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Race Design Thread

Page 33 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Stage 19: Martigny - Col de l'Iseran 214km

Starting in Martigny and featuring the Saint-Bernards, there is some resemblance to the 2009 stage, this one is a little harder though, with a finish at over 2700m on the monstrous Col de l'Iseran. Iseran can be broken down into two lots of 15km @ 6.0%. This means that over half of the final 50km will be uphill grind at 5-6%.

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17km Cat 1 Champex 11.65km @ 7.2%
54km HC Col du Grand Saint Bernard 25km @ 6.3%
142km HC Col du Petit Saint Bernard 27.6km @ 4.6%
213km HC Col de l'Iseran 48km @ 4.1%
 
Stage 20: Bourg Saint-Maurice - Les Deux Alpes 223km

The final day of racing sees us take in a fan favourites Madeleine, Galibier and Alpe d'Huez (in reverse!), before finishing at Les Deux Alpes. I was thinking of having the finish on the Col du Solude but the road just isn't quite good enough, even for an MTF (narrow road with epic overhangs and rock tunnels).

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60km HC Col de la Madeleine 24.4km @ 6.3%
138km HC Col du Galibier 34.9km @ 5.5%
183km HC Col du Sarenne 12.8km @ 7.5%
223km Cat 1 Les Deux Alpes 11km @ 6.5%
 
No there's stage 21 on the Champs, I just have no motivation to make it :(

There aren't too many mountain stages, the only difference is that in mine I don't make "nothing" mountain stages. Every mountain stage should have the potential to create gaps, whereas in the Tour it's usually only half of the mountain stages.

7 flat stages (1 cobbled)
6 high stages (3 MTF)
5 medium stages (2 uphill finishes)
3 ITTs (1 mountainous)

The difference with the 2012 Tour is that I don't just throw in some random climbs in the middle of the race and call it a mountain stage.

e.g. Stage 3 "medium mountains" is just an uphill sprint.
(I'll let Stage 10 off the hook for now, but I'm fairly convinced Grand Colombier is too far out)
Stage 12 "medium mountains" has its last mountain 140km from the finish
Stage 14 "high mountains" has two Cat 1s, 40-80km from the finish
 
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Libertine Seguros said:
nobilis - I am very interested by this. I noted when doing the Tour of Israel that it looked like there could be some very interesting roads to the north.

Yeah exactly. And the southern part is considered flat compared to northern Lebanon. Put Zomegnan as a race director and he'll do a carnage :p
 
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I personally would love it if the Tour took in parts of Tro-Bro Léon. Brittany not only has challenging uphill finishes and punishing winds coming off the Atlantic coast, but dirt, gravel, and cobblestones.
 
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Tour of Lebanon - Stage 2

Stage 2 : Tyre - Tripoli, 189km
Stage 2 will take us from the ancient phoenician city of Tyre Southern Lebanon, along the coastline all the way to Tripoli (from ancient Greek Tripolis or 3 cities), Northern Lebanon. It’s probably the sole opportunity for sprinters, with almost no difficulties, except 2 cat. 4 climbs, one close to the start and another one around 30 kms before the finish. But beware, due to the nature of the landscape, it’s never completely flat, with lots of short uncategorized climbs and faux-plats along the road. An additional factor, the wind coming from the sea, so it’s side wind most of the time.

Côte 1 : Aadloun. 3.3 kms 3.9% (cat. 4)
Côte 2 : Hamat. 3.15 kms 5.8% (cat. 4)

Next stage, the peloton will hit the real mountains.


View of the Roman Triumphal Arch in Tyre :

archway-roman-ruins-tyre-lebanon.jpg


The oldest continuously used port in the world in Byblos (Old Phoenician city as well)

Byblos%20Harbor.jpg



View from the sea of the cities of Tripoli and El Mina (Seaport in English)
Tripoli2.jpg


Stage details :
 
Right... this one is probably one that you'll be surprised I haven't tackled yet, but now is the time. And if Craig can wilfully ignore economic situations in his race designs, then I can wilfully ignore political ones.

When the Euskal Bizikleta ceased to be, the organisation of the race merged with that of the Vuelta al País Vasco (Euskal Herriko Itzulia). What this essentially meant was that the Itzulia retained its 6-day format, but co-opted a couple of traditions from the Bizikleta, most notably the climb up to the Alto de Arrate as a traditional finish.

I am more of the theoretical mind, however, and have come up with... what if the Itzulia and Bizikleta hadn't merged within the one short race, but instead had combined Voltron-style into one big race? This would naturally be too much for the political entity that is País Vasco to hold - and so it would naturally have to spill over into those other Basque lands (or lands claimed as Basque if you'd rather) - Nafarroa and the three French provinces that make up Iparralde ("the North"). This would be especially helpful in the possible event of the cancellation of Castilla y León - extending the Itzulia out into mid-April with a Volta a Portugal-length stage race; alternatively it could plug into the lengthy gap in the Spanish calendar from May to July, with only the two day Vuelta a Madrid at the pro level between Asturias in late April-early May and San Sebastián at the end of July; probably in early June, the Bizikleta's old slot.

Naturally, this race would have to forge and strengthen its identity. In my event, there are five jerseys available. The race leader will wear a green jersey, the design of which I would expect to be similar to either Athletic Bilbao's away shirt or the Basque "national" football shirt. The points classification will award a white jersey, and this will pay points on the following system - 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 available at two intermediate sprints, and 20, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 available at the line. The intermediate sprints (esprinteanak) will pay those same 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 towards the black jersey. The GPM will award a red jersey, thus completing our trifecta of Basque national colours in the three main classifications. The combination classification is the final jersey; in the style of the good old fashioned Tour de France combiné jersey, this jersey will be a bit of all the other ones together - perhaps with something ikurrina-based, a bit like the Biarritz Olympique rugby shirt - either the 2011 or 2010 models would do.

So, enough preamble, time to begin, and in what a shocker of a way do we begin!

Euskal Herriko Itzulian Luzea

Stage 1: Vitoria-Gasteiz - Pamplona (Iruña), 152km

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The riders will start their epic journey in the capital of Araba Province, the most southerly of the Basque lands. And the flattest, as you can see from the profile. Much of the area is on high plains, and indeed, even in a race such as this the sprinters will get at least some opportunity to shine. Obviously from a political perspective this is dodgy straight off the bat, riding our first stage into a finish in the capital of Nafarroa/Navarra. However, there is plenty of Basque presence in Iruña, and many of the towns in western Navarra that the race passes through on its journey maintain ardently Basque identities. There is only the one small climb to give out the first GPM points before a couple of laps of a rolling circuit in Pamplona, with the finishing line in a key spot for juxtaposing the city's dual history through sport - on a slight downhill on the Bajada de Labrit, with the Plaza del Toros on the right, the famous bullring, and Frontón Labrit on the left, one of the homes of pelota vasca.

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Climbs:
Alto de Amaláin (cat.3) 2,9km @ 5,2%

Esprinteanak:
Etxarri-Aranatz (58km)
Pamplona (138km)

Vitoria-Gasteiz:
VITORIA.jpg


Bajada de Labrit (frontón on left):
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Tour Méditerranéen II || Stage 2a, Cagnes-sur-Mer - Saint-Raphaël, 115 km

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The second day starts with a short stage for the sprinters in the backland, finishing with a loop around Saint-Raphaël with a short climb (2k @ 2.5%), that has to be done 2 times.

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Climbs
Cat.3 // Grasse (346m), 3,3k @ 5.7%.
Cat.3 // Cap Roux (215m), 2,5k @ 7.4%.

Cagnes-sur-Mer
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Saint-Raphaël
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Tour Méditerranéen II || Stage 2b, Séries Super-Cannes, 14,6 km

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Beside beeing the title of a novel by J. G. Ballard, Super-Cannes is a hill in Cannes, where you can find a lot of luxury homes, located in the quartier Californie. Here we have our second special test with a series race. The riders will be drawn into groups and ