Tour de Pologne
Stage 6: Bukovina Resort - Zakopane (163km)
BEFORE THE COMPLAINING STARTS: This stage is completely different to that of the past Tour de Pologne. Yes, it includes the same climb, but it's still different - everything will be explained.
The final mountain stage before the ITT. It is short, at 163km. It has
3309m of vertical climbing. Whilst this is less than the Karpacz stage, and features some lesser ascents, it should be very difficult and, coupled with Karpacz and the final ITT, should help settle the GC.
We start in Bukovina Resort, which the organisers of the TdP consider to be 'the capital of Polish cycling'. It is a staggering complex of swimming pools heated by geothermal energy, and a huge hotel in which the race stays year on year. To make my race more realistic, I've decided to start the stage here (otherwise, I probably would've started either in Zakopane or Nowy Targ).
km0 comes after a 0.9km parade, when exiting the parking lot of the resort.
The stage starts with a descent, followed by a climb - specifically, the
second category Ząb. Currently, it's rated cat. 1, but I think it's too easy to be graded this in my race
. It's 4.1km long, averages 5.3% and has a short section at 14%. After the short descent we climb the
first category Gubałówka, which debuted in last year's TdP and is scheduled again this year, but with a longer stretch and a different name (don't ask). It's only 3.1km long, but averages 7%, is on a narrow road, and has a 16% section.
Then, we head to the
second category climb of Sierockie, last used in TdP 2011. It only averages 3.5%, and has a maximum of 9%, but is 9.6km long. Whilst it's not steep, it is quite long (for this race's standards
). This is followed by a descent.
And then we head towards the
first category Gliczarów Górny. The current climb is 5.5km long, averages 5% and has a section at 22%. I've gone for a different route, which is shorter, at 4.2km, but has a higher gradient, of 6.2% - caused by a short false flat. It has a kilometer at 10.8%, and reaches 16%. I've also eliminated the name of Ściana Bukovina - I think that's stupid.
After the descent, there is a climb. On lap 1, it's a climb to the start, in Bukowina Tatrzańska. It's
category 2, it is 4.9km long, averages 4.2% and maxes out at 10%. Then, we start the second lap - we descend towards Poronin, for the
intermediate sprint and revisit Ząb, Gubałówka, Sierockie and Gliczarów.
Following the second Gliczarów Górny climb and subsequent descent, we start the Bukowina Tatrzańska climb again, but this time we pass the town, leave the circuit and continue all the way up to the Głodówka. The Głodówka is 7.6km long, averages 5.3% and maxes out at 10%. This side is currently used as the descent in the real TdP however, for the route to make sense, I've used this side, which is also harder in my opinion. I've categorised it as the
premia Joachima Halupczoka - currently allocated to the final climb in the race. In my race, it's given to the highest point - like the Cima Coppi.
The descent is broken by the
3rd category Murzasichle climb, but this is both short at 4.7km and only averages 2.1%. We descend into Zakopane - the winter capital of Poland - known for its ski runs and ski jumping hill. This is also where the 'finish' is.
However, when passing the ski jump, where the current line is drawn, we continue into the Tatra mountains and head towards Kuźnice. This is where one can get onto the cable car to Kasprowy Wierch. This is an ascent - it's 1.7km long and averages 6.5%, topping out at 15%. I see this conclusion as a smaller version of Aprica - like in the 2015 Giro (though I'm not comparing Mortirolo/Aprica to Głodówka/Kuźnice
)
This is it for climbing, and the end for stages in line. Tomorrow, a final ITT in Kraków, which shall determine all. Note, however; it is different to the current one.
Maps taken from openstreetmap.org
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