I was inspired to create this race after watching the RideLondon classic yesterday and being disappointed it came down to a bunch sprint after a featureless run-in. This Dublin City Classic could be a one day Ardenenes-style race somewhere in the calendar. We don't have high mountains, but we have an abundance of old, lumpy roads.
I've tried to fit in some of the classic climbs and combos in the Dublin/Wicklow area I , as well as go past well known tourist areas and areas of beauty so it looks nice on TV. I left out some famous ones like Kippure and Three Rock because I didn't want a MTF. I also left out famous short climbs in the suburbs like Howth Hill and Killiney Hill. I stayed away from a convoluted Amstel-style route.
I traced the route in Strava's route designer and imported it to Velo Viewer, where the climb profiles come from. Climb categories and statistics come from Strava. Strava says we have 4,247m of total climbing.
The race starts on O'Connell Street outside the GPO and goes past Trinity College and Dublin castle before heading for the suburbs and the foothills of the Dublin Mountains. The road starts to tilt up going through Dundrum, birthplace of Stephen Roche, before hitting the first legbreaker on the way to Glencullen:
Cat 3: 3.0km @ 6.4%, max 21.6%
Stepaside Lane should immediately put riders in the red, but more climbing awaits at the top with a twisty descent incorporating the infamous Devil's Elbow may help a break go clear.
Heading into dense forest round the back of Powerscourt, we get an infamous double wall - simply called The Wall locally, with Old Long Hill as extra punishment on top. This is one climb where you can believe the max percentage - there are no insides of hairpins, just straight up a valley wall.
Cat 3: 2.6km @ 8.5%, max 28.6%
After more lumpy back roads we swing onto the Luggala side of the climb to Sally Gap, past the beautiful Lough Tay, sometimes compared to a pint of Guinness.
Cat 3: 3.0km @ 7.4%, max 18.0%
One more lump and we reach the Sally Gap, the spiritual home of cycling in this part of Ireland (image (c) @irishpeloton). That's Kippure in the background - that would take us to 750m, but not today.
Cat 4: 1.8km @ 5.4%, max 11.6%
We descend past Glenmacnass Waterfall into Laragh and turn onto part of the route of the Wicklow 200 sportive through the beautiful Vale of Clara and Vale of Avoca to Avoca village.
After Aughrim the serious stuff begins in the form of the classic Slieve Mann-Shay Elliott one-two combo across Glenmalure, again from the Wicklow 200. Shay Elliott was the first Irishman to win a stage of the Tour de France, and his memorial is at the top of the climb. The Shay Elliott Memorial Race passes here every year.
Cat 3: 3.2km @ 7.8%, max 14.5%
Cat 3: 3.0km @ 8.1%, max 20.0%
Dropping into Laragh we go past Glendalough up the Wicklow Gap, used in stage 1 of the 1998 Tour de France:
Cat 2: 6.7km @ 5.1%, max 16.0%
After a descent that's frequently foggy and exposed to strong winds we go along the shore of the scenic but very lumpy Blessington lakes.
A rise used as a local club league finish takes us onto the western approach to the Sally Gap but we turn back towards Dublin.
Cat 4: 2.3km @ 3.9%, max 10.5%
Cat 3: 2.7km @ 6.4%, max 14.0%
From hereon in, 41km out, there's almost no flat until the finish as we head down Ballinascorney (used as an inter-club league hill climb), and up the little known, and extremely lumpy Bohernabreena Road to the amazingly named Glassamucky Brakes in the Featherbeds.
Cat 2: 6.0lm @ 5.6%, max 20.6%
We go down the Military Road, built by the British to flush rebels out of the Wicklow mountains but come straight back up Cruagh Road as soon as we get to the bottom. The first half of the climb is almost false flat, but the second half is painful, with bend after bend so if someone goes off the front now, they're out of sight.
Cat 3: 5.8km @ 5.3%, max unknown because the mapping data seems off here.
We go down into Glencullen and further down the fast descent into Kilt(i)ernan onto a gentler descent through the steep sided valley of The Scalp into picturesque local mecca of weekend cyclists Enniskerry.
There's time for one more Belgian style climb out of the village:
No cat: 0.5km @ 8.5%, max 15.7%
and then we turn right to finish with a few hundred metres of flat on the grounds of Powerscourt estate. There better not be a bunch sprint.