Race Design Thread

[bp92]

Tour of Japan Stage 17: Nagaoka - Nagano, 217km (****)

Climbs: Sekida Pass (13,2km @ 6,1%), Mount Madarao (14,5km @ 4,8%), Togakushi Highland (8km @ 5,7%), Mount Iizuna (9,9km @ 6,9%)
Stage 17 takes us back into central Japan as we enter the final mountain stages of the race.
The first of these is a long one, too. 217km, between Nagaoka and Nagano. With three cat.1 climbs, the last of them just 14km away from the end of the stage, it's a tough one, too.
The first third of the stage is easy, with rolling terrain until the foor of the first climb, Sekida Pass. After its steep descent we reach another ascending flase flat section through Myoko, after which we have a last 100km with little respite, starting off with the climb up Mount Madarao.
After Madarao we get a hilly section, followed by the climb up to Togakushi Highland, as we pass to the north of Mount Iizuna, before taking the descent towards Nagano, including a first pass through the finish line.
Then, we take on the deciding climb of the stage, as we now actually head up the irregular climb to Mount Iizuna from the south.

The hardest section comes at the beginning of the climb, with a steepest km at 13%. Any big move here should be made here, since the rest of the climb is much easier, except for a 700m section around 10%. With the stage's length, the last few climbs might do a lot of damage; however, this being the first out of four medium/high mountain stages in a row (including the race's queen stage), most riders will try to save some strength.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Awesome, Nozawaonsen

Following on from that, it's the final day of the Tour of Norway, and you all knew what was coming. Or at least you should have done, given the rest of the course.

Stage 9: Oslo - Oslo-Holmenkollen, 127km

GPM:
10 x Voksenkollen (cat.2) 5,0km @ 6,7%
Holmenkollen (cat.3) 2,8km @ 7,2%

Yes, for the final day of the race we're in the capital. Although one of the most expensive places in Europe, I adore Oslo, it's one of those cities that has a certain character, a je ne sais quoi. It has a wonderfully scenic centre and a relaxed, mostly safe vibe; its compact size lends it a friendly air, while the freshness of the air coming up the fjord, cool climate and the spacious layout mean it at least feels cleaner than many other similarly sized cities. It will take a couple of hours' transfer to get down there, but given for much of the race I've minimised transfers (only this and the Juvasshytta - Lillehammer transfer are more than a few minutes) and the stage is short I think I can be forgiven.

The stage begins on Karl Johans Gate, the city's main promenade, running from the central railway station ("Oslo-S") to the royal palace pictured above. It also includes Stortinget, the parliament building, the national theatre and the main University building. For the most part though, this beginning is purely ceremonial, a short parade from the city centre to the end of the neutral zone, then up past Majorstuen towards the circuit that makes up the main part of the stage.

Holmenkollen, on a mountainside overlooking the Oslofjord, is something truly special within the Norwegian sporting psyche. Even beyond; it's something special to all involved in the Nordic disciplines. The iconic ski jump, rebuilt for the 2011 World Championships, has been there for a century in various forms, and though it will not hold the same place in the hearts of competitors as the Four Hills, it is still a legendary and historic hill. For cross country skiers, however, it is something entirely more than that. The Holmenkollen 50km is to Nordic skiing as the Monaco Grand Prix is to Formula 1, or Paris-Roubaix is to Classics season... it's the same as all the others, and yet somehow not at all the same, something unique, something somehow better (for those who wish to point to the Vasaloppet's unique and historic position, I say that in that analogy the Vasaloppet is more Le Mans than Monaco, it's a special and separate endurance event that draws its own, somewhat different specialist field). And of course, it's Norway's annual host on the biathlon World Cup as well.

