• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Race Design Thread

Page 14 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
continuation of my fantasy 2013 tour de france route....

The peloton is nearing the flat(tish) northwestern part of France, so Christian Prud'homme will be thrilled to announce not less than four consecutive flat stages. Some of them even have a hill in the final!!!!!

Stage 10 runs from the Breton town of Saint-Brieuc to Norman Viré. There's an intermediate sprint near le Mont Saint Michel

000016c5.jpg


Thereafter the course continues its flat ways, towards Mortain where the first hill awaits the peloton. The last 25km it's always up and down, but only the côte des Chasses can create some gaps.


The race will stay another day in Normandy. The 11th Stage finishes in Rouen, birthplace of the legendary Jacques Anquetil. Perhaps there are better ways to honor maître Jacques, but the finishline is drawn after a steady climb of 3km @4.5%. The real mass sprinters will have no chance on la route de Neuchâtel.

The 12th stage is the flattest of the whole tour. It starts in Beauvais, with its peculiar looking cathedral, crosses Compiègne -place where the armistice after the first world war was signed- and Soissons and will finish in Reims after 172km. The winner will perhaps receive his weight in champaign, as Reims is the capital of the Champagne region.

In the 13th stage the tour continues its easterly direction, towards the vosges. It's still, however a flat stage that has a small 3km long, 5% steep climb with 12km to go. Maybe it's enough to spice things up a bit, but it won't create big gaps.
 
I'm continuing along with my rolling through Patagonia, with something that is quite obviously a fantasy stage, for reasons that will become obvious.

Stage 3: San Martín de los Andes - Dina Huapi, 174km

ofu2di.png


This stage is liable to be one for the sprinters, although there are a couple of uphills to deal with. The route follows part of the famous Camino de los Siete Lagos, a dramatic and sweeping road linking, as its name would suggest, seven lakes. The big issue with this is that the volcanic ash problem has suspended the ongoing project to pave the road; as a result the stretch from Lago Villarino to Lago Correntoso, and then again from the end of that to Lago Espejo Grande remains unfortunately in very poor condition and in some parts unpaved, which would more than likely prevent this race from ever going ahead as suggested until the work is completed; the nature of the road however ensures that it is in constant use and the surface is easily passable on road bikes for cyclotourists, however.

In the stretch from Puerto Manzano to Dina Huapi, which would be the televised times, the roads are just fine, however. In which case, the flat nature of the race ensures that the real star of the show is the Nahuel Huapi lake, and even if the racing isn't the most inspiring then at least the views will be spectacular.

ka30pt.png


Climbs:
Chapelco (cat.1) 10,8km @ 3,7%
Ruta 234 (cat.3) 5,9km @ 3,0%

Unless the poor road quality on Siete Lagos creates an enormous level of attrition (not impossible despite being so far from the finish) then we can expect a bunch kick of some kind when we get to the other end of Lago Nahuel Huapi, after which the riders will enjoy the short trip back to San Carlos de Bariloche for some shut-eye.

Camino de los Siete Lagos:
41071128.jpg


Dina Huapi:
dinahuapi2.jpg
 
Following on from our trip back down towards Bariloche itself, we go to the west of the southern side of the Nahuel Huapi lake, ready for the riders to test themselves against the clock, in a rolling lakeside test.

Stage 4: Puerto Pañuelo - Puerto Pañuelo, 26,1km (ITT)

535j68.png


No categorised climbs in this medium-length test against the clock which circles Lago Perito Merino, with the steepest climb of those shown in the image being the first, averaging just 3,2%, but very little of it is flat, which may mean that the climbers feel they can limit their losses, especially if they were able to make some kind of time in the stage to San Martín de los Andes earlier in the week. However, none of the climbs are steep enough to bother any of the specialists, and 26,1km is most definitely enough for them to open up some significant time gaps. Once more the scenery will be magnificent, rolling around amongst scenic lakes in the Andean foothills amongst pretty Alpine-style dwellings.

2dbw1s6.png


After the stage the riders will take the short trip back into San Carlos de Bariloche to stay for the night before the second half of the race begins.

The start/finish area in Puerto Pañuelo:
36_puerto_panuelo1.jpg


And the area around the course from above:
puerto-panuelo.jpg
 
May 24, 2010
855
1
0
Visit site
Slow night shift........ anyway, 2013 TDF, 100th Edition. I'm of an inkling that we may see some kind of fixed points on the 1903 stages, Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes and Paris, going to have a play about with some ideas. I know they did something similar in 2003 but who knows, it's all a bit of fun unless M. Peschaux is reading this thread...;-)
 
On we go with my fantasy 2013 tour de france.
The third sunday of the tour will be the first mountain top finish. After a 190 km long stage the best climbers can test each other between Nancy and le Grand Ballon, if they don't let a breakaway take too much time in the flat first half of the stage. The following climbs are included:

Col de Grosse Pierre: 2nd cat, 6.6 km @ 4.3%, 955m, 94km to go
Col de Ballon d'Alsace: 1st cat, 9.3km @ 6.7%, 1178m, 54km to go
Col du Hundsrück, 2nd cat, 8km @ 4.3%, 748m, 24km to go
Grand Ballon, 1st cat, 16km @ 6.1%, 1334m, finish

tdf2013st14.jpg


grandballon.jpg


this stage will be followed by a well-deserved rest day and a transfer from Belfort to Vienne, a little town south of Lyon.
 
The last tour week starts with a long, hilly time trial around Vienne. In 52 km the riders have to gain 500m in altitude (and losing it again after a descent). The combination of false flats and some long straight roads make this suited to the real powerhouses.

The next stage will probably favour a breakaway. It's only 146km long, but contains five climbs of varying difficulty:

côte de Civas: 4th cat, 3.3km @ 4.2%, 435m, 133km to go
côte des quatre vents: 3rd cat, 5km @ 4.5%, 585m, 100km to go
col de la Machine: 1st cat, 13.5km @ 5.9%, 1011m, 48km to go
col de Lachau: 3rd cat, 5.1km @ 4.7%, 1380m, 36km to go
col de Saint-Alexis: 4th cat, 3.4km @ 4.7%, 1237m, 25km to go

tdf2013st16.jpg
 
Now it's my turn :cool:

This is the Giro I designed in response to the crappy 2009 parcours.
It's intended to be a special Giro, with a route that would have been perfect for the century's celebration. It ends in Rome, just as the 2009 one, but unlike that it doesn't go abroad and it covers all the italian regions (20), with at least one stage start or finish in everyone.
For this reason, it has to start from Sardinia, with a fair number of stages (3) before flying to Sicily during the first rest day.
It's a really hard Giro but definitely not crazy, it has very little transfers (except for those during the rest days) and it's imho reasonably balanced. Plus, it doesn't break any of the silly and useless UCI rules.
The overall lenght is 3495 Kms (the UCI limit is 3500), with 114 kms in 4 time trials. There are no stages longer than 250 kms (UCI limit - or was it 260? Dunno :D ), and no TTs longer than 60 (other UCI limit).

Some statistics:
Flat stages: 5
Medium Mountain: 6
High Mountain: 6 (2 MTFs)
TTT: 1
MTT: 1
ITT: 2

Here we go

First week:
1 Cagliari - Oristano FLAT *
2 Oristano - Nuoro MEDIUM ***
3 Golfo Aranci - Olbia TTT **
REST DAY
4 Cefalù - Messina MEDIUM **
5 Villa S. Giovanni - S.Giovanni In Fiore MEDIUM ***
6 S.Giovanni In Fiore - Policoro FLAT *
7 Matera - Gravina In Puglia ITT ***
8 Andria - Montevergine Di Mercogliano MTF ***

Profiles and details coming soon :)
 
