Race Design Thread

[Netserk]

Giro d'Italia​

Rules​

Maglia Rosa: No bonus seconds in the race. When the Trofeo Senza Fine is awarded in Torino, no losers blemish the podium - the winner stands alone.
Maglia Ciclamino: Points are scored on the finish-line only, all stages give the same amount: 25-20-16-14-12-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.
Maglia Verde: Climbs are divided in four categories: Cima Coppi, 1st, 2nd & 3rd. Cima Coppi (highest climb): 30-20-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1. Category 1 climbs: 20-12-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. Category 2 climbs: 10-6-4-3-2-1. Category 3 climbs: 5-3-2-1. The rider first over Montello will wear the jersey for stage 1.
Maglia Azzurra: The Intergiro classification takes the time of the riders at the mid-stage Intergiro sprint. There will also be a separate Intergiro points classification with the same distribution as the regular points competition. The winner of the daily Intergiro sprint will get on the podium after the stage winner. In all three ITTs, the Intergiro sprint is located at the second intermediate time check.

The 15 climbs in stage 9 give no points, but the rider who crosses the top first over most climbs of the day is awarded a special prize. Likewise, there's a special prize for the rider who wins the bonus sprint in Borgo Valsagana (stage 15). There will be no team classification.

May 16​	Individual Time Trial​	Prologue​	Varese > Varese​	7 Km​
May 17​	Medium Mountain​	Stage 1​	Bergamo > Madonna del Ghisallo​	235 Km​
May 18​	Medium Mountain​	Stage 2​	Lovere > Iseo​	167 Km​
May 19​	Plain​	Stage 3​	Sirmione > Marina di Massa​	254 Km​
May 20​	Plain​	Stage 4​	Firenze (Ponte a Ema) > Viterbo​	234 Km​
May 21​	Plain​	Stage 5​	Fiano Romano > Montecassino​	214 Km​
May 22​	Individual Time Trial​	Stage 6​	Benevento > Montevergine di Mercogliano​	61 Km​
May 23​	Medium Mountain​	Stage 7​	Melfi > Viggiano​	210 Km​
May 24​	Medium Mountain​	Stage 8​	Salerno > Ravello (Amalfi)​	160 Km​
May 25​	Rest Day	-	San Benedetto del Tronto	-
May 26​	Medium Mountain​	Stage 9​	San Benedetto del Tronto > Recanati​	226 Km​
May 27​	High Mountain​	Stage 10​	Cagli > Cagli​	165 Km​
May 28​	Medium Mountain​	Stage 11​	Pergola > Bagno di Romagna​	159 Km​
May 29​	Plain​	Stage 12​	Cesena (TechnoGym Village) > Padova​	217 Km​
May 30​	High Mountain​	Stage 13​	Conegliano > Sauris​	193 Km​
May 31​	High Mountain​	Stage 14​	Tolmezzo > Cividale del Friuli​	191 Km​
June 1​	Rest Day	-	Trento	-
June 2​	High Mountain​	Stage 15​	Trento > Sella Valsugana​	187 Km​
June 3​	Plain​	Stage 16​	Riva del Garda > Pavia​	221 Km​
June 4​	Individual Time Trial​	Stage 17​	Tortona > Castellania​	67 Km​
June 5​	High Mountain​	Stage 18​	Alessandria > Sestriere​	234 Km​
June 6​	High Mountain​	Stage 19​	Pinerolo > Cuneo​	251 Km​
June 7​	Medium Mountain​	Stage 20​	Torino > Torino​	90 Km​

 

[Netserk]

Here you have my wish list for the Giro, @Red Rick. Especially Viggiano deserves a better treatment than in 2014.

Descending Faito that side may be a bit unrealistic, but I'd like to see something new for the area.

 

[Netserk]

Love nearly all of it. Thought it brings me to question how hard is too hard, and I lean toward this being solidly too hard.

Most of the designs were previous stand-alone works, then tweaked a bit and with some additions to add it up to a complete route. Of the individual stages, I think only Recanati and Pinerolo-Cuneo are too much (in addition to the length of the ITTs). I'm satisfied with the pacing of the overall route and I think I managed to show how to make some of the areas work. I definitely hope that if Fauniera returns, it will be the last mountain stage. I don't think it's unrealistic to hope that they'll include Sampeyre as well, so long as they don't do Montoso too.