In addition to the skiing venue, at Holmenkollen there's also the famous wooden chapel, a preserved monument of Norwegian heritage, although the current chapel is a reconstruction after it was burned down, apparently by notorious black metal musicians (and murderers) Varg Vikernes and Bård Eithun. The chapel is perhaps the most iconic sight of the trails, although the view back into the city is pretty famous; it's also the most easily accessible of all major cross-country venues, being on the city's metro system (the Oslo T-bane). In fact, the T-bane system is set up that it is free to take skis, because as well as Holmenkollen, the same line continues up to Voksenkollen, from where it is a short walk up to Vinterpark Tryvann, which contains facilities for Alpine as well as seemingly infinite cross-country løype.

This is all well and good, LS, you may say, but we're interested in the cycling route, not another of your freaking travelogues about biathlon and XC skiing. Well, fine, interrupt me when I'm waxing nostalgic then. The stage from the point of entering the circuit consists of ten laps of a circuit of around 11,8km in length, of which approximately 12 centimetres is flat. I kid, I kid. This is, however, up and down a second category climb all day, so although the stage is short, or perhaps especially because the stage is short, this should be a pretty tiring day with the GC guns having no more time to waste; leads need to be protected, deficits need to be overcome today and today only, and hopefully this should mean some aggressive racing on the uphill part of the circuit, which is 5km at 6,7% with the steepest stuff in the middle.

Near the summit:

As you can see, the toughest stuff is near the bottom, the first 3km averaging around 7% (the final ascent will only be for these, as we will not climb to the summit and instead finish at the Holmenkollen ski stadium and hopptårn). After a bit of false flat at the top, a difficult and technical descent (which is actually narrower than the ascent, but I was damned if I wasn't going to have the uphill to Holmenkollen with that scenic series of curves around the T-bane stop and the finish at the stadium.

Part of the descent with the ski jump in the background:

So yes, that's 9 days of racing, including four finishes at Nordic ski venues (Beitostølen XC ski/biathlon stadium, Lillehammer ski jump, Sjusjøen biathlon centre, Holmenkollen jump/XC/biathlon venue) one at an Alpine ski venue (Hafjell), two more in towns with Nordic centres (Geilø, Dombås) and one in a city which holds an urban XC ski event (Drammen) - there was also a stage start in Trondheim which has its own facilities in all of the above. In fact, the only finish without that kind of heritage was the MTF at Juvasshytta!

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Re:

Awesome, Nozawaonsen

Is that Awesome in japanese?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

Awesome, Nozawaonsen

Is that Awesome in japanese?

Nope, it hosted the biathlon in the 1998 Winter Olympics. You'd better have Hakuba in tomorrow's stage, since I've now finished my Tour of Norway...

 

[May0maniac]

Great stage Libertine, but Bård Eithun is mostly know for the Murder in the Olympic park in Lillehammer (and playing the drums on In the Nightside Eclipse), nobody really remembers the fact that he was involved in the Holmenkollen incident, he isn't the one guy in Emperor who most people would associate with burning churches.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Apologies, I'm much more up to speed with my facts regarding Nordic ski venues than I am on black metal, I'm afraid!

 

[May0maniac]

Well, that's nothing to be ashamed of.

 

[jsem94]

LS, please marry me?

 

[bp92]

Re: Re:

Awesome, Nozawaonsen

Is that Awesome in japanese?

Nope, it hosted the biathlon in the 1998 Winter Olympics. You'd better have Hakuba in tomorrow's stage, since I've now finished my Tour of Norway...

No Hakuba here, unfortunately... Besides Nozawaonsen (which the stage doesn't quite enter anyway), Mount Iizuna (which hosted the freestyle skiing event) and Nagano (main host city), that's it as far as 1998 Winter Olympics host towns go.
Also holy crap that Oslo stage looks crazy (sure it's a short stage... but with ten passes through a good cat.2 climb and no flat at all, that's gotta hurt).

Tour of Japan Stage 18: Nagano - Matsumoto, 212km (*****)

Climbs: Obayashiyama (5,5km @ 6,7%), Sugawa Park (4,4km @ 6,3%), Takeishi Pass (18,2km @ 6,2%), Keshibozuyama (1,1km @ 9,5%), Tobira Pass (10,7km @ 6,8%), Utsukushigahara (14km @ 8,1%), Takeishi Pass (9,9km @ 7,2%), Keshibozuyama (1,1km @ 9,5%).

Stage 18 is this Tour of Japan's queen stage, taking place on the tremendous mountains just east of Matsumoto, with seven categorized climbs, two of them HC climbs.
The stage starts off at Nagano, where stage 17 ended, then heads south towards Ueda, taking on a cat.2 climb along the way. Then, after a second cat.2 in the outskirts of the city, we head to the west, as we take on the long Takeishi Pass, first HC of the stage, followed by the short Keshibozuyama wall, whose descent leaves us at the finish line in Matsumoto.
The stage isn't over yet, though, as we enter the decisive loop to the east of Matsumoto. Roughly 100km, with no respite at all until the finish.
The first of the decisive climbs, Tobira Pass, is similar to the first pass through Takeishi, just shorter. Its descent leaves us right at the foot of the hardest climb of the stage - the long and steep road up to Utsukushigahara (which means "beautiful field" in japanese). Given the sights from the top of the highland, I'd say the name is pretty accurate.

Riders won't have the time to appreciate this, though. 14km averaging 8% are impressive enough numbers as they stand; however, the first five km bring down the average quite a bit. The second half features several km near 10%, including a killer km well above 13%.
Then, the descent leaves us right at the beginning of the second-to-last climb of the stage, a second pass through the second half of Takeishi Pass, which amounts to a good cat.1 climb, with a couple kms at 9-10% near the beginning of the climb.

The damage should already be done after Utsukushigahara if the pace is good enough; this climb will only filter things down further. Riders will have to watch out for the long and technical descent, too.
There's a last climb left, a second pass through the Keshibozuyama wall, before the finish in Matsumoto.
A long stage for climbers with good endurance; there's plenty of terrain to make big moves. The climbs should do damage on their own, even if the pace isn't too high.

 

[Steven Roots]

Juvasshyta : Great one. That will hurts.
Norway is a really cool place. The shape of the country doesnt help for the races, though, but thats a good one right there, given that you selected a specific area.
And that stage through 10 Voksenkollen...vicious.

The Tour of Japan is really something else.
I mean, how could we not have seen a push (or a bigger one) for the development of cycling there when you see these stages ? The ones coming to Nagano and out of it...thats serious stuff.


Now, lets end our race :

STAGE 21 : Xi'an (ITT), 66km.

Xi'an, litterally, the "Western Peace".
The end of our journey, it was the starting/finishing point of the Silk Road.

Tang Building.

The Bell Tower


Its one of the oldest cities of China, a major city of China as it is one of the four "Great Ancient Capitals" of the country.
Several dynasties ruled from there and you can see traces of the great history of the city everywhere.

The City Walls.

Big Wild Goose Pagoda

Even nearby, too, as the mausoleom of the first Qin Emperor as well as the famous Terracotta Army are right there.

An awful lot to do and visit, but thats for after the race. Even if several of them are on the route.
For today, we have our second, and last, obviously, time trial.
Lets be very clear : I dont like parades to end the race as i feel its like wasting a stage.

So no parades anymore.
The time trial is flat, but its a time trial taking place in the streets of Xi'an, which means using your brakes often, and having to push on your pedals once again.
As it's the last one, its shorter than the previous one between Kokand and Fergana, but its still going to be quite long, about 85 minutes of effort to officially end the race.
The fatigue and the recovery will obviously play a big part in the ability to perform today as there is no team anymore.

Its just you, and the clock...tick...tack...tick...tack...

SO, LET'S RECAP :

The stages :

-Riders will have to do 4629km on this race of 21 stages. To be honest and realistic, a 4-week format is better suited, as there is just too much ground to cover.
Still, we give it a very good shot, i think. The daily average length, excluding ITT, is 235km long.

To give you an idea about the length of things in this world, and im not talking about whats hidden in my pants, the very last Tour de France of Levitan (1987) was 4230km long.

Stages 2 (Malatya), 6 (Ardabil), 8 (Achgabat), 9 (Charjou), 10 (Samarcande), 15 (Kachgar) and 18 (Tourfan) should see a sprint finish.
Stages 3 (Agri) and 12 (Kokand) are fitted for a breakaway win and potential shenanigans within the peloton.
Stages 1 (Alexandrette), 7 (Teheran), 11 (Dushanbe), 19 (Xining) and 20 (Lanzhou) should be very open and contested by a lot of riders. Not too many, but enough to make it interesting.
Stages 4 (Lake Kari), 5 (Kapan), 14 (Murghab), 16 (At-Bashi) and 17 (Kosmostantsia) will take place in the mountains.
Stages 13 (Fergana) and 21 (Xi'an) are ITT.

The longest stage is Naryn - At-Bashi (#16, 291km long), while the shortest is Antioche - Alexandrette (#1, 104km).

We'll have several climbs on the road :

-7 4th category climbs
-21 3rd category climbs
-16 2nd category climbs
-8 1st category climbs
-4 HC climbs (Mount Ararat, Gomaran Pass, Koklaisay, Zhusalykezen Pass)

So, although it is a colossal race, with severely difficult stages, i think i managed to find a relatively acceptable balance.
I hope you enjoyed it, and it might have given you some ideas for races, even crazy ones, or possibly, vacations, as its one of the aspects of the race i liked with the huge variety of landscapes on the road.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Re: Re:

Awesome, Nozawaonsen

Is that Awesome in japanese?

Nope, it hosted the biathlon in the 1998 Winter Olympics. You'd better have Hakuba in tomorrow's stage, since I've now finished my Tour of Norway...

Whoops!

 

[May0maniac]

Wow, the Matsumoto stage is just pure awesomeness and the Silk Road GT was also unique and great.
I've designed a few races that I'd like to post, I wanted to start with my 3rd Österreichrundfahrt, but Gigs still hasn't finished his Österreichrundfahrt, so it would probably cause some confusion.
I've finally finished my first American GT, the Tour of the Mountain States. The race will take place in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. The rest days will be after stage 6 and after stage 15. For the long transfers of the rest days (both over 800km) the riders will use local airports, besides that I've tried to avoid long transfers.
I'll start posting the first stages during the next week.

 

[bp92]

Tour of Japan Stage 19: Shiojiri - Takayama, 203km (****)

Climbs: Sakai Pass (8,1km @ 6,1%), Nomugi Pass (10,8km @ 5,1%), Minaminorikura (3,1km @ 5,6%), Kugunochotsuji (3,3km @ 4,7%), Hidatakayama (8,9km @ 7%), Hirayu Pass (13,4km @ 6,3%), Mount Kunimi (9,9km @ 5,5%).

Stage 19 eases up a bit, particularly after the killer stage 18. It's still not an easy stage by any means, though, with 7 categorized climbs throughout. The hardest ones, Hidatakayama and Hirayu Pass, come back-to-back in the second half of the stage, with a 10km flase flat section between the end of the descent from Hirayu Pass and the beginning of the final climb, Mount Kunimi. Most GC riders will probably try to get a breather after Matsumoto and before the final mountain stage; however, a big move on Mount Kunimi might give good results, particularly if the pace is good throughout the previous climbs.

 

[bp92]

Tour of Japan Stage 20: Takayama - Hirayu Ski, 142km (*****)

Climbs: Senkoji Temple (2,8km @ 9,9%), Mount Kunimi (7,2km @ 5,5%), Mount Norikura (28,7km @ 6,7%), Abo Pass (15,3km @ 5,2%).

Stage 20 is short... but by no means easy. And it's the final stage before the epilogue in Tokyo, so we can expect big moves here, particularly if the GC is still not yet decided.
The protagonist of the stage is pretty obvious: Mount Norikura, the highest point of the entire race by far, and also the highest paved road in Japan. Not a massively steep climb, but the combination of the altitude, the gradients (hardest sections hovering around 8-9%, with a steepest km at 10%), the length of the climb, and the accumulated wear from the race should do a lot of damage.

This climb is also the last big chance to shake up the general classification before Tokyo. It's still pretty far from the end of the stage (the peak is about 57km away from the end), but any big move should be done here. The descent here is also critical; riders will be going downhill for a good 30km through a narrow, technical road.
There's still one last climb left, Abo Pass, but it's much shallower and shorter. It can't be underestimated, though (the profile is a bit off at the beginning due to some tunnels).

The stage then ends after the descent from Abo Pass, at the Hirayu ski/onsen area. Last chance for climbers to make their moves, and with Mount Norikura along the way we should see at least some attempts at shaking the GC up.

 

[bp92]

Wrapping up my Tour of Japan:

Stage 1: Tokushima - Tokushima, 13km (ITT) (***)
Stage 2: Anan - Kochi, 223km (***)
Stage 3: Kochi - Mount Ishizuchi, 188km (****)
Stage 4: Matsuyama - Fukuyama, 175km (*)
Stage 5: Okayama - Mount Rokko, 185km (***)
Stage 6: Nishinomiya - Kyoto, 189km (***)
Stage 7: Kashihara - Ise, 217km (***)
Stage 8: Tahara - Hamamatsu, 51km (ITT) (*****)
Stage 9: Shizuoka - Mount Fuji, 149km (*****)
REST DAY 1: Gotemba
Stage 10: Gotemba (Fuji Speedway) - Izu (JCSC Circuit), 179km (***)
Stage 11: Izu - Shirakaba Highland, 208km (***)
Stage 12: Saku - Shibukawa, 151km (****)
Stage 13: Maebashi - Utsunomiya (Japan Cup Circuit), 162km (**)
Stage 14: Nikko - Kegon Falls, 37km (ITT) (*****)
Stage 15: Utsunomiya - Mount Nasu, 153km (****)
REST DAY 2: Sendai
Stage 16: Sendai - Niigata, 229km (*)
Stage 17: Nagaoka - Nagano, 217km (****)
Stage 18: Nagano - Matsumoto, 212km (*****)
Stage 19: Shiojiri - Takayama, 203km (****)
Stage 20: Takayama - Hirayu Ski, 142km (*****)
Stage 21: Hachioji - Tokyo, 128km (*)

Stage 21 gives us the typical end-of-race parade. Starting off from Hachioji, in the western outskirts of the Tokyo metropolitan area, the stage's course is pretty straightforward, heading into downtown Tokyo, where we'll take on a final circuit around the Tokyo Imperial Palace. A final sprint stage (again, not many of these here) to end the race.

Summing it all up:
-3429km
-101km ITT
-4 flat/hilly stages (Matsuyama, Utsunomiya, Niigata, Tokyo)
-9 medium mountain stages (Kochi, Mount Ishizuchi, Mount Rokko, Kyoto, Ise, Izu, Shirakaba Highland, Mount Nasu, Takayama)
-5 high mountain stages* (Mount Fuji, Shibukawa, Nagano, Matsumoto, Hirayu Ski)
-3 individual time trial stages (Tokushima, Hamamatsu, Kegon Falls)
*stages with one HC or 3+ cat.1 climbs

-17 cat.4 climbs
-8 cat.3 climbs
-25 cat.2 climbs (some of these should probably have been cat.3s)
-18 cat.1 climbs (Mount Kuishi, Ishizumisan, Mount Ishizuchi, Mount Rokko NW, Mount Rokko S, Hirayu Pass, Izu Skyline, Mount Haruna, Maruyama, Mount Nasu, Sekida Pass, Mount Madarao, Mount Iizuna, Tobira Pass, Takeishi Pass, Hidatakayama, Hirayu Pass, Abo Pass)
-6 HC climbs (Katafutayama, Mount Fuji, Mount Asama, Takeishi Pass, Utsukushigahara, Mount Norikura)

6 summit finishes: Mount Ishizuchi (Stage 3, cat. 1), Mount Rokko (Stage 5, cat. 1), Mount Fuji (Stage 9, HC), Shirakaba Highland** (Stage 11, cat. 2), Kegon Falls** (Stage 14 (ITT), cat.2), Mount Nasu (Stage 15, cat.1)
**stage finishes after a flat section

A realistic-looking Tour of Japan, with lots of medium mountain stages and a few bona fide high mountain stages. Several finishes feature loops at the end of the stage, with 4 stages (Kyoto, Izu, Utsunomiya, Tokyo) featuring 3 or more passes through the finish line.
There are still many regions left unexplored here, like Kyushu in the south, or the mountains to the north of the main island. There's still a lot of terrain uncovered within the Japanese Alps, too (to the east and south of Takayama, or to the east of Nagano), which should allow for multiple stage designs in the region.
With the relatively small cycling following in Japan, it's not likely that we'll see any of the stages shown here on an actual race; then again, the potential's still there.
So that's it for my Tour of Japan, Hope you enjoyed.

 

[cycleMN]

Tour Of Colorado

I have been disappointed with the US Pro Challenge routes. They fail to use some great climbs in the state and when they do I feel like they are often misplaced in the stage. The following route uses both new and familiar roads but is a hardest version of any Pro Challenge route to date.
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Stage Length Terrain
1 Steamboat Springs- Steamboat Springs 188 Medium Mountain
2 Steamboat Springs- Winter Park 191 Flat
3 Castle Rock- Colorado Springs 150 Flat
4 Colorado Springs- Idaho Springs 185 Mountain
5 Georgetown- Guanella Pass ITT 17.6 Mountain
6 Boulder- Eldora Mountain 122 Mountain
7 Golden- Denver 89 Medium Mountain

1

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3

4

5

6

7

 

[cycleMN]

I have expanded this Tour of Colorado to eight days because I couldn't make up my mind in deciding the last stage. In the end I did both. Stage seven honors the Coors Classic on a punchy circuit but this one is truly a climber's race. I was also very optimistic in going to the top of both Mt. Evans and Pikes Peak.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stage Length Terrain
1 Fort Collins- Estes Park 137 Medium Mountain
2 Grand Lake- Mt. Evans 153 Mountain
3 Silverthorne- Pikes Peak 203 Mountain
4 Colorado Springs- Pueblo 165 Flat
5 Colorado Springs- Monarch Mt. 206 Mountain
6 Crested Butte- Glenwood Springs 140 Flat
7 Denver- Eldorado Springs 182 Hilly
8 Golden- Evergreen 140 Mountian

1

2

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4

5

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7

8

 

[May0maniac]

Wow, Mount Evans + Pikes Peak and no time trial, that's really a race for the climbers.
Pikes Peak really is one hell of a climb.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Pikes Peak in a 200km+ stage! Glad I dont have to ride that.

 

[52520Andrew]

Pikes Peak is one of the hardest(if not the hardest) climbs in the continental U.S. Just a beast and you start over 2,000 meters already so the elevation can be huge.

While I am here, I may as well let you guys know what I am working on for my next race. I have decided to do a 2 week long Tour of California although there will be a few unrealistic bits in terms of logistics. I really want to show off some of the great terrain in the state.

 

[fauniera]

Giro d'Italia

first week
(Mon) rest day
(Tue) stage 9: Siena - Terni

Maybe i can finish this before the Giro 2016 starts...

(Wed) stage 10: Spoleto - Recanati, 165 km

Today's stage leads into Marche, one of my favorite regions in Italy. There are some muri at the end, but it is not muro madness like i have designed before, rather a light version of that. In other words: the stage will be decided by the muri, but they won't have much effect on gc. Let's have a look at the final 20 km:

The first muro is the original one, Montelupone. I think we all remember Purito dancing away in 2008 and 2009. Next up is the Contrada Mortolo (0,6 km 14%), which leads up to the hilltop village of Potenza Picena, followed by a little dig in Potenza Picena itself.

After the descent and 5 flat kilometers, the final hill (1,8 km at 9,5%) leads to the finishing town of Recanati. The final 180 meters of the hill are steep, just as the riders enter the final kilometer.

This is obviously a good place to jump away. After a short descent through the city center, a final rise (200m 8,5%) leads to the finish.

Spoleto

Recanati

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Don't forget, Potenza Picena is the home of Marina Romoli and therefore Marina Romoli Onlus (plug over)

I'm about to introduce something pretty completely different... a World Championships that's pretty out there - literally. The most isolated World Championships ever, and arguably the most isolated World Championships ever possible.

World Championships: Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy

With nearly 200 000 inhabitants, the capital of Kamchatka Krai is the biggest settlement in the far east of the Russian Far East, and just about the biggest settlement in the world not reachable by car to this day - though the Kamchatka peninsula has its own network of roads, these are not connected in any way to the continent beyond it. This means there is a huge amount of untamed, unspoilt nature around this volcanic, attractive part of the world, and while the riders are not going to be spoiling any of it, they will have permanent vistas of how glorious mother nature's unmolested glory can be. It's also home to Russia's nuclear submarine fleet in the Pacific.

The Team Time Trials can follow the same routes as the normal time trials; the format at the World Championships is a nonsense anyway and nobody should care about it unless it's in national teams, preferably of four like the good old days. The climate around Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at Worlds time is fine; they can expect temperatures of around 10ºC and relatively dry...

Each race will finish on Prospekt 50 Let Oktyabrya, a wide thoroughfare in the middle of the Petropavlovsk new town. The Road Races will start here as well, heading northwest for an out and back before returning on the same road and entering the closing circuit (more on that later); the Time Trials will begin on Ulica Lukashevskogo outside the Torgovsky Center, and exit the city on a parallel road to the north of the aforementioned road used in the road race, going past the Vitaly Fatyanov Biathlon Centre which hosted a lucrative post-season invitational race for a few years, however for the last three years it has not run; it has been rather out-muscled by the Governor's Cup races in the far more accessible Tyumen' for post-season racing in Russia. The first part of the TT is rolling downhill, then they finish by going through the selo of Svetlyy and up a brief incline that leads back into the city where they finish where all the races finish. The main difference between the time trial routes is the turning point; the women's course is therefore almost all rolling, whereas the elite men's course has a long period of pure power time trialling in the middle before the final inconsistent terrain with some uphill ramps.

Time Trials: Elite Women / Junior Men, 28,3km

Time Trials: Women TTT / U23 Men, 34,8km

Time Trials: Elite Men / Elite Men TTT, 48,8km

Unlike the women's, junior and U23 routes, the men's TT goes as far as Elizovo, close to Kamchatka Airport, and a scenic town in its own right.

Once these have been dispensed with, we can move onto the road races. Each road race follows a similar format; they head out of town via Svetlyy, do a loop around the airport and Elizovo, then return by the same route to Petropavlovsk whereupon they take on a difficult 21km circuit. After crossing the finishing line the first thing to do is to descend to the edge of the bay upon which the city has been built, passing the Monument to Peter and Paul, the two saints after whom the city took its name. From the other side you can see into the bay. Next up is the biggest challenge on the circuit, the climb of Petrovskaya Sopka, or St Peter's Hill, which overlooks the city from the southeast.

With its steepest ramps at 15%, this climb of nearly 7% for just over 3km will be where the main moves of the Worlds will take place, I'd wager. The final time the riders crest it there will be 11,8km remaining; a perfect opportunity to attack - although the steepest parts are not near the top, helpfully. This dramatic shot of Petropavlovsk from the air shows the climb quite clearly in the bottom right - you can see the road snaking up the mountainside. The vistas will be phenomenal, but with the elite women and junior men taking this on 4 times, the U23 men 5 and the elite men 7 times, they'll probably be sick of them by the end of proceedings. At the top of the hill there are a couple of small ski resorts (the largest being Krasnaya Sopka, or Red Hill) popular with the locals. And the descent is mighty scenic too.

Then there's the second climb of the circuit, into the hillside microrayon of Gorizont (you can see the ski slopes carved out in the background there), a much less threatening proposition than the Petrovskaya Sopka climb but for a thinned out bunch still plenty dangerous; in full it's 3,9km @ 3,3%, which would suggest false flat, however it's really about 1700m at just over 5% (max of 9%), some flattening out, a little ramp, a short descent and then a kilometre at around 3%. Not steep in the slightest, but a platform for attacking from the groups that are left after the main climb given there's only a short descent between them. The final time this is climbed, there will be just 4,1km remaining, and that's rolling rather than descending.

This one will be a tricky Worlds; it's not a monstrous one, but the main climb is sustained enough to rid us of the established sprinters, and done enough times that it will be a real struggle for the durable ones like Matthews and Lobato to stay; if the race is aggressive enough even the likes of Sagan and Gerrans may struggle, though getting rid of the likes of Valverde could be tough. Gilbert will probably like it, along with Urán, Nibali, Costa, Dan Martin and Alaphilippe, although quite likely the ability to race in adverse conditions will also be key.

The Petropavlovsk Circuit

Road Race: Elite Women / Junior Men, 138km

Road Race: U23 Men, 174km

The U23 route includes a longer initial loop which still circumnavigates the airport but bypasses Elizovo town centre in favour of a longer triangular circuit which passes Zoopark Kamchatka; it also has an additional lap of the circuit over the women's/junior course.

Road Race: Elite Men, 258km

The main road race route for the Elite men features the same course as the U23 men, however they do two laps of the initial flat circuit, extending the first part of the race out, and an additional two further laps of the main circuit in the city.

 

[May0maniac]

That's a rather unusual place to have a WC, but the rr course looks great.
I've finished my first American GT, the Tour of the Mountain States.
Tour of the Mountain States stage 1: Cheyenne - Guernsey; 156.5km

The Tour of the Mountain States starts in a rather unusual way, with a flat stage that has a rather unimpressive profile.
But there's a reason for that, the first few stages of the ToMT will take place in the eastern part of Wyoming . The whole area is, just like the great plains in general, pretty windy, just look at the mean annual wind speeds at an 80-m height, the Great Plains are a great place to design potential crosswind stages.
The stages starts in Cheyenne, Wyoming's most populous city and ends in Guernsey, a small town mostly known for the Guernsey State Park, a state-operated, public recreation area surrounding the Guernsey Reservoir, it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1997, that lies nearby.
There's not much to say about the rest of the stage, just like a few of the next stage it heavily relies on potential crosswinds to create action, the first few stages will be a nightmare for the pure climbers, the strong rouleurs on te other hand will love them.
Cheyenne:

Guernsey:

 

[May0maniac]

Stage 2: Glendo - Midwest; 209.5km

The 2nd stage that heavily relies on crosswinds, it's longer and you hav a little bit of rolling terrain, but there are no climbs, wind should be the deciding factor.
The stage starts in Glendo and ends in Midwest, a town that was known for it's Oil flieds and oil camps in the 1920s and 1930s.

I know, consecutive stages that rely on crosswinds are a bit risky, but the whole area is really windy, so it could work. The 2nd and the 3rd week of my GT will be really hard and great for the climbers, but they have to suffer durning the first few stages.
The next stage will be the last stage that relies on crosswinds, but it'll also feature some unpaved roads, so it could be even harder.

 

[cycleMN]

@Mayomaniac
In that area of the state, some good roads are Mt Casper (climb), Fremont Canyon (rolling and winding roads) and Shirley Basin (wind). All courses from the defunct Casper Classic. I am really looking forward to seeing your race.