STAGE 1 Cagliari - Oristano 137 kms

The Giro starts in Cagliari, capital of Sardinia, with a sprinters' stage going north-west to Oristano. The stage is not completely flat, with a steady ascent in the first part (good for awarding the first green jersey)
canvasue.png

staticmap
 
Jun 16, 2009
19,654
2
0
Visit site
I am very tempted to finish in a town called Armstrong for the TDU so Phil and Paul can have a hissy fit about how this town has the same name of their god.:D
 
STAGE 3 Golfo Aranci - Olbia TTT 18 kms
Short TTT not entirely flat along the coast. I don't like TTTs, but RCS seems to appreciate them so I put a short one. It shouldn't matter for the gc.
canvasfn.png

staticmap

After this stage the peloton will transfer from the airport of Olbia to Palermo (Sicily's capital), where it will move to Cefalù, the start of stage 4.
 
Jun 16, 2009
19,654
2
0
Visit site
The day the gc will be decided (most likely), an individual TT around Williamstown. This tt will take in some very scenic parts of Melbourne and has many great vantage points. The TT is not overly technical and should be very fast. It will be ridden on road bikes which will change things up a bit. The course is along the coast and with the changes of direction should affect the pace of the TT. At the start there will be most likely a head wind until they turn left where the wind will be come a cross until they turn left again for the final 2.5km where there will be a tail wind.

Stage 5 Tour Down Under (mock course): Williamstown ITT, 6.8km
 
Mar 8, 2010
3,263
1
0
Visit site
Siriuscat said:
Slow night shift........ anyway, 2013 TDF, 100th Edition. I'm of an inkling that we may see some kind of fixed points on the 1903 stages, Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes and Paris, going to have a play about with some ideas. I know they did something similar in 2003 but who knows, it's all a bit of fun unless M. Peschaux is reading this thread...;-)

That sounds interesting.
Looking forward to it. Should be epic and something special.

Perhaps I will design a 100th TdF later too.
 
Dec 27, 2010
6,674
1
0
Visit site
auscyclefan94 said:
The day the gc will be decided (most likely), an individual TT around Williamstown. This tt will take in some very scenic parts of Melbourne and has many great vantage points. The TT is not overly technical and should be very fast. It will be ridden on road bikes which will change things up a bit. The course is along the coast and with the changes of direction should affect the pace of the TT. At the start there will be most likely a head wind until they turn left where the wind will be come a cross until they turn left again for the final 2.5km where there will be a tail wind.

Stage 5 Tour Down Under (mock course): Williamstown ITT, 6.8km

A prologue on day 5 following a two hour stage the day before? You go too easy on the riders!;)
 
Just spent a while editing up the library posts to include everybody's work. Interested to see how Eshnar's Giro winds up, and I must say that I really like the Vosges stage in the fantasy Tour.

ACF - Maybe some circuits in stage 4 if people think 87km is too short? Lol at the talk of finishing in a town called Armstrong just for the Phil 'n' Paul comedy.

I'd love to see what could be done in Australia with the considerations of the TDU (so short stages, not too hilly) thrown out the window, a real "time no object" race that could really make the best of the place, with Mt Baw Baw or Mt Buller or whatever unknown cycling treasures Australia has. Certainly I could envisage a Classics style finish on the Mount Panorama racing circuit (yes, I know that's in NSW, but nobody said your race had to be a Tour of South Australia or a Tour of Victoria!).
 
Which cycling addict can not know about the stage to Orcières-Merlette in the tour of 1971? That day the greatest of all time suffered his worst defeat ever. In remembrance of Luis Ocaña my fantasy 2013 tour will have a stage to Orcières-Merlette.
The 184 km between Die and Orcières-Merlette will be dotted with 7 climbs, the last one also being the finish.

tdf2013st17.jpg


climbs:
col de Menée: 2nd cat, 16km @ 4.8%, 1402m, 149km to go
col Saint Sébastien: 4th cat, 3.3km @ 5.4%, 926m, 118km to go
col de Noyer: 1st cat, 14km @ 5.3%, 1664m, 81km to go
col Bayard: 3rd cat, 6.1km @ 4.4%, 1248m, 61km to go
col de la Rochette: 2nd cat, 6.5km @ 6.3%, 1220m, 45km to go
col de Moissière: 1st cat, 8.6km @ 8.1%, 1573m, 28km to go
Orcières-Merlette: 1st cat, 10.6km @ 5.9%, 1812m, finish

Let the cannibal shiver!!
 
