Sierra de las Estancias.

The main monument of Sierra de las Estancias is Santuario del Saliente, which houses a baroque icon of Virgen de Saliente, which is the patron saint of Sierra de las Estancias. The hermitage itself is from late XVII c. Nowadays it's a local pilgrimage destination.

Santuario del Saliente.

Sadly, most of the dirt roads in the area are parallel to each other. I managed to include two quite long sectors. First one is 5,1km long, second one is 9,1km, which overall is just over 14km. Both sectors are in quite good quality and considering the weather they'll be 99% dry, so i'm not expecting any real action here. However, if it's wet, then it can be damaging.

First dirt sector.

Second dirt sector.

Both sectors are slightly uphill (3-4%), as both are part of two cat. 3 climbs. First one is Alto de la Fuente, which is 11,7km at 3,6%. Second one is Alto de Carrillos, which is 11,3km at 3,3%. Both climbs are mainly a regular 3% drag with short, steeper sections (both are surfaced) near the top (max 8-10%). I borrowed the names from local peaks, so they're probably not the official names, if even there are any. The top of Alto de Carrillos is 24km from the finish line.

Profile of Alto de la Fuente and Alto de Carrillos.

From the top of Alto de Carrillos the race enters a 7km long plateau to the village of Tonosa. From there the road goes down to Vélez-Rubio. The descent is in some places quite steep and technical, while the road can be at times on a dodgy surface. Vélez-Rubio is located on the southern edges of Sierra de María (or Sierra de María-Los Vélez). The town is sort of a newer and bigger part of Vélez-Blanco, which is located deeper into sierra. The main sight is baroque Iglesia de la Encarnación from early XVIII c.

Iglesia de la Encarnación, Vélez-Rubio.

Sierra de María-Los Vélez is one of the many isolated mountain ranges of southeastern Spain, which together creates Cordillera Subbética system. The highest peak is Cerro María at 2045m. From the south it's a typical rocky and barren mountain range with a large, rolling base. From north however is more wet and covered with pine trees. The area was quite extensively populated during the prehistoric and two local caves – Cueva de los Letreros and Cueva del Gabar are both listed in UNESCO WHS thanks to the prehistoric cave paintings.

Rocks of Sierra de María.

Same thing, but accompanied by the castle of Vélez-Blanco.

Early graffiti from Cueva de los Letreros.

Vélez-Blanco was an important town in the middle ages. It was home to a Moorish castle, which was replaced in XVI c. by one of the earliest reinassance structures in Spain (thanks to a local ruler Pedro Fajardo). After the Reconquista it was a seat of a local duchy/estate. Outside of the castle the town is home to reinassance Iglesia de Santiago Apóstol from XVI c. Convento San Luis from XVI c. and a string of local Arabic watchtowers deep in Sierra de María. From the vast nothingness of the Province of Almería, the Vélez-Rubio and Vélez-Blanco area (over 8000 pop.) seems to be more suitable to host a Vuelta finish in the near future. Sadly, i couldn't find any information about Vuelta ever hosting a stage in either of them.

Vélez-Blanco seen from the castle.

The castle seen from the finish line.

Vélez-Blanco is near a mountain pass of Puerto de María. Riders won't climb the whole climb, but finish a couple of kms off the sumit, just outside of Vélez-Blanco, on A-317, which provides great views of the castle. This climb starts in Vélez-Rubio and it's 7,7km at 4,8% with 8% in the middle. It's a borderline cat. 2/3. It's not a demanding finish and definitely not a garage ramp that Unipublic loves so much, but after a long, hot, hilly and dusty day it can be a bit more punishing than it would initialy be.

Finish in Vélez-Blanco.

Profile of Vélez-Blanco.

I still don't expect any major GC action on this stage, unless there will be some rain, but the chances of that are very small. Now it's time for the first weekend mountain block of the race.

 

[Gigs_98]

Vuelta a España stage 3: Milán - Superga (179 km)

After a sprint stage and a time trial the climbers get their first chance to shine in the Vuelta.
The riders can spend their evening in Milan since their won't be a transfer before the next day and the stage starts where the last one finishes. As Milan is in the middle of the po valley the majority is unsurprisingly pan flat. There will be two intermediate sprints taking place, one in Novara and one in Settino Torinese. Shortly after the second sprint riders will ride through Torino.

When the riders pass this city they still have around 30 kilometers to go, which will mostly be either up or down and will all take place in the close surroundings of the metropolis. First the riders face two third category climbs, to Faro della Vittoria and Eremo. Those climbs shouldn't cause any difficulties for riders who are serious about the gc, but the peloton might get a bit smaller so the fight for positions before the start of the final climb gets a little less dangerous.

Then the last and without a doubt most famous climb of the day, the Superga, starts, which is btw also a climb which really fits into the Vuelta formula. There are no completely crazy 20%+ gradients but with an average gradient of over 9% and ramps with up to 14% this is still very steep, especially for the third stage of a gt. With a length of less than 5 km this is a typical short but steep vuelta mtf, comparable to for example Peña Cabarga with the only very untypical thing for a vuelta mtf being that it's not located in spain.

This stage will probably not end up being crucial for the gc but such a relatively hard finish early on in the race will make sure riders have to be in good shape for the whole three weeks. The battle between the gc men won't cause huge time gaps, but still this will without a doubt be the 2nd stage in a row which creates differences between contenders and the battle between the climbers would surely be fun to watch.

Contador tribute:
If you think about Contador and Italy the first race which comes to your mind is of course the giro. Now, I tried to already make giro tributes in the first 2 stages and if I wanted to make a giro tribute stage for climbers that stage probably would have had to be a real mountain stage and I'm not entirely sure if stage 3 isn't maybe a bit too early for a Mortirolo stage or something like that. Therefore I tried to honor Contador by making a stage which hopefully reminds people on the one time when Contador didn't win a big stage race but a one day race. To be honest, Milano-Torino isn't exactly a typical one day race since it ends with a pretty hard mtf, but still this win absolutely stands out in Contador's palmares.
Contador won this race in 2012. He was banned for the majority of the season but made an impressive comeback in the vuelta that year, which he won. Considering the circumstances that season probably could already have been seen as successful but he topped it off with this win which ensured everyone he is back at his best and can challenge Sky in the Tour de France the next season.

 

[Forever The Best]

There is a typo in your post Gigs. It is stage 3.

 

[railxmig]

Re:

There is a typo in your post Gigs. It is stage 3.

Was going to say the same.

This time it's Vuelta we're talking about, and i think Vuelta would love to have a HTF on Superga, which for Torino is like Naranco for Oviedo. Still, sad there's no Macugnaga. I guess the next stage will feature Mont-Cenis, Galibier and l'Alpe (2011). I guess Annecy ITT (2009) a bit too north to be somewhat tied with the race?

Now to my Vuelta. I'm far, far away from Piemonte and today i'm introducing a fresh (finished in 2012-2013) borderline 1/ESP garage ramp boasting max 30%. It's also the shortest stage of the race and finally something interesting to talk about, even if i stil struggled with this entry. Finding any information for this region (Costa de Almería) was harder than i thought it would be. Even andalucia.com wasn't as helpful as it normally is.

Last stage: link

https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/180552
Vuelta a España – stage 8. Huércal-Overa – Sierra de Cabrera. La Mezquita, 148km, mountain, MTF.

Climbs:
Alto de Bédar – 10km, 5%, cat. 2, 612m
Alto del Pilar – 7,7km, 4,2%, cat. 3, 701m
Alto del Ventorrillo – 6,8km, 3,6%, cat. 3, 570m
Cerro de la Mezquita – 8,5km, 9% (max 30%), cat. ESP (1?), 960m

The stage starts in Huércal-Overa. I've chosen this town because it's the biggest settlement (almost 20000 pop.), that's somehow close to Vélez-Blanco. Huércal-Overa will host a start to stage 6.

Moorish tower of Huércal-Overa with the town in the background.

First 30km are to San Juan de los Terreros on the Mediterranean coast (Costa Almería) alongside the border between Andalucia and Murica through the town of Pulpí, which is home to one of the biggest geodes – a weird cristal something created from volcanic rocks. Wikipedia calls them "geological secondary structures"... whatever that means.

Inside the Pulpí geode.

San Juan de los Terreros is the first coastal resort of the stage. It's home to two small islets Isla de Terreros, Isla Negra and a XVIII c. sea fort Castillo de San Juan de los Terreros.

Castillo de San Juan de los Terreros.

Isla Negra, San Juan de los Terreros.

Next 14km to Villaricos uses a fabulous coastal AL-7107, which is squished between Sierra Almagrera (highest peak – Tenerife, 368m) and the Mediterranean Sea. It's a not-so-well known coastal drive similar to the ones of southern Italy or that of N-340 from Almería to Málaga. Sadly, there aren't any dashcam videos of this route besides this one.

AL-7107.

The race continues alongside the coast, which here is known as Playas de Vera, through a number of resorts like Palomares, Garrucha and Puerto Rey. Riders will leave the coast in Mojácar and head towards the Sierra de los Filabres. Mojácar is possibly the whitest town is Spain. Even from far away this hilltop town on the northern edges of Sierra de Cabrera makes me blind. This Moorish VIII c. town was an important border fort of the Emirate of Cordoba and (later) Granada. It's home to Moorish seaside tower Torre del Pirulico and XIV c. Iglesia de Santa María. The coastal part of Mojácar is one of the biggest resorts of Costa de Almería.

Playas de Vera.

An ad with Mojácar in the back.

Torre del Pirulico and Arco del Pirulico.

The race heads towards Bédar on the eastern edges of Sierra de los Filabres. This town is half-way the first categorised climb of the day – cat. 2 Alto de Bédar. It's 10km at 5% (max 11%).

Alto de Bédar.

A quite steep and technical descent leads to the town of Lubrín, which is at the base of an another climb – Alto del Pilar, which is 7,7km at 4,2%. Both climbs are long, but not steep. After 15km of false-descent the peloton will reach the town of Sorbas.

Alto del Pilar (only last 4km).

Sierra de los Filabres from the top of Alto del Pilar.

Lubrín.

Sorbas is a town on the eastern part of a dry, mostly plain region known as Desierto de Tabernas, which separates Sierra de los Filabres from Sierra de Alhamilla, Cabrera and Gádor. This town, similar to Cuenca and Ronda, is located on top of a local gypsium-filled karst formation called Karst en Yesos de Sorbas. This karst system is dotted with caves, like El Agua, Tesoro or La Covadura. The town was founded by Moors as a pottery center. Nearby Sorbas is Los Yesares mine – the biggest gypsium quarry in Europe. Sorbas is often visited by Vuelta, often en route to Calar Alto.

Sorbas.

Next 30km are inside Sierra de Cabrera, and the only sign of life here is the village of Gafarillos. The road (AL-5103) is twisty, at times quite narrow and not in the best of conditions. There's one cat. 3, which starts in Gafarillos – Alto del Ventorrillo, which is 6,8km at 3,6%. It might not look like that, but this run-in to the main difficulty of the day is quite challenging, as the road is not in the best of quality.

At the bottom of Mezquita the peloton will go through an interesting village, which i'm not sure of the name. I'll use the form of Cortijo Cabrera. It's possibly one of the most Arabic looking settlements in Spain. Combined with hilly, deserted and debris-filled area it looks almost like from Marocco or Algeria. Sadly, there's not much information about this village. It's home to Moorish tower Torreón de Cabrera from at least IX c.

Typical architecture of Cortijo Cabrera.

Torreón de Cabrera.

Mezquita is the only garage finish of this Vuelta. It's a borderline cat. 1/ESP. I went for the latter, because of an abundance of 15-20% sections and a 30% near the top. Similar Ermita de Alba and Los Machucos also had ESP, so i guess Mezquita would also get it. This summit is the highest peak (960m) of Sierra Cabrera – a small mountain range on the Mediterranean coast, east of Sierra de Alhamilla and Sierra de los Filabres. Sierra Cabrera is possibly the least populated region in the whole Spain and Cerro Mezquita is in the exact middle of it.

Profile of La Mezquita.

Sierra Cabrera.

The road to the top of Mezquita was just recently paved, as some sort of an army facility was established at the top. There is some space available (roguhly 1km^2 according to Google Maps), but because it seems to be an army facility and it's in the middle of nowhere, i don't think it will ever visited by Vuelta. Previously, only the road to Collado Cufría (roughly 1km from the top) was paved.

Now about the climb itself. It's very inconsistent. It starts from a creek called Rambla del Estrecho, just before the village of Cortijo Cabrera. First 1km to Cortijo Cabrera is at roughly 14%. The ride through the village is very complicated. It lasts only 500m, but it includes going under an Arabic arch named Arco de Peter Grosscurth and going through a small parking lot. It's one of the easier parts of the climb, as i don't think it reaches more than 12%, but the road is in a poor state though.

Arco de Peter Grosscurth, Cortijo Cabrera.

After leaving the village is one of the hardest parts of the climb with 2km at over 11% with many, many over 15% parts (max 22%) interrupted by very short flat sections.

One of the harder parts of Mezquita.

Last 3km to Collado Cufría are very irregular. 17-19% parts are mixed with false flats and even small descents. The road also narrows down a bit as it goes alongside the northern slope of Mezquita. The surface is also dodgy at some points, but overally i feel it's better, than in the village. There was also a small part of dirt near the top, but it was recently paved. The area is very open and not far from the Mediterranean Sea, so i don't know, if it's windy. Judging by very sparse foliege, at that particular time in 2009 (streetview) it was quite windy.

Higher parts of Mezquita.

From the top of Collado Cufría follows a 300m long false-descent before the last, newly surfaced 1km to the top. It's avg. at 14% with plenty of over 20% sections maxing at 30%, which is Ciutu Negru territory. However, it's 1km shorter than the Ciutu Negru wall.

Top of Cerro de la Mezquita.

There is a different, easier and even narrower side to Mezquita, which leads from near the top of Ventorillo through a small rural church Ermita de la Carrasca.

Collado Cufría from La Carrasca.

Normally garage ramps don't really deliver. This one is similar, if not slightly harder than Machucos from 2017, which created quite sizeable gaps or Ermita de Alba, which sadly wasn't the best race in the world even, when backed by Cobertoria. It is harder, than the typical cat. 1 garage ramp like La Camperona or Cumbres Verdes though. I assume everyone will be on their own, but most of the favourites should be inside a minute.

Next stage will be my take on Alpujarras. It will include Haza del Lino, but it won't be the main highlight of the stage.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Noooooooo... one of the two nascent Vueltas I had had an MTF at Cerro de la Mezquita on stage 8!!!

 

[Forever The Best]

Sİerra Cabrera, nice.

 

[railxmig]

Re:

Noooooooo... one of the two nascent Vueltas I had had an MTF at Cerro de la Mezquita on stage 8!!!

I don't know, what you mean by that but if it's as an MTF on stage 8 in one of your upcoming Vueltas then...

That's a payback for being quicker (by 2-3 days) than me in the idea of using those little Wikipedia gifs in the race recaps.

The production process of this Vuelta is really hasty, as i really wanted to finish it before you start your rampage. I'm still considering this race as unfinished i.e. i'm not happy with a bunch of stages, which are more like placeholders. Glad i did that... there's still one sort of suprise left, but that's at the end of the race.

 

[railxmig]

Ok, let's keep the fluids going. I decided to skip most of the stage to keep the posts relatively short.

The first descent finish of the race and also one of the last over 200km stages. Even with only 4 categorised climbs that don't cross over 1350m it's still a high mountain stage.

Last stage: link

https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/163287
Vuelta a España – stage 9. Almería – Albuñol, 219km, mountain.

Climbs:
Alto El Marchal – 16,3km, 5,8%, cat. 1, 1010m
Alto de Miranda – 12,2km, 4,4%, cat. 2, 1004m
Puerto de Haza del Lino – 18km, 7,1% (max 20%?), cat. ESP, 1301m
Alto Loma de la Señora – 9,2km, 6,8% (max 21%), cat. 1, 1273m

Last 1,5 stages took place in the province of Almería. I guess it's time to visit the capital of the province. Almería was found in X c. as Al-Mariyya. Thanks to it's coastal position and silk industry it soon was a major Andalucian city and a capital of a local taifa. What's interesting, many rulers of this taifa were Slavic slaves (saqāliba) from modern Serbia. It was one of the last cities to be captured by Christians as part of the Reconquista in 1489. In XVI c. it was heavily damaged by at least 4 earthquakes and the War of Las Alpujarras. Since the founding of the Casino de Almería in 1840 the city developed as a summer resort. Main sights are the Alcazaba from XI c. with a triple line of walls and fortress-like Catedral de Almería from XVI c. built upon a former mosque. Almería is also a popular filming spot... a very popular filming spot.

Alcazaba de Almería.

Catedral de Almería.

Almería is at the mouth of Andarax river between Sierra de Alhamilla and Sierra de Gádor. The first half of this stage (to Adra) including two categorised climbs is in Sierra de Gádor (highest peak – La Lagunilla, 2249m). Las Alpujarras is a mountain range west of Sierra de Gádor. It's a very popular traceur spot thanks to a number of quite difficult climbs. Both ranges are between Sierra Nevada and the Mediterranean Sea. The region was the last stand for Moors in Spain, but they were expelled to Africa and... Castilla after the War of the Alpujarras of 1568-71. Today the Alpujarras are dotted with irrigation canals, farmlands and greenhouses.

Las Alpujarras.

The first climb of the day – cat. 1 Alto El Marchal (thanks Vuelta 2018 for the name) starts right after the start. It's 16,3km at a quite regular 5,8% (max 10%). It's nothing special, but compared to its other side, which will be used in Vuelta this year it's at least some sort of a climb. If you think it's a good enough climb, then you can try for a finish in Alhama de Almería, which is right at the bottom of the descent. Interestingly, near the top is a village with a curious name of El Marchal de Antón López, hence i guess Unipublic decided for Alto El Marchal.

Profile of Alto El Marchal.

Alhama de Almería is a town in the Andarax valley heavily connected to Almería throughout the history. It started as a Moorish spa (Balneario de San Nicolás) in IX c. The town is also home to the remains of a XIII c. Moorish tower known as Los Castillejos. Alhama de Almería is the birthplace of Nicolás Salmerón – president of the Spanish First Republic (Primera República) in 1873.

Next roughly 50km are in the exact opposite direction to stage 5 of Vuelta 2018, which mainly uses A-348 road. It's one of the main roads in Alpujarras as it's an alternate connection between Almería and Granada. It goes through a couple of valleys (like Alcolea or Guadalfeo) which separates Siera de Gádor and Las Alpujarras from Sierra Nevada. The stage goes alongside the Andrax valley through the towns of Huécija, Íllar, Instinción, Rágol, Padules, Laujar de Andarax and Alcolea.

XVIII c. Convento de los Agustinos, Huécija.

This post is allready getting too long, so i won't go into much detail from now on. From Alcolea the race goes across the Alpujarras via A-347 through Berja back to the Mediterranean coast near Adra. Next 30km from Adra to Castillo de Baños are on the coastal N-340, filled with Moorish seaside towers and castles.

Adra.

Castillo de La Rabita.

Hornabeque de Baños, Castillo de Baños.

Mediterranean coast near Castillo de Baños.

LS kicked off his 21 ESP climbs thread with Haza del Lino. However, he was way more kind to the Rubite side, which i personally am not very fond of. I prefer the more classic, Aubisque-like Polopos side. I'm still unsure about the newly paved Los Yesos side. I also have problems with comparing the Polopos side with Grand Colombier. I just don't see the similarities.

Profile of Haza del Lino.

When it comes to the numbers, Haza del Lino is 18km at 7,1%, which is comparable with something like Aubisque. It's one of those rare Spanish climbs, that are genuinely HC/ESP without any steepness gimmicks. I feel Haza del Lino is a really good warm-up climb, as it's long and quite regular. However, there is a narrow-ish, very steep section near the bottom, which reaches the heights of 20% (i guess it's closer to 15%) and according to the altimetrias profile (which i guess is a bit exaggerated), there are also plenty of over 12% parts. The climb does slightly ease up towards the top. The road is at times quite narrow but it seems it was recently widened and resurfaced. Of course, like many other La Alpujarra climbs, also this one has perfect overview over the Mediterranean Sea. There's a video of this ascent from a local race called Gran premio comarca Polopos, 2016 edition.

Views of the Mediterranean coast from the ascent to Haza del Lino.

Of course i'm taking the descent to Órgiva via Puerto de Camacho, which is not the easiest in the world as it's quite twisty, the road is not that wide and there are moments alongside a cliffside with a large backdrop on the other side. I guess that's one of the reasons, why Vuelta is hesitant towards Haza del Lino.

Descent from Haza del Lino.

There are many potential uses of Haza del Lino, often with MTF's in Cáñar, Capileira, Trevélez or HTF's in Órgiva or Ermita de Fuente Agria. I decided to downgrade Haza del Lino to a mere warm-up climb, as i'm switching the focus towards Collada de Canseco and it's typically Spanish side from Torvizcón. From the bottom of Camacho to Torvizcón (back to A-348) are 10km of a quite hilly terrain.

Torvizcón.

Collada de Canseco was used in this thread a couple of times, but mostly mid-stage. The side from Torvizcón, also known as Loma de la Señora, is a typical to Spain very inconsistent, cat. 1 garage ramp with very high max inclines, but relatively low avg. I decided to move the KOM a bit further away to include a 12-15% section just after Loma de la Señora, which tops at roughly 1273m. Including this small section the climb is 9,2km at only 6,8%, but consistently breaking 15% and even reaching 21% in some places. The road isn't the widest, but it seems to be in a relatively good state. Here are more pictures from this ascent.

Profile of Alto Loma de la Señora.

Alto Loma de la Señora with outlook over Sierra Nevada.

From the top there are still 2km of bumpy terrain (max 15%) before reaching the very picturesque GR-5204, which links Haza del Lino with Collado de Canseco and later the aformentioned A-348 road, going through the peaks of Las Alpujarras. This plateau lasts for roughly 10km, which includes false-descents and an irregular 3,2km at 3,6% (max 12%) climb to Collado de Canseco, which is followed by another roughly 5km false-descent before the proper descent to Albuñol. The road is quite wide and in very good condition. I'm affraid this 10km false-flat will ruin any potential attacks on Loma de la Señora.

Las Alpujarras with the Mediterranean Sea in the distance.

The descent to Albuñol is more tricky than it looks like. It's roughly 13km at a regular 6,5%, with plenty of 7-8% parts. The road is wide and in good condition, but it's quite twisty with plenty of sweepers and at least 9 serpentines. The hardest part is halfway through the descent, in the village of Albondón with 4 serpentines and over 8% slopes. Like many roads in the area, also this one provides plenty of views over Las Alpujarras and the Mediterranean coast.

Descent from Collado de Canseco.

Albuñol is way bigger than i thought. It's actually a quite sizeable town with 7000 inhabitants. It should even be big enough for the real Vuelta. I decided to place the finish line on Calle de Febrero with the run-in on a relatively new A-345 overpass, which goes alongside an irrigation canal.

Finish in Albuñol.

It could be a very good mountain stage, but i don't like this 10km plateau ride on Collado de Canseco. I expect relatively small groups (5-10 guys) with quite big time splits (over 1min). I don't think it's a stage, where you'll win the race, but you can lose a lot of time if lacking form.

 

[railxmig]

After a rest-day transfer from Alpujarras riders will do a large loop around the mountains of Serranía de Cuenca, north of La Mancha. I decided to do it, because Serranía de Cuenca is one of the more picturesque regions in Spain. It's the last over 200km stage for a long while. This stage is sponsored by Streetview... there'll be a lot of Streetview.

Last stage: link

https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/181875
Vuelta a España – stage 10. Cuenca – Castillo de Cuenca, 224km, Medium Mountain, HTF.

Climbs:
Collado del Brezal – 14km, 3%, cat. 3, 1542m
Alto de la Peña del Acebo – 8,3km, 4%, cat. 3, 1524m
Alto de las Piedras (La Ciudad Encantada) – 9,5km, 4,5%, cat. 2, 1397m
Castillo de Cuenca – 1,5km, 8%, cat. 3, 1048m

It's a false-transitional stage, that focuses on Serranía de Cuenca and Montes Universales. Highest peak is Mogorrita at 1864m (if Sierra de Albarracín included – Caimodorro, 1936m). This entry will be mainly filled with scenery pics, as there aren't many towns and villages in the area. This mountain system is sort of a link between the mountains of València and Sistema Central, separating La Mancha south from Aragón north. This mountain range is full of deep gorges, karst structures, fancy rock formations and pine forests, which is partly covered by the Serranía de Cuenca NP. Sadly, This whole mountain system is way too big to cover with only one stage and none of the climbs in the region are particulary challenging, so i missed plenty of nice places in the region just to keep the stage below 250km. The first draft of this stage went from Teruel. Only the last 80km remained from that stage.

Rock formations of Las Corbeteras, Serranía de Cuenca.

One of many gorges in Serranía de Cuenca.

La Raya y El Escalerón de Uña, Serranía de Cuenca.

The finish on top of Cuenca's castle was one of the first Spanish ideas i had. I mean... i've waited like two years before finally having a chance to use it. The run-in is the same, as most of Alto del Castillo from Vuelta 2017 stage 7. My idea of having a HTF finish on top of castillo is theoretically possible? There's plenty of space and even a relatively sizeable car park at the top.

The only bigger town on this stage is Priego – former capital of a small medieval state. Main sights include reinassance Palacio de los Condes de Priego (former seat of local lords, now a city hall) from XVI c. and the remains of Convento del Rosal from XVII c. It's also the birthplace of a certain Luis Ocaña.

Convento del Rosal, Priego.

Sadly, because of the length limitations and horrible state i couldn't include CM-2106 road, which is possibly the most beautiful of the region and one of the best in Spain.

A fragment of CM-2106, Cuenca.

Thankfully, there are more than plenty of crazy rock and karst formations throughout the stage. Below is are some that i managed to found.

A bunch of views from this stage.

Before Cuenca the stage goes through Ciudad Encantada, which is a set of very distinctively shaped karst rocks. There are walls, mushrooms, fists etc. Ciudad Encantada is on top of the only cat. 2 climb of the day – Alto de las Piedras (at least that's the only name that popped up on two maps that i used), which is 9,5km at a regular 4,5%.

Profile of Alto de las Piedras.

Some of the rocks from Ciudad Encantada, Cuenca.

The climbs on this stage are quite long, but not very steep. The hardest is the last 1,5km to the finish line, which is at 8%. The weird spikes at the bottom of Collado del Brezal are caused by the tracker not dealing well with gorges.

Profile of the climb ot Castillo de Cuenca (Cerro San Cristóbal).

The last 1,5km in Cuenca are cobbled (but they're so easy, that i ommited them from the profile). They go through the historical centre of the city, which includes Plaza Mayor, XII c. cathedral, going underneath the XVIII c. city hall, alongside the hanging houses (Casas Colgades, dating back to XVI c.) and through the remains of the Moorish Alcázaba. The ascent can be seen here (taken from Vuelta 2017). Tl;dr, it's similar to the Ávila finish, if not slightly harder.

Climb to Castillo de Cuenca.

The finish line is on Calle Larga, overlooking Hoz del Huécar (Huécar valley), which is a good spot to catch the cliffside.

Finish in Cuenca.

Of course Cuenca is one of the more known Spanish cities and it has more than plenty of sights. Below is a small sample of them.

The hanging houses of Cuenca.

Catedral de Santa María y San Julián, Cuenca.

City Hall, Cuenca.

Sorry for this style of post, but there's not that much to talk about. It's mostly visuals of Serranía de Cuenca and Cuenca itself was just featured in the real Vuelta. I think it's a perfect stage for a breakaway win. I don't think this hill will provide any major shake-ups in the GC, but i guess someone like Chavez or Moreno could try and get a couple of seconds. Next stage is quite similar to this one, but the finale is much harder.

 

[Gigs_98]

Ok, let's keep the fluids going. I decided to skip most of the stage to keep the posts relatively short.

You failed

 

[Gigs_98]

Vuelta a España stage 4: Zaragoza - Teruel (201 km)

After the opening three days took place in Italy I follow the convention of gt's to then return to its homeland after 3 stages. As I said in my first post, I want to keep things realistic so I didn't want the race to stay in Italy any longer and/or make potential queen stages early on.
While this is a Contador Vuelta it has to be said that it was impossible for me to make a tribute in every stage while still making a route with realistic difficulty. This will therefore the first stage of a few stages without a tribute (there is only one other stage completely without a tribute but 2 more with a rather far fetched one)

So, after the first rest day of La Vuelta riders can stay relaxed for another day...probably. The stage starts in Zaragoza, the capital of Aragon.

The riders will face southwards and ride through not very densely populated regions. The flat is generally flat but that said, the route is a bit bumpy and there are a few sections which might even be categorized climbs in the tour de france. After 65 the riders pass the first intermediate sprint in Belchite a city known for incredibly sad reasons. The town was almost entirely destroyed in the spanish civil war but instead of removing the ruins authorities decided to rebuild the town next to the remains of the old Belchite, while the ruins have become a landmark with the purpose of reminding people of the terror of war.

The route remains going southwards while going upwards ever so slightly. The 2nd intermediate sprint takes place in scenic town Montalbán. This is also where the only categorized climb of the day to Valdeconejos starts. This ascent isn't steep but quite long and is actually quite close to being a 2nd category ascent. However still being 70 km away from the finish the pace on this climb probably won't be overly high.
Despite this being the only climb of the day the stage could actually become interesting after this point since the road gets quite exposed and therefore if I'm not mistaken crosswinds could occur. Furthermore from kilometer 174 to kilometer 185 the riders ride over a very narrow road which could make things even more tricky. This is a classic example for a stage where you can't really win but absolutely lose the vuelta.
The finish is located in Teruel.

 

[railxmig]

Have mixed feelings about your stage. AFAIK more chances for crosswinds are in the Aragón plains rather than the Teruel region, but i don't live in Spain so i don't know much. I'm worried this sudden change from wide and straight roads into a narrow and twisty one not far from the finish line will result in crashes and pileups. I guess the main difficulty of this section is a rather sketchy surface. I would personally move the stage towards the 3rd week, when GC is mostly sorted while hiding the stage as a potential, hidden star of the race. But that's just my opinion of course.

Yet another transitional stage, but this time with way harder finale and lesser amount of visuals. The peloton will also leave Castilla-La Mancha for Castilla y León.

Last stage: link

https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/181859
Vuelta a España – stage 11. Pastrana – Estación de Esquí La Pinilla, 187km, Medium Mountain, HTF.

Climbs:
Alto de Brihuega – 3,5km, 6,1%, cat. 3, 1022m
Puerto de la Quesera – 7,5km, 5,7%, cat. 2, 1750m
Estación de Esquí La Pinilla – 9,7km, 4,3%, cat. 2, 1492m

This stage is heavily based on stage 18 of Vuelta 2015 which finished in Riaza after La Quesera.

Stage 18 of Vuelta 2015.

It was a very important stage. Not because of some crazy GC action (it happened two days later), but because of the breakaway. There was plenty of action on Quesera thanks to Fabio Aru, but nothing substantial happened. It was the stage, where this happened:

"Sign some autographs and then I do get ghost" /Snoopy the Dog.

Sadly, Roche was just too quick for him. Wait... there's also this... because of course there must be this:

APM doing their job.

There's not much life between Cuenca and Guadalajara (north of Madrid). Possibly the biggest village in this vast, hilly region known as La Alcarria is Sacedón (2000 pop.). However, i decided for probably the oldest village in the region – (not Travis) Pastrana. It's probably one of the smaller places, that ever hosted a Vuelta stage with just below 1000 inhabitants. In the middle ages it was a capital of a local estate. The main sights include Palacio Ducal de Pastrana from XVI c. – former seat of local lords, Convento del Carmen from XVI c. and Iglesia colegiata de la Asunción from XIII c. which houses a museum of tapestries and a painting by El Greco.

Pastrana.

Palacio Ducal, Pastrana.

Not far south from Pastrana is Recópolis – a major archaelogical site on Río Tajo housing the remains of a major town founded in VI c. by Visigoths. It is one of the only bigger settlements in Western Europe known to have been founded between V and VIII c. It was the capital of a Visigothic province of Celtiberia (modern Serranía de Cuenca and La Alcarria?). The city declined after being seized by the Moors and was entirely abandoned in X c.

The remains of Recópolis.

Two surviving arches from the basicila of Recópolis.

The first roughly 100km are in La Alcarria. The stage passes thorugh a couple of villages, but it's mostly a no-man's land. There's a cat. 3 climb just outside the town of Brihuega – Alto de Brihuega, which is 3,5km at 6,1%. Brihuega is a town in the Tajuña valley. It started as a Moorish stronghold and a hunting center over Tajuña valley. In 1710 an important battle of the War of the Spanish Succession took place here between French-Spanish coalition and British forces. The battle was won by the coalition. The town was heavily damaged during the Spanish Civil War. Main sights include the Moorish city walls with Castillo de Brihuega, gothic Iglesia de San Felipe and a quite expansive system of Moorish caves in nearby cliffs.

Brihuega with the city walls.

Castillo de Brihuega.

Moorish caves of Brihuega.

Next town is Torija, home to a Knights Templar castle from XI c. The castle was founded on the historic route from France/Aragón to Madrid/Toledo (modern E-90). Thanks to this location it was an important stronghold on the border of La Mancha. Now it's one of the best preserved Knights Templar castles in Spain.

Castillo de Torija.

After Torija it's back to the vast nothingness of the foothills of Sierra de Somosierra, northeastern part of Sierra de Guadarrama, home to an eponymous natural park. The main pass in the region is Puerto de Somosierra. In 1808 one of the most important battles of the Iberian War took place there in which Napoleon opened his way towards Madrid and La Mancha.

Battle of Somosierra by Louis-François Lejeune, 1810.

In the middle of this no-man's land is Torre del Burgo, home to a VII c. Visigothic monastery Monasterio de Sopetrán. It was often destroyed during the early middle ages and the modern foundation is from XII c. by the Castillian king Alfonso VI. It was one of the bigger monasteries of La Mancha in the middle ages but it was abandoned in XIX c. Nowadays the building is sadly not in the best of shapes.

Monasterio de Sopetrán, Torre del Burgo.

The stage merges with the 2015 stage near the village of Tamajón, home to a XVI c. Iglesia de la Asunción, XVII c. Ermita de la Virgen de los Enebrales dedicated to the patron saint of the region and a set of limestone rock formations La Ciudad Encantada.

La Ciudad Encantada, Tamajón.

Next 70km to Riaza are in Sierra de Somosierra. The lone, not that wide GU-186 road goes across the mountain range peaking at Puerto de la Quesera. The run-in to the bottom of la Quesera is very bumpy with plenty of 10% ups and downs. The proper Puerto de la Quesera is cat. 2, 7,5km at 5,7% (max 11%). It's a relatively regular climb, which starts quite tough (over 7%) but easies off towards the summit. A quite tricky descent leads to Riaza.

Profile of Puerto de la Quesera.

Sierra de Somosierra from the top of Puerto de la Quesera.

Riaza is the first town of this stage, which is part of Castilla y León. It's in the region of Tierra de Ayllón on the western foothills of Sierra de Somosierra and Sierra de Ayllón. It's also the sneak peek of the next two stages, which will be in the heart of Castilla y León.

Riaza.

Tierra de Ayllón.

Just south of Riaza is one of the biggest ski resorts of Sierra de Guadarrama, located on the slopes of Pico del Lobo (2274m) – La Pinilla. It's a quite popular traceur spot, but i don't remember Vuelta ever visiting it. It might had happened pre-1990. The station has around 20km of slopes available. Combining Quesera with Pinilla is nothing new; actually it's a quite popular combo.

La Pinilla.

There are two routes to Pinilla. The main one is from the Serrano valley near a historic village of Cerezo de Arriba. The 2nd route is from the descent from Puerto de la Quesera to Riaza. I decided for the main route, as the direct approach from Quesera is mostly a false-flat (3,5km at roughly 4%). The approach i've chosen has the last 3,2km at roughly 7% with the last 1km at over 8% (max 10%). It's a typical punchy relic from the times of Valverde and Purito. I think the direct approach could potentialy work if Quesera was harder or it was much later in the race.

Profile of La Pinilla.

Romanesque Iglesia de San Juan Bautista from XI c. Cerezo de Arriba.

The finish line is just before the main station on SG-115. Interestingly, there's plenty of space (3 sizeable car parks). Maybe even big enough to house all the buses. If it was in France, it could host maybe a Dauphine/Route du Sud or even a Tour de France stage.

Finish in La Pinilla.

I know in 2015 La Quesera was ridden quite hard, but i comsider it more in terms of a warm-up climb. I think it's not a bad warm-up before the punchy finish in La Pinilla. I don't think it'll shake up the GC, but the group at the bottom of La Pinilla should be smaller (30-40 guys) and the time splits slightly bigger than from yesterday (if there were any).

Next stage is the main time trial of the race through a sample of the vast medieval richness of the Valladolid province.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I mean nothing by the "noooo!" other than to give you props for beating me to one of my ideas. Though in fairness I have 2 or 3 on-the-go Vueltas, a couple of which could be just about postable in current format but need a little tweaking as well as there being two Vueltas ongoing, so let's not complicate things further.

Instead, let's go to my other well.

Nordic Series 9: Notschrei

The Nordic Series thus far has focused, with the exception of Candanchú, on venues in the Alps; France, Switzerland and Italy primarily. One of the benefits of Nordic skiing from a race design point of view is that it doesn't require the huge drops that downhill skiing requires - while there are Alpine World Cup rounds in Sweden and Finland, these tend to be restricted to the technical disciplines, and offer limited cycling parcours design options, whereas the Nordic venues offer more flexibility. And of course, there's more to cycling than the Grand Tours and the Alps.

That said, while I'm deviating from the template of the Alpine countries, I'm not deviating from the template of mountain locations - I will do in the near future, but a couple of issues recently have prevented me from going to a different well. So here, we're in one of the countries which is most fabled for its love of skiing, both Alpine and Nordic, but at a venue which is neither in the Alps nor the north. That's right, Germany - a land which is at the very forefront of biathlon, ski jumping and Nordic Combined, and that until recently was in a similar position in cross country, however has fallen away in recent times as its golden generation grew old together and retired before reasonable replacements could be found, as well as suffering a perennial problem that the popularity of biathlon in the country results in a constant stream of talents leaving the sport to pick up a rifle. And it's to a biathlon venue that we're going today, the Sparkassen Arena at Notschrei, in the Schwarzwald mountain chain.

Evocatively translating as "cry for help", this is a long-time resort for all kinds of skiing which has long been synonymous with wintersport throughout the Schwarzwald. Although significantly smaller than Germany's two Biathlon World Cup venues - Oberhof and Ruhpolding - Notschrei is a former IBU Cup (or European Cup as it was back then) host, although in recent years it has been usurped by Arber, in the Bayerischer Wald, and Altenberg, in Saxony, for international competition. The Nordic-Schule here remains very active, however, and among current internationals to call it their original home track Simon Schempp and Annika Knoll can be mentioned, while it also is in close proximity to the ski jumping facilities at Hinterzarten and the Nordic Combined World Cup venue at Schonach - both of which are smaller. The Sparkassen-Arena hosts an annual round of the Deutschlandpokal/Alpencup, has held national championships races such as those here and the para-skiing World Cup, and is also in the process of tendering a revamp that would see it return to international competition. There's also plenty of room for parking at the pass which is just below the arena, with the Waldhotel am Notschrei, and so with the Nordic stadium itself alongside this space, logistically the venue could host races of any size up to the very biggest.

Sitting among the Schwarzwald mountains and atop a climb which can be approached from at least three sides, the options here are myriad and though the range does not include any nascent Galibiers or Zoncolans, it can still be plenty tough enough. Rather like the Vosges, there's only one borderline HC climb in the region - the 11km, 8% Kandel, but more of that later - but a large number of cat.1 and cat.2 climbs that can be chained together to make some interesting mountain stages nonetheless. The Germans have of course not been especially into their cycling of late and their calendar has become depleted but in the past Notschrei could have been included in the Regio-Tour; the Deutschlandtour is of course being reintroduced, but its scale in the first instance will not be sufficient to justify most of my stage suggestions - however the old version from the early 2000s would be ideal. But failing that, we are also close enough to the French border at the Alsace that it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility to see the Tour de France, or at least the lower level Tour d'Alsace, hop the border to arrive at Notschrei.

For the most part, traceur opportunities around Notschrei have been focused around the northern side of the climb, shown above, from Kirchzarten. This is mainly as it allows you to back it directly onto Kandel, offering that classic format so beloved of traceurs where the penultimate climb is the hardest. I'm no different, chaining the two together is too tempting not to explore, but it's also worth noting that junction at 4,5km from the line, after which the gradient is 7,7% to the line, and this enables you to link the climb to the Schauinsland climb, which has several different faces, including some very tough gradients, as you can descend through this side of the Schauinsland climb, through the Hofsgrund downhill skiing facilities, until the junction marked for Notschrei on that profile. There's also the opportunity to, through a nodal road which links the summits, to go directly from Schauinsland to Notschrei, which puts the final summit around 5km from the line with a more or less downhill false flat until an uphill final 250m, or alternatively a more standard cat.2 ascent from Todtnau (7,5km @ 6,4%) from the southeast, which brings a number of other climbs into the equation.

Proposal #1: Baden-Baden - Notschrei, 194km

Approaching Notschrei from the north, this is perhaps the "fully loaded" version of a stage featuring the classic traceur double of Kandel and Notschrei, moving down the spine of the mountain chain from the famous "so good they named it twice" spa town at its northwest corner. It is perhaps as strong a mountain stage as you could manage while travelling in this direction, taking care to use as much as possible of genuinely selective climbs rather than the multitude of 4% grinders that you can often find in the region, as we hop onto and off of the Schwarzwalder Höhenstrasse which runs along the peaks of the range. Unterstmatt is a fairly underrated warm-up climb, which has a very steep, inconsistent and technical descent, while the other early-in-the-day climb is a traceur favourite, Zuflucht aka Oppenauer Steige, a climb which, when you take the flat finish out, resembles Cobertoria west. Somewhat frustratingly it is rather difficult to connect to other climbs because of needing to ride along the Höhenstraße for a while to reach an opportunity to descend back into the valley, but here it is just a leg softener.

After this there are three lesser climbs but each including some steeper ramps, with the intent of making sure that riders' legs have plenty of suffering in them before we arrive at the main focal point of the stage, the miniature Alpe d'Huez that is Kandel.

Weighing in at just under 12km at 8%, this is a borderline HC climb which on this occasion crests at 35km from the line. The climb is fairly wide and there are few super-ramps, so it mightn't be an automatic "break the bunch to pieces" event, but the opportunities are there, especially as much of the remainder of the stage is a decent, broken up by 2km at 6% into Sankt-Peter. I have incentivized a move earlier on with the intermediate bonuses in Kirchzarten before the final climb, which is the full extent of the Notschrei profile above, officially 13,5km @ 5,4% but gradually ramping up until a final 6,1km @ 8,1%, so offering plenty of scope for selectivity.

Proposal #2: Waldshut-Tiengen - Notschrei, 141km

Long-time aficionados of the Race Design Thread will probably find this one fairly familiar - it bears a fair amount of resemblance to my queen stage from my Deutschlandtour, from Bad Säckingen to Feldberg, which used the same combination of the first four climbs before descending into Freiburg to do the Kandel-Notschrei-Feldberg trio to finish. Here, to finish in Notschrei but not repeat ourselves, however, we're cutting the stage somewhat short but bringing the steep Schauinsland climb close to the finish, so that final three climb back to back combo should be very dangerous since it's a shortish stage but there's essentially no flat whatsoever in the final third, which takes advantage of the fact that, while the Schwarzwald may lack in monolithically huge climbs, it does offer great opportunities for chaining climbs together.

This would be best suited to a clockwise Tour of Germany, albeit somewhere near the end of the race, where there are already GC gaps. It begins looping around the border with Switzerland before heading northward to the two-stepped cat.2 climb of Egerten, then doubling back on itself to the first major climb, the Tonale-alike Kreuzweg. This has a long rolling descent, but after this it's relentless, with the solid Hohtann climb (also known as Rollspitz), a decently consistent 7% climb above the Wiedener Eck, descending directly to the base of one of the shortest, but also the undisputed steepest, side to the Schauinsland climb.

We're only climbing this from the junction for Wiedener Eck (7,5km) to the crossing for Notschrei (1km) - so it's short, but that 3km at 11,7% in the middle help justify the cat.1 status, especially as it crests just 10km from the line, with the descent through Hofsgrund mentioned above before the final 4,5km ascent to the line. This should therefore see the key moves made on the Schauinsland climb, as the legs will have been softened enough, there's not enough time after Hohtann for many domestiques to return, and it's too steep to be a tempo climb, especially this close to the finish; even if a group stays together, there's then a fast descent and a final climb which is similar in stats to Ixua, so a pretty reasonable finish in and of itself.

Proposal #3: Offenburg - Notschrei, 211km

This is like the previous proposal but amped up somewhat, along with a potentially more interesting finale. Again it's a long loop around the southern Schwarzwald, starting to the northwest, skirting the western edges and foothills before entering in the south and looping back to the north.

Like the previous proposal, we enter the stage lightly, with a period of rolling terrain, but this stage is 50% longer and with three more categorized climbs, though admittedly the first one, Horben, won't really threaten anybody. The stage also features the northern side of Kreuzweg, separate from the eastern side that we descended in proposal one. This side is less consistent than the western side climbed in that stage (descended here), and is divided into two halves - the first part fairly gradual, the final 7km @ 7,5% as noted here. This also backs into the western side of Egerten which could debatably be cat.1 and probably would be were it closer to the finish.

Having hopefully trimmed the group a fair bit, we still have some way to go to the line, so to prevent a consolidation period where a lot of the riders dropped will chase back on, I've stuck the gradual ascent up to Sankt Antonipass, which forms a double summit not unlike La Mozqueta/La Colladiella or Agnès/Lers with the adjacent Weißenbachsattel, though the climbs are not as difficult as those double acts. Nevertheless the secondary summit breaks up the momentum of the descent, so it keeps the riders on their toes before a trickier version of the run-in. First, I've gone to Wiedener Eck rather than Hohtann, but rather than just being the lower summit, I've taken the narrow Steinbühl road, which takes an otherwise consistent 4,5% climb and appends 2km @ 10% at the end, cresting 24km from the line. After the descent we return to the side of Schauinsland profiled above - however with a twist. Instead of going all the way to the Kreuz, we're going to the summit of Schauinsland, but that would entail a very short loop, or a very long route via Freiburg and the full Notschrei climb after a period in a valley road - not conducive to good racing. Instead, therefore, we leave that profile at Gießhübel (meaning 5,1km @ 9,5% - akin to Peña Cabarga or similar), cresting 11km from home, then after a brief hiatus, the last 3,7km of this profile - 5% average - cresting at 5,2km before a slightly downhill false flat run-in. So while the opportunity to make it stick on the steep stuff is there, you then have a mad chase on the tempo climb AND the flattish run-in.

Ramp between Gießhübel and Stohren

Proposal #4: Balingen - Notschrei, 213km

The final proposal, approaching the Schwarzwald from the east, is the longest stage and also a slightly unusual medium mountain type stage which would probably be best served either as a very first mountain stage where its less threatening nature can make it a feeling-out process, or as a very last one where the fact that the final climbs aren't too hard means risks have to be taken, since here we arrive at Notschrei from Todtnau, which is a fairly unthreatening climb.

After rolling in from the Swabian countryside, the first real challenge of the day is Moosenmättle, from its least-known northern side. Cyclingcols doesn't have a profile for this side; Quäl dich does - the first 4,2km is at almost 11% and it's narrow and horrible. This does lead to a much more gradual climb which heads past the Nordic Combined venue at Schonach (future series spoiler?) - despite its small size, a fixture on the Nordic Combined calendar thanks to its heritage, as the home of ski jumper Hansjörg Jäkle and Nordic Combined athletes Hans-Peter Pohl and the Hettichs, Urban and Georg - despite the small size of the town and their prominence as sportsmen, they are unrelated - I cannot find any information on whether either of them are related to local biathlete Janina Hettich either, though three sporting families of the same surname in the same town would seem unlikely.

Anyway, Schonach is partway up a very gradual climb of the kind we often find in German ranges - fairly simple gradients but seemingly relentless length to counter that. Perfect for tempo. Germany is weird like that - a combination of unbelievably steep goat track dead ends or very long, dull tempo climbs. Anyway, this leads us back into the known parts of the range with the HC climb of Kandel, however this time the summit is at 78km to go, even if it could be a finish in and of itself.

That's because this isn't intended to be the focal point this time but instead to separate the wheat from the chaff, as instead of the direct Sankt-Peter descent into the valley, we're taking the slight climb much further, to Sankt Märgen, to enter a different valley further up, enabling us to take on the Thurner climb, a solid category 2 climb with some steeper ramps. This crests at 43km to go, leading into another potential future candidate for the series, Hinterzarten. Hinterzarten is host to over 100km of Loipe, and the Schwarzwald Ski Museum. It's a renowned ski jumping town, hosting the Women's World Cup and the Summer Grand Prix, but being most famous as the home of former Olympic team champion, World Champion and the first man to win all four hills of a Vierschanzentournee, Sven Hannawald.

This is with 35km to go, so we have a bit of respite before the final double-kick - the easy side of Feldberg Pass before the Todtnau side of Notschrei. As neither of these climbs are especially difficult, if the race hasn't blown apart early on this is probably a sprint of the elites, but who's going to be there to control it if everybody's been split apart by Moosenmättle and Kandel?

 

[Gigs_98]

Vuelta a España stage 5: Teruel - Sagunt (207 km)

After a flat 4th stage the climbers and breakaway riders can have fun again as the riders face the first typical medium mountain stage. There is no transfer so the stage starts in Teruel from where the peloton heads eastwards. The stage starts immediately with a climb, the Puerto de Cabigordo. With 16.9 km at 3.9% this doesn't seem to be a very hard ascent but in the middle of the climb there are almost 6 completely flat kilometers, so the gradient of the uphill parts is actually a lot higher.

There isn't much rest after the descent before the hardest climb of the day to the Estacion de Esquí de Valdelinares starts. Despite being a 1st category climb, the first of this Vuelta btw, this climb isn't exactly a monster. Still if there isn't a break away yet there will be one after this pass for sure.

After this climb the stage gets a lot easier. On the next 70 kilometers the altitude of the stage goes from 1960 to around 450 meters with a lot of flattish descents and a few short ascents. This lowest point of the stage so far is reached in Montenejos where the 3rd categroized climb of the day, the shallow Puerto de Arenillas, a climb which will most likely not have any impact on the stage.
From the top of this pass there are another 50 kilometers to go before the next and final climb of the day starts. On the way there the riders will pass the only intermediate sprint of the stage in Sogorb.

The final climb is probably a familiar one to most of you, since it was raced only a few months ago in the 2017 Vuelta and if you can't remember it anyway just turn on the TV tomorrow since it will be the final obstacle of the 2nd stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. It's the Puerto del Garbí an extremely irregular pass with some super steep ramps which are great for attacks.

Both my stage and the stage in last years Vuelta finish in Sagunt but now that a certain rider isn't active anymore I don't think it's likely to see attacks on this climb if they use the same descent again. I therefore decided to instead of using the 2017 route, my route uses a more narrow and very steep street which brings the riders quite close to where the climb started. Many race organizers would not be happy to see a descent like this in their race but then again this forum seems to agree that using the Crostis is perfectly fine so I don't see why this descent shouldn't be usable then.
The last nine kilometers to Sagunt are basically flat and will make it difficult to keep an advantage. If you are in a small group though it should be possible to stay away from everyone since I wouldn't expect a big peloton after such a steep climb.
Sagunt is probably one of the most beautiful host cities of my Vuelta. The town was already created in the Roman era, and some remains like a Roman theatre are still existing. Besides that there is also a huge medieval fortress located on a hill next to the city.

Contador tribute:
In this case there isn't one big but two small tributes.
First of all Valdelinares. This climb was used as a mtf in the 2014 Vuelta. The stage was won by Winner Anacona, but still this stage almost felt like a win for Contador.
El Pistolero was very dominant for most of his 2014 campaign. He won a stage in the Volta ao Algarve, the gc of Tirreno Adriatico, was only beaten by Purito in the Volta Catalunya, won the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and after a great duel between him and Froome he only lost the Criterium du Dauphine due to a mixture of a bad team and a very ballsy Andrew Talansky. For many he was the favorite to win the Tour even more so after his main rival Chris Froome had to abandon after a crash, but then on the first mountain stage of le tour he crashed himself and fractured his leg leaving cycling fans all over the world with a two week long Vincenzo Nibali one man show. His injuries were so bad that Contador at first claimed he couldn't ride the Vuelta, but surprisingly for most people he started anyway although it was seen as rather unlikely that he was back at his best again. Contador already surprised many people by finishing with the gc favorites on the first mtf to La Zubia, but the climb to Valdelinares was the point where everyone could really see he was here to win. Shortly before the finish Contador attacked and immediately created a gap. Anacona won from the breakaway so Contador was the best placed gc rider of the stage. Quintana and Rodriguez caught Contador on the line after they were pulled back by Moreno, but many other riders, for example Chris Froome lost over 20 seconds. This surely wasn't one of Contador's most impressive performances but mentally one of his most important ones.

Secondly, the Puerto del Garbí. As I've already mentioned the Puerto del Garbí was part of the vuelta route 3 years later in 2017. It came on a similar spot in the race, just one stage later than here, on day 6.
Shortly before the Vuelta El Pistolero announced that the Vuelta would be the last race of his career after a very disappointing 2017 campaign without a single win up to this point. People hoped Contador could finish his career in style by winning La Vuelta or at least performing well but after just three stages it hardly could have looked worse. In a stage to Andorra Contador lost minutes on a 2nd category climb and it looked as if he couldn't have any impact on the race. Alberto blamed stomach problems for his bad performance but nobody really believed that. The general opinion was, he is simply past it and can't compete against the best athletes anymore. When Contador was the first rider out of the peloton on stage 5's uphill finish with only 3 other guys (Froome, Chaves, Woods) finishing with the same time, that came as a surprise. However it was yet to be seen which of his two performances was the outlier.
Stage 6, the stage over the Puerto del Garbí was not the day where people expected to get an answer to this question. On the top of the climb there were still 36 kilometers to go, way too much for such a short climb and although Contador was always seen as an aggressive rider nobody really expected him to be as aggressive as he ended up being. Contador put absolutely everything he had into multiple attacks on the steepest ramps of the climb and only a hand full of riders could follow him and almost all serious gc contenders were dropped by his accelerations. Due to a lack of collaboration in Contador's group he got caught again but this stage will be remembered anyway. Yeah, at the end his attack wasn't successful, but this tribute for his first crazy attack in the 2017 vuelta should represent all the crazy attacks by Contador with which he usually didn't achieve much but made the race singlehandedly entertaining. The 2017 Vuelta was only the third time the Tour-Vuelta double has been achieved, the first time since 1978 and it was the first time since 1998 someone won two consecutive gt's in a season, but still, when the curtain fell everyone only talked about the man who ended up finishing 5th, and stage 6 to Sagunt shows why.