Despite the success of 2018, I also fear that Fraiteve is more likely than double Sestriere afterwards.

How much total distance and desnivel does your route have?

I'm 260 km short of a proper GT (4000 km), and I'm still so soft that I include rest days. I don't know what the total vertical gain is (I don't trust LFR there at all).

 

[Netserk]

I think the later Zomegnan years received a lot of complaints from teams and riders, so there's a political economy to it. Like, how sponsor-friendly a field can you attract if riders fear that they can't combine it well with many other races? And it'd be bad to raise the bar to a level you can't repeat (or so I thought, until they just decided to make worse routes than previously).

I do suspect though that they lack the eye for good options in less well-known areas. So better to include high mountains that will be cancelled or cross the border (on paper). In the first two weeks I don't have a single climb above 1500 m, but you can still design decisive stages in all of Italy with that in mind.

 

[Netserk]

But it's the mutants who sell. I don't think RCS will be happy with a lighter version of the 2022 field (minus Nibali). Zomegnan was fired after 2011, but perhaps as much over transfers and whacky/gimmick ideas (as Crostis was perceived to be) than "hardness" alone. I'd much prefer if they avoided the highest mountains, borders and "gimmicks", minimised transfers and made quiet, solid routes for a few years. Less controversy, just racing.

 

[Netserk]

I hope Tiberi and Pellizzari will be future contenders for the victory, it must be harder for the race if you neither have the international superstars nor any local stars (other than Ganna and Milan now).

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The moment you sell yourself out to the whims of 1 rider

Even if that rider is Adam Hansen?

 

[Brullnux]

Mutants is what you have a bag of money for. Or not.

The moment you sell yourself out to the whims of 1 rider is the moment you downgrade your own race. Fans eating up is just speeding up the decline of the sport.

I agree in principle but I don't think that selling yourself to the whims of one (or two) riders, and fans enjoying it, make cycling decline. The Giro and Tour have done it very deliberately for the past 30 years.

 

[KZD]

With a Giro route like this one, Pogačar would win some 10 stages with the kind of field he had this year.

The sprinters on the other hand, would avoid this race like the plague.

 

[Tonton]

Shame on me for missing so much here. Design! And - click - it's the Netserk design!

From the OP, I know one thing: Tadej Pogacar will win the bike race, mark my words...

I'm going to read it all!

 

[Forever The Best]

Are there any PCM designs for these routes? Would love to play them in PCM. That's a brutal design by the way, Netserk.

 

[Netserk]

Are there any PCM designs for these routes? Would love to play them in PCM. That's a brutal design by the way, Netserk.

The best I can do is provide the ridewithgps tracks, you can easily download the .gpx files of the stages there: https://ridewithgps.com/collections/2215873

Shame on me for missing so much here. Design! And - click - it's the Netserk design!

From the OP, I know one thing: Tadej Pogacar will win the bike race, mark my words...

I'm going to read it all!

Let me guess, you think it's an 8/10?

 

[Gigs_98]

For what it's worth, I actually do think the route might be too hard. I feel like riders would start focusing on conserving energy so much that most of the best and most original designs would simply not get raced properly. But then to be fair, none of us really know how this design would be raced and it's mostly guess work.

But I mean the individual designs...chefs kiss.

 

[Netserk]

For what it's worth, I actually do think the route might be too hard. I feel like riders would start focusing on conserving energy so much that most of the best and most original designs would simply not get raced properly. But then to be fair, none of us really know how this design would be raced and it's mostly guess work.

But I mean the individual designs...chefs kiss.

My hope is that as the route has even less emphasis on hard final climbs than 2015 (my most difficult MTF is Sestriere or Madonna del Ghisallo and the hardest last climb for a descent finish is Colli di San Fermo), climbers will have to race at least some of the penultimate climbs.

 

[Gigs_98]

My hope is that as the route has even less emphasis on hard final climbs than 2015 (my most difficult MTF is Sestriere or Madonna del Ghisallo and the hardest last climb for a descent finish is Colli di San Fermo), climbers will have to race at least some of the penultimate climbs.

Yeah and I really like that. My problem is rather that I question if gc guys will race a medium mountain stage that might see gc action in a more conventional GT, because they still rather conserve energy for the really big stages. This seems like the kind of route where it's all about dealing big blows without having a bad day and that might lead to passive racing on really well designed days. But as I said, that's just a concern I would have in reality. I think such a radically different route would have a lot of consequences none of us are anticipating. In fact it would probably take years for the teams to figure out the right approach for such a race.

 

[Netserk]

I think it's only my Cuneo-Pinerolo (in reverse) homage that qualifies as a really big stage, maybe? Like, terminology aside, I'm not sure if any of the other stages would be the hardest stage most other years. I think the only straightforward places to deal big damage are on Pura (profile score 714, with 15 km to go) and Manghen (profile score 1042, with 33 km to go).

In a sense, I also don't think it's bad if the biggest players are a bit passive in the tricky stages - that should allow for some opportunistic moves. And the overall hardness should mean that the breakaways win most stages.

I agree with you that while we may have a model of what these kind of stages do on the margin, we cannot just extrapolate and be confident with the result.

 

[Forever The Best]

The best I can do is provide the ridewithgps tracks, you can easily download the .gpx files of the stages there: https://ridewithgps.com/collections/2215873

Let me guess, you think it's an 8/10?

Thanks a lot but it says I don't have permission to view it.

 

[Netserk]

Thanks a lot but it says I don't have permission to view it.

Weird. Here's the links to all the stages:

Spoiler: Ridewithgps links

Varese > Varese

7.0 km, +101 m. Bike ride in Varese, LOM

ridewithgps.com

Bergamo > Madonna del Ghisallo

235.0 km, +4714 m. Bike ride in Ponte San Pietro, LOM

ridewithgps.com

Lovere > Iseo

167.0 km, +3970 m. Bike ride in Costa Volpino, LOM

ridewithgps.com

Sirmione > Marina di Massa

254.0 km, +2649 m. Bike ride in Comune di Desenzano del Garda, Lombardia

ridewithgps.com

Firenze (Ponte a Ema) > Viterbo

234.0 km, +3549 m. Bike ride in Firenze, Toscana

ridewithgps.com

Fiano Romano > Montecassino

214.0 km, +3107 m. Bike ride in Comune di Fiano Romano, Lazio

ridewithgps.com

Benevento > Montevergine di Mercogliano

61.0 km, +1608 m. Bike ride in Benevento, Campania

ridewithgps.com

Melfi > Viggiano

210.0 km, +5073 m. Bike ride in Rapolla, Basilicata

ridewithgps.com

Salerno > Ravello (Amalfi)

160.0 km, +4485 m. Bike ride in Comune di Vietri sul Mare, Campania

ridewithgps.com

San Benedetto del Tronto > Recanati

226.0 km, +4625 m. Bike ride in Comune di Grottammare, Marche

ridewithgps.com

Cagli > Cagli

165.0 km, +4803 m. Bike ride in Comune di Cagli, Marche

ridewithgps.com

Pergola > Bagno di Romagna

159.0 km, +3973 m. Bike ride in Comune di Pergola, Marche

ridewithgps.com

Cesena > Padova

217.0 km, +1195 m. Bike ride in Forlì, Emilia-Romagna

ridewithgps.com

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/46798261

Tolmezzo > Cividale del Friuli

191.0 km, +5214 m. Bike ride in Comune di Amaro, Friuli-Venezia Giulia

ridewithgps.com

Trento > Sella Valsugana

187.0 km, +5156 m. Bike ride in Trento, Trentino-Alto Adige/Sudtirol

ridewithgps.com

Riva del Garda > Pavia

221.0 km, +1641 m. Bike ride in Comune di Riva del Garda, Trentino-Alto Adige/Sudtirol

ridewithgps.com

Alessandria > Sestriere

234.0 km, +4284 m. Bike ride in Comune di Alessandria, Piemonte

ridewithgps.com

Pinerolo > Cuneo

251.0 km, +6836 m. Bike ride in San Secondo di Pinerolo, Piemonte

ridewithgps.com

Torino > Torino

90.0 km, +2032 m. Bike ride in Torino, PIE

ridewithgps.com

 

[Forever The Best]

Weird. Here's the links to all the stages:

Spoiler: Ridewithgps links

Varese > Varese

7.0 km, +101 m. Bike ride in Varese, LOM

ridewithgps.com

Bergamo > Madonna del Ghisallo

235.0 km, +4714 m. Bike ride in Ponte San Pietro, LOM

ridewithgps.com

Lovere > Iseo

167.0 km, +3970 m. Bike ride in Costa Volpino, LOM

ridewithgps.com

Sirmione > Marina di Massa

254.0 km, +2649 m. Bike ride in Comune di Desenzano del Garda, Lombardia

ridewithgps.com

Firenze (Ponte a Ema) > Viterbo

234.0 km, +3549 m. Bike ride in Firenze, Toscana

ridewithgps.com

Fiano Romano > Montecassino

214.0 km, +3107 m. Bike ride in Comune di Fiano Romano, Lazio

ridewithgps.com

Benevento > Montevergine di Mercogliano

61.0 km, +1608 m. Bike ride in Benevento, Campania

ridewithgps.com

Melfi > Viggiano

210.0 km, +5073 m. Bike ride in Rapolla, Basilicata

ridewithgps.com

Salerno > Ravello (Amalfi)

160.0 km, +4485 m. Bike ride in Comune di Vietri sul Mare, Campania

ridewithgps.com

San Benedetto del Tronto > Recanati

226.0 km, +4625 m. Bike ride in Comune di Grottammare, Marche

ridewithgps.com

Cagli > Cagli

165.0 km, +4803 m. Bike ride in Comune di Cagli, Marche

ridewithgps.com

Pergola > Bagno di Romagna

159.0 km, +3973 m. Bike ride in Comune di Pergola, Marche

ridewithgps.com

Cesena > Padova

217.0 km, +1195 m. Bike ride in Forlì, Emilia-Romagna

ridewithgps.com

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/46798261

Tolmezzo > Cividale del Friuli

191.0 km, +5214 m. Bike ride in Comune di Amaro, Friuli-Venezia Giulia

ridewithgps.com

Trento > Sella Valsugana

187.0 km, +5156 m. Bike ride in Trento, Trentino-Alto Adige/Sudtirol

ridewithgps.com

Riva del Garda > Pavia

221.0 km, +1641 m. Bike ride in Comune di Riva del Garda, Trentino-Alto Adige/Sudtirol

ridewithgps.com

Alessandria > Sestriere

234.0 km, +4284 m. Bike ride in Comune di Alessandria, Piemonte

ridewithgps.com

Pinerolo > Cuneo

251.0 km, +6836 m. Bike ride in San Secondo di Pinerolo, Piemonte

ridewithgps.com

Torino > Torino

90.0 km, +2032 m. Bike ride in Torino, PIE

ridewithgps.com

Thanks a lot!

 

[Tonton]

The best I can do is provide the ridewithgps tracks, you can easily download the .gpx files of the stages there: https://ridewithgps.com/collections/2215873

Let me guess, you think it's an 8/10?

Of course it is. But a good one.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I'm ready to start my third and most likely last Fraustro Tour.

In this fantasy scenario, the first two editions have been successful. Since other ambitious races like the Women's Tour (of Britain) and the Tour of Scandinavia (of Norway and Denmark) have been in difficulties in recent years, the FT organisers have seen an opportunity to swoop in and become the most prestigious stage race for women outside of the GT equivalents. In order to achieve that, they've entered in a partnership with the people from the Tour of Austria to create the 7 day Fraustro Tour of Austria.


Fraustro Tour of Austria III

Stage 1: Niederkreuzstetten - Wiener Prater, 35 km, ITT

I have already mentioned her multiple times during the other two races, but it would still be an insult not to fully dedicate a stage to Olympic champion Anna Kiesenhofer, who grew up in the Kreuzstetten township in Niederösterreich.

Having started out as a runner before trying her luck in triathlon and duathlon competitions, an injury in 2014 made her switch her sporting focus entirely to cycling. Among her results in 2015 were a second place in the Glockerkönig Gran Fondo and a victory in a Gran Fondo to the top of Mont Ventoux. In August that year she took part in and won the 6-day Semaine Cantalienne amateur race in the French region of Auvergne. The third stage was held in Cantal alongside the Critérium de Marcolès, which had Chris Froome, Romain Bardet and the then surprising French champion Steven Tronet among its starters.

Kiesenhofer getting eyed up by Froome. The pair later got to ride together during at least one Israel training camp.

In 2016 while finishing her PhD in mathematics in Barcelona, she took part in the Spanish Cup, which she went on to win. In the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas, which was still only an amateur even at the time, she was able to follow Mavi García on both stages, and I think she only lost out on the overall win because García won a stage.

In that year's Tour Feminin l'Ardèche, she had unfinished business after a crash had ruined her debut in 2015. On stage 3 to Mont Ventoux, she ended up in the breakaway before the start of the climb, with among others Anna Plichta (now Lafourte) who was also a part of the breakaway in Tokyo five years later. After catching the Pole who had launched an early move, Kiesenhofer didn't look back and ended up beating climbing Flávia Oliveira by almost four minutes, but the Brazilian took over the lead on Mont Lozère the next day and kept it until the end.

After her first pro/elite season at Lotto in 2017 had made her give up on a full time career in the sport, Kiesenhofer made her return to professional races in 2019 when she became national champion in both ITT and RR and represented Austria at both the European and World championships. In 2020 she once again took part in Ardèche, this time ending up in 3rd pace.

When she took the start for the Olympic road race in Tokyo, she was still fairly unknown, especially among the very best riders, who hadn't necessarily competed much against her in the past. She however was aware of her own strength and weaknesses and knew that her best, possibly only, chance of a succesful result would be to end up in an early move and avoid the hassle in the peloton behind. Together with the aforementioned Plichta, Vera Looser of Namibia, the South African Carla Oberholzer and Israel's Omer Shapira, she did indeed manage that.

After dropping Plichta and Shapira on Kagosaka Pass, she continued solo the last 41 km towards the line. Annemiek van Vleuten had attacked behind, but as we know the Dutch tactics and teamwork were not on point that day. The gap was still 5 minutes when Kiesenhofer entered the Fuji Speedway circuit with 24 km to go, and not even Plichta and Shapira had been caught yet. An attack from Juliette Labous made the group of favourites keep its pace up for a longer period of time, but when Van Vleuten got away after a series of attacks from herself, Anna van der Breggen and Kasia Niewiadoma, Kiesenhofer still had an advantage of 2 minutes. And although the Dutch legend thought she had made it, she crossed the line 1:15 behind the new Austrian sensation.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuyTEO2YW_Y


The victory in Tokyo opened new doors and sponsorship opportunities for Kiesenhofer, and in 2022 she decided to join the Soltec team for that year's Ceratizit Vuelta Challenge. On stage 3 she came very close to another win from a long breakaway, but she was eventually caught with less than 2 km left. In 2023 she signed with Roland (then in a partnership with Israel). Since then she has won some more Austrian titles as well as last year's Chrono des Nations, but she has continued to struggle in bigger road races. However it sounds like she is satisfied with her preparation ahead of her Olympic title defence, so I hope we'll see the best version of her in Paris over the next couple of weeks.

Back to my race. After the Thüringen Ladies Tour had a 31 km ITT this year, it's possible we're gonna see longer time trial distances in women's races in the future. Due to the format of the Tour de Suisse, we've already seen multiple time trials longer than 30 minutes in that race. 35 km is still quite a bit, but there will be opportunities for the weaker time trialists to claw back time during the rest of the race.

Having visited the Wurstelprater amusement park as a child, I found a finish in front of the Wiener Riesenrad to be a perfect location. The Ferris wheel was constructed in 1897 and was with its height of 64.75 m the tallest in the world between 1920 and 1985.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Fraustro Tour of Austria III

Stage 2: St. Pölten - Linz, 132.5 km

The riders will have had to drive for an hour to get from Wien to St. Pölten for the start of stage 2. This stage will pay tribute to two real races. The first is the SPORTLAND Niederösterreich Womens Tour, which the original format of the Fraustro Tour was partially based on. After it was cancelled last year, it fortunately returned at the end of May. Like in 2022, it was dominated by the MAT ATOM team which won four out of five stages. Malwina Mul thus became the third Polish winner in as many editions, after Aurela Nerlo (2021) and Daria Pikulik (2022).

The final stage of this year's NÖ Womens Tour finished on the mighty Hochkar (8.8 km, 8.5%). It was won by junior star Viktória Chladonová who also came 4th in GC

I'm not sure how much of my stage takes place on roads that have been used in the NÖ Womens Tour, but it does go through some of the towns the race have visited, like St. Pölten and Ybbs an der Donau, as it follows the stream of the Donau across the country.

The first challenge of the day is the Hiesberg (5 km, 4.8%. The second half is around 6%). An intermediate sprint will be fought out in Ybbs after 50 km. On the way to Neustadt an der Donau, the riders will crest two peaks, the Brandhofkogel (3.2 km, 6.4%) and the Kremserberg (2.4 km, 6.3 %). The route crosses the Donau in Tiefenbach and enter into Oberösterreich. The final intermediate sprint of the day will be in Perg after 92 km.

Things get interesting again with 17 km to go. The Pfenningberg (3.4 km, 6.6%) outside Linz will give the stronger climbers a chance to get rid of the better sprinters before the line. When the riders have descended down to Linz, it's time to honour yet another race. I have not tried to hide my love for the opening prologue of the Oberösterreich Rundfahrt.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsMCWipqeMU


The 631 m course from the Hauptplatz to the Linzer Schloss is very short, but still long enough that one rider can't finish it before the next starts. Using it in a road race is not ideal though, because it includes a narrow gate into the courtyard, so I hope the Pfenningberg and the cobbled climb to the castle will make the finish a little bit safer. CX riders have historically done very well on this finish, but it will of course be a very different kind of race to the line here.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Fraustro Tour of Austria III

Stage 3: Linz - Gmunden, 94 km

In the first two editions of this race I made it a rule to not have any stages longer than 100 km, but as the previous stage proves, that is no longer the case. However there's still room for some shorter stages like this one.

It's not a particular difficult route, but there are still a couple of categorised climbs that have to be dealt with. The first is the Eckelsberg (8.3 km, 4.9%) about halfway through the stage. The first part along the Schiefer Straße includes some tougher sections at up to 10% before it flattens out towards the top. The next climb is the Ziehberg (3.7 km, 6%), which also seems to have gradients above 10% in certain places.

The last 27 km includes a few shorter hills, but I don't think they will be able to keep the stage from ending in a bunch sprint.

A view over the Traunsee, the Schloss Ort castle, and the town of Gmunden

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Fraustro Tour of Austria III

Stage 4: Seewalchen am Attersee - Golling an der Salzach, 114 km

When I included a stage through parts of Salzkammergut in my first Fraustro Tour back in February, I had no idea that a very promising climbing talent was then training in the same area, desperately trying to prove to teams that she was worthy of a contract. In my defence, I don't think many other people did.

Valentina Cavallar, a descendant of the noble family of Cavallar von Grabensprung, started doing rowing when she was 12 or 13 in Wien where she grew up. She spent the next 10 years in the sport winning multiple Austrian titles and participating at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. However she started to enjoy the bike riding part of her training program more than the hours in the boat. Attending stage 7 of the inaugural Tour de France Femmes in 2022, where she rode some of the stage behind the peloton, further ignited the spark, and she eventually left rowing behind.

Cavallar (left) and Louisa Altenhuber finished 14th in the lightweight double sculls competition in Tokyo. Altenhuber, now paired with Lara Tiefenthaler, will also be representing Austria in Paris

I have tried to find out how much racing she had actually done ahead of this season, but I've not really been able to find anything. I guess the lack of not only results, but racing altogether was the main reason why teams were hesitant to sign her. But after undergoing tests with Arkéa-B&B Hotels in Bretagne, they ended up giving her a contract in April, and the rest is history.

Finishing 18th in GP de Chambéry was already a promising result and after riding both Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, she must have had a good feeling ahead of her stage race debut in Itzulia. Here she tried her luck in breakaways and led the QOM for the first two stages, but lost it to Demi Vollering on the final day. These early results made Arkéa reward her with a contract extension until 2027.

Cavallar's next races were Alpes Gresivaudan Classic to Chamrousse, where she finished 4th, and the Tour des Pyrénées, where she finished second on both the queen stage to Col d’Aubisque and in GC. A week later only Anna Kiesenhofer was able to beat her on a hilly course at the Austrian NC in Königswiesen. Unlike Kiesenhofer, and other former rowers like Elise Chabbey and Kristen Faulkner, she won't be heading to the Olympics again this year, but she might get the chance in the future. In the meantime I definitely expect her to get selected for the Worlds in Zürich.

Back to the race. This stage has two climbs in it: The Großalmhöhe and the Postalm/Lienbachsattel. The former starts after after 15 km, while top of the latter comes with 26 km left. The Postalm seems to be one of Cavallar's main training climbs and she holds the Strava QOM on both ascents. This one is the longer and easier side, but it still includes a 5 km section averaging 8%. This is where the best climbers, like Cavallar herself perhaps, will have to make a difference if they want to win the stage. At the end of the descent, 14 km remain to the finish line in Golling

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Fraustro Tour of Austria III

Stage 5: Bischofshofen - Kitzbüheler Horn, 123 km

As the finish location suggests, there will a bit of climbing on this stage. In fact the road goes uphill almost from the bell. The Dientner Sattel (15.8 km, 5.2%) starts only one km into the race. After the top, the riders will turn left and descent down to Lend. Here comes the next obstacle; the climb to Embach (5.8 km, 6.1%). The following descent to Taxenbach includes a 2 km false flat section.

The hext 40 km are pretty flat, so the race will probably calm down, and any dropped riders might be able to come back, unless a dangerous break is up the road. There will be intermediate sprints in Bruck and Mittersill. After they've crossed the latter, the riders will follow the road to the Gerlospass for a brief stint before they'll head north again.

Instead of taking the main road all the way across Pass Thurn, we're starting out on a narrower byroad from the town of Rettenbach, which will meet the B161 after about 2.5 km. This road averages around 9%, and by using it, the full climb will be 6.6 km, 7.2% avg., which is shorter, but steeper than the usual ascent. The road surface doesn't look any worse than what we sometimes see in the Basque Country, for instance, but I don't know how likely it would be to get approval to use it in an actual race.

After Pass Thurn, there'll be a 20 km descent to the bottom of today's main course: The Kitzbüheler Horn. I wanted to have a finish that paid tribute to the men's race, and nothing, perhaps apart from poor route designs, screams Österreich Rundfahrt more than this climb.

On the 7.5 km at 12% to the Alpenhaus, cycling history can be written. Local legends like Georg Totschnig, Gerrit Glomser, Gerhard Trampusch, Thomas Rohregger and Christian Pfannberger have all won here. Bigger names like Cadel Evans, Chris Anker Sørensen, Michael Albasini, Riccardo Riccó, Danilo Di Luca, Miguel Ángel López, Ben Hermans and Alexander Vlasov have crossed the line first as well. A hot and glowing Víctor de la Parte, who falls into neither category, has also emerged victorious here.

And something truly amazing happened here on a rainy day in 2014: Dayer Quintana actually won a race!!!

The Kitzbüheler Horn stages have not always been great. The climb will probably always kill a lot of the action that could happen beforehand, and on many of the past stages, the terrain that preceded it didn't really offer the riders a lot of opportunities to put on a show either. It's not unlikely that there wouldn't be a lot of fireworks during the first 100 km of my stage either, but the riders would definitely be able to fell them in their legs before the final. And things are bound to explode on Kitzbüheler Horn no matter what. Perhaps it'd even be steep enough for Sepp Kuss Usoa Ostolaza?