Sep 8, 2010
1,441
0
0
Visit site
:cool:

That day Ocaña put nearly 9 minutes into Merckx on a 134 km stage, who was chasing with his whole team and when they were gone, alone.

At the moment I'm thinking about designing a three week tour in Japan.
 
Lupetto said:
:cool:

That day Ocaña put nearly 9 minutes into Merckx on a 134 km stage, who was chasing with his whole team and when they were gone, alone.

At the moment I'm thinking about designing a three week tour in Japan.

Now that's an idea! Japan is one of the few places big enough and varied enough that you could create a genuine fourth Grand Tour, but small enough that you could viably cover most of the country without stupendously long transfers too.
 
Now we're going to continue on with my little Patagonian jaunt. Having had a few days to explore the land to the north of San Carlos de Bariloche, it's time to have a look in the other direction.

Stage 5: San Carlos de Bariloche - El Maitén, 169km

zv4ozs.png


This stage explores much of the local route of the Ruta Nacional 40, although early on in the stage we visit the region's best known skiing resort, Cerro Catédral. We only visit the base camp at Villa Catédral, however, before heading south over mostly rolling terrain. There is plenty of uphill and downhill, but little of it steep enough to create any kind of selection. However, once the riders are back on the regional roads there could be a selection forced on the way into El Maitén - much of the last 25km or so, once the climbing is done, will be on unpaved roads. I was concerned about the amout of dirt racing, but then realised after re-viewing that there were extensive periods on them at times in the Tour de San Luís. And a stretch of 15km or so may as well be placed near the end of the stage where it can make a difference!

im46bo.png


Climbs:
Villa Catédral (cat.3) 5,6km @ 3,9%
Camino del Frutillar (cat.3) 2,2km @ 4,8%
Paisaje del Tacuifí (cat.2) 9,7km @ 2,5%
Alto El Foyel (cat.3) 4,0km @ 3,6%
Cuesta del Ternero (cat.3) 4,8km @ 4,2%

The town of El Bolsón, at the southern tip of Rio Negro, will play host to the riders for the night after the stage.

Ruta Nacional 40 between Bariloche and El Bolsón:
33289908.jpg


El Maitén:
2285817.jpg
 
Time to turn the GC around and enjoy the region to the south of Bariloche, with the race's main summit finish, at the ski station above Esquel.

Stage 6: Epuyén - Esquel (Centro de Esquí La Hoya), 179km

v3lfza.png


Starting in the small town on the edge of Lake Epuyén, this stage rolls through the lakes and hillsides of Chubut, over mostly undulating terrain, before curling up to the north alongside the route of the Patagonia Express; once we reach the town of Esquel however, it's time to reach for the skies. There is plenty of time to be won on this climb, with the final 9,6km @ 7,3% and a maximum of 16% on the way up to one of the many ski stations in the Argentine Andes. The time triallists will surely be in contention at the base of the climb, so the climbers will need to break things up early if they want this climb to make a big difference overall. The road was previously a track only accessible for 4x4s and mountain bikes, but since February 2010 the road has been being paved giving us a nice shiny new piece of tarmac to use.

2d0c4tt.png


Climbs:
Cruce Rutas 40 y 71 (cat.2) 9,5km @ 2,7%
Mirador Lago Verde (cat.3) 2,2km @ 4,8%
Trevelin (cat.3) 5,6km @ 3,1%
Centro de Esquí La Hoya (cat.1) 12,3km @ 6,1%

No rest for the riders at the summit, however - they will need to make their way back into Esquel, because we have a 150-60km transfer back to El Bolsón for them before they can have a sleep.

Epuyén:
177435.jpg


(slightly outdated picture of the summit of) Centro de Esquí La Hoya:
10fyv50.png
 

TRENDING THREADS