Race Design Thread

[bp92]

Vuelta a España Stage 5: Gijón - Torrelavega, 219km

Climbs: La Hoz (10,1km @ 5,4%), Ozalba (6,1km @ 5,4%), Carmona (6,7km @ 5,6%), San Cipriano (2,6km @ 5,4%)

Stage 5 is another long medium mountain stage (easier than the Naranco one though), finishing in Cantabria. The first half goes through very hilly terrain in northern Asturias. Then, the race heads inland, where the riders will face a chain of three cat.2 climbs: La Hoz - Ozalba - Carmona.

After the descent from Carmona, there's only 30km of descending false flat, interrumpted by a last bump (San Cipriano) before reaching the finish line in Torrelavega.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I like this stage. Most years this will serve as a superb stage for those preparing for the Worlds. 220km with precious little respite even in the "flat" parts of the stage, and a flattish run-in after a small climb close enough to the finish to tempt if the bunch has thinned out but not close enough to prevent durable sprinters having a chance. Cueva el Soplao instead of Carmona, and I award you the maximum points available for stages not including Passo Fedaia...unless Peter Sagan wins it, then it's a 0/10 of course.

 

[bp92]

Vuelta a España Stage 6: Santander - Miranda de Ebro, 196km

Climbs: Orduña (7,9km @ 7,6%)

One last medium mountain stage (for now), as we head away from the Cantabrian coast. Very hilly terrain early on, as the riders head into the Basque Country to take on the only ranked climb of the stage - the cat.1 Puerto de Orduña, 40km away from the finish.

After Orduña the stage becomes mostly flat until the arrival at Miranda de Ebro. GC riders will want to keep an eye on the first time trial, which comes the day after this stage.

 

[Tonton]

I like your Vuelta. Great course so far.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

I'm back with the final 2 stages of my Japan Tour, its been a while since my first 7 stages were posted and there have been lots of races posted since so here is a reminder from stage 1 onwards:

 

[Pricey_sky]

Stage 8: Fuji - Mount Fuji - 128km

The final tough stage is yet another short one after last nights long transfer, however it will finally settle the winner of this Tour of Japan with 4 climbs including from 2 sides of the legendary Mount Fuji, One of the holy mountains of Japan. The climbing starts straight away from the city of Fuji, the first 2 climbs are fairly constant and should serve and a good springboard for the opportunists of the break.
Following Ashigara the peloton will head back west and begin to climb the eastern side of Mount Fuji up towards Futatsuzuka, its a fairly constant climb with slopes averaging around 7%. The riders then begin a descent and loop back to the southern side of the mountain. The final climb is officially 27.5km @ 6.3%, however this also factors in the middle 3k's where there is false flat. During the final 10km's there are regular slopes of 9-10%. It should be a big test for every rider in the bunch.

Mount Fuji profile:

 

[Pricey_sky]

Stage 9: Odawara - Tokyo - 126km

So here is the final stage of this years Tour, we start in the city of Odawara at the beautiful castle (see pic below). However rather than head along the coast towards our destination there is one final challenge ahead with the climb of Mount Oyama. It's not too steep although does go on for almost 7km's. With over 95k's to the finish in Japan's capital it should come down to a bunch finish. Although as we pass by the city of Yokohama there a few little 5% kicks that barely feature on the profile. After the previous 8 days a lucky escapee may believe he has the legs to win over a tired peloton.

 

[bp92]

Well, that's a really crazy stage to Fuji!
(even though I'm pretty sure the Mt. Ashigara spike is actually a tunnel...)
If you want to go full crazy-mode with Fuji, there are two connected climbs from the north (both are very long, about 30km @ 5%), and one from the east (the one they use for the crazy road micro-stage in the real Tour of Japan, with 11km @ 10%).

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

Well, that's a really crazy stage to Fuji!
(even though I'm pretty sure the Mt. Ashigara spike is actually a tunnel...)
If you want to go full crazy-mode with Fuji, there are two connected climbs from the north (both are very long, about 30km @ 5%), and one from the east (the one they use for the crazy road micro-stage in the real Tour of Japan, with 11km @ 10%).

Yes I've looked again and it is a tunnel. I've corrected it now, thank you.

I could have designed 3 or 4 different routes featuring the several ascents of Fuji and the surrounding climbs but I really liked the flow of this one. I also kind of wanted to use a bit of realism as there was a huge transfer the night before so designed a short stage.

 

[bp92]

I've also designed some races in Japan, and there are tunnels everywhere.
I always end up including the Fuji climb in my Tour of Japan designs, too (usually from the east side though). Too good of a mountain not to use...

Vuelta a España Stage 7: Logroño - Logroño, 50km (ITT)

Thr first long time trial of the race comes right before the first weekend. Starting and ending in Logroño, it's mostly flat, with a short uncategorized climb (about 2km @ 4%) in the middle. TT specialists should be able to create sizable gaps over the climbers here.

 

[bp92]

Vuelta a España Stage 8: Haro - Puerto de Urkiola, 167km

Climbs: Rivas de Tesero (8.4km @ 4,8%), Vitoria (2,6km @ 4,7%), Karabieta (4.3km @ 7,6%), Ixua (3,7km @ 9,9%), Gontzegaraigane (3,4km @ 5,7%), Monte Oiz (6,4km @ 9,2%), Urkiola (5,1km @ 9,6%).

We enter the first weekend of the race, as we head to the very mountainous País Vasco. Stage 8 features a summit finish in one of the region's most famous (and difficult) climbs... with another less known, even more difficult ascent right before.
The stage starts in Haro, and quickly goes up for the cat.2 climb of Rivas de Tesero, as we head north towards Vitoria-Gasteiz. Then, there is a flat/descending section until Bergara, interrupted by the climb to Karabieta, followed by the short yet very steep Ixua.

After its descent, the riders will face the cat.3 Gontzegaraigane, followed by one of the hardest climbs in all of País Vasco: Monte Oiz (km 0,4 to 6,8 in the profile). Not a long climb, but rather an incredibly steep one, with a final 3km averaging around 12%.

After this, there's only one climb left: the summit finish at Urkiola, one of the most iconic climbs of País Vasco, if not of all of Spain.

An important stage for the climbers, who will be looking to get back the time lost in Logroño the day before.

 

[bp92]

Vuelta a España Stage 9: Vitoria - Irún, 222km

Climbs: Andazarrate (6,9km @ 5%), Mendizorrotz (6,4km @ 5,3%), Jaizkibel (7,5km @ 5,9%, two passes), El Castillo (3,7km @ 10,9%).

The final stage before the first rest day is a long medium mountain one. Between Vitoria-Gasteiz and Irun, it features a total of five cat.2 or above climbs in its second half. The first two of them are Andazarrate and Mendizorrotz, after which the riders reach the city of Donostia-San Sebastián.
Then, they'll climb up the western side of Jaizkibel, a solid cat.2 climb, for the first time in the stage.

Then, the peloton passes the finish line at Irun for the first time, before taking on the hardest climb of the stage: Castillo del Inglés, an extremely steep climb to the southeast of the city.

After the descent, the riders will quickly take on Jaizkibel a second time, before arriving at Irun.

REST DAY: Transfer to Valencia.

 

[May0maniac]

Pricey_sky, I really like your Japan Tour, that would be a great race.
@Gigs: Good idea, I had a similar idea for an American GT that takes place in three different states, the first week would be in Wyoming (first ITT, crosswind stages and first MTT, the second week would be in Colorado and the third one in Utah. I'd use local airports for the transfers after each week.
Connecting Passes often seems to be a problem in the New World, at least Venezuela has good terrain for medium mountain/hilly stages and a few real monster climbs.

 

[52520Andrew]

Yeah that is what I have found when trying to do something in the U.S. There are plenty of climbs to choose from but linking them together can be difficult at best.

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

Yeah that is what I have found when trying to do something in the U.S. There are plenty of climbs to choose from but linking them together can be difficult at best.

The best places to design races in the U.S. are IMO California, Colorado and even Utah, you can design really good races in those states. You still can design good races in other states, maybe you get 1 or 2 Unipublic MTF's, but as long as you can design a few decent hilly stages you can still create a good one day race. I'll post my Tour of Idaho soon, it's exactly that, a ITT, hilly stages that should be good, something for the sprinters and 2 MTF's that aren't exactly epic stages but still decent for a one week race.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Onto Stage 1 Now as we start the first weekend:

Deutschland Tour Stage 1: Berlin - Leipzig (197km) (Sat)

Climbs:
None

Sprints:
Potsdam
Wittenberg

Feed Zone:
Kropstädt

Today on the second day of the German national tour, we start in berlin. To be precise though, at the Tempelhofer Flugzeug. This might soon though become a boating lake though. We then weave oour way through the capital of germany. to Potsdamfor the first prime. Its then on to Kropstädt for a feed by theSchloß Kropstädt. Again south to Wittenbergfor the second and final prime of the day. The day will finish off at the large city of Leipzig famous for it'sGewandhaus Orchestra.

Berlin:

Leipzig:

 

[Gigs_98]

Well, actually I have no time at all, and should work for school, but I don't want to delay the start of this race once again so I just post this
As in most races there will be a leaders jersey, a mountain classification (tdf points system), a young riders classification, and a points classification. I mentioned that one last because I decided to change the points system a little bit by using an invention of the Eneco Tour, the golden kilometer, or the goldener Kilometer in this race. That means that somewere in the stage (I don't always put it in the same section because that wouldnt make sense in some mountain stages) there is one kilometer with 3 intermediate sprints. You can also get bonus seconds in all of these 3 sprints. Bonus seconds will be 5-3-1, so a little bit more than in the Eneco Tour. The reason is especially the first week which isnt too difficult so I hope the goldener Kilometer will cause a big fight for the leaders jersey between the sprinters. Moreover it should also make the race for the points jersey more interesting. There will also be bonus seconds at the intermediate sprints and on the finish line. Normally I'm not a fan of bonus seconds, but especially because the first stages are rather flat and there might be some very strong german sprinters fighting for the stages, I felt like it would be a good idea. However I'll do it the same way as it was planned for the tdf 2015, so there will only be bonus seconds in the first week.
The route should represent the cycling history of the three countries. Unfortunately thats a pretty hard job for someone who has never seen a Deutschland Tour and hardly anything of the Tour de Suisse. However I still think I managed to do this job quite well, although of course I couldn't use everything of germany in only one week.
Now lets talk about the stage:

DACH Rundfahrt stage 1: Hamburg - Hamburg (12 km ITT)

difficulty ***

The first stage of my DACH Rundfahrt is a short ITT in Hamburg. This northern metropole of Germany is a really beautiful city situated at the Elbe, which is the reason why there is a big harbor. This harbor makes Hamburg very important for the German economy and caused a big growth of the population. Maybe it would make more sense to start this tour in Berlin, but Hamburg is important enough to host it too. The route goes around the Alster, a lake connected to the Elbe. Besides that it passes some of Hamburgs most famous sights. The finish is on the Mönckebergstraße, so the same finish as in the Vattenfall Cyclassics the world tour race with the most most stupid name...and also the only WT race in germany, which maybe is also a reason why it should host a stage in this race. The time gaps wont be very big, but I think that its absolutely possible that a pure climber looses around 20-30 seconds on a Dumoulin like rider.

Hamburg (Alster in the background):

Mönckebergstraße:

 

[bp92]

Vuelta a España Stage 10: Valencia - Benidorm, 154km

Climbs: Montgó (2,8km @ 5%)

After the first rest day (and a very long transfer from Irún), the race resumes with a short, almost pan-flat stage to Benidorm through somewhat exposed roads. A rare chance for the sprinters, which should take this stage.

 

[bp92]

Vuelta a España Stage 11: Elche - Totana, 142km

Climbs: Cresta del Gallo (4,6km @ 6,7%), Collado Bermejo (17.2km @ 5,5%).

Next comes an even shorter mountain stage in Murcia. Only two climbs, with the first being the steep Cresta de Gallo featured in this year's Vuelta. The second, and the undisputed star of this stage, is the very long cat.1 climb to Collado Bermejo.

Afterwards, there's 23km of technical descent, before reaching the finish in Totana.

 

[May0maniac]

With so many stage races being posted atm I'll post a one day race that I created.
Some of you may still remember the Tour de Georgia, it wasn't exactly a great race, but at least the had the nice Brasstown Bald MTF (a short video of the 2007 stage), that wasn't to shabby.
My race, the GP of Georgia will take place in the same area, the hilly rural countryside of North Georgia.
Lets take a look at the route:

The race starts in Blairsville, a small town in North Georgia, not exactly the place where you'd expect to see the start off a big one day race, but big urban areas are overrated and I like to have a one day race on the rural countryside.
After 15km of flat we have the first climb of the day, Wolf Pen Gap 4.6km at 6.8% with 10% steep ramps. After that we have about 16km of rolling terrain, then the descent starts.
The next climb after the descent is Neels Gap, 6.8km at 5.2%. After the folling descent we have 10km of false flat, then the riders will meet the main attraction of the race for the first time, Hogpen Gap, 3.5km at 10.3% with a max. gradient of 15%. The view on top of th climb is stunning.
The folling descent is long and rather gentle, then we have Unicoi Gap, 8.2km at 5.1%, then a short highspeed descent and 6.5km of false flat before the easiest climb of the race starts, Jacks Gap, 2.8km at 4.4%. Right when the climb end the already mentioned Brasstown Bald climb would start, but we take another road and after another gentle descent and about 10km of false flat we'll climb Hogpen Gap and Unicoi Gap for the second time. After the short Unicoi Gap descent we still have 15km of false flat that will bring the riders to Hiawassee, a small town that lies at the shores of the stunning Lake Chatuge.
This could be an interesting race with many attacks, the final selections should be made the 2nd time they climb Hogpen Gap, afterwards we can expect nice tactical racing, attacks on the final climb and the final 15km of flat should force the climbers to make the race hard from the start.
The fact that the race take place in a rural area is also an advantage, for most of the race we get smaller roads and not your typical huge American roads, that should also encourage the riders to attack.
Blairsville:

Hiawassee:

Lake Chatuge:

 

[Pricey_sky]

That's looks a very nice race Mayo.

 

[bp92]

Looks like a great one-day race indeed. That Hogpen Gap climb looks nasty.

 

[bp92]

Vuelta a España Stage 12: Lorca - Almería, 166km

Climbs: Royo Morera (4,2km @ 6,8%)

We keep heading south, with another easy stage. Next stage we'll enter the mountains again, however.
It's a mostly flat stage for today, though, with a cat.3 climb in the middle. The arrival at Almería should be a mass sprint.

 

[jsem94]

So. A backloaded Vuelta on our hands? I'll hold off on evaluating the route until the entirety is revealed.

 

[BigMac]

Re:

So. A backloaded Vuelta on our hands? I'll hold off on evaluating the route until the entirety is revealed.

Doesn't look backloaded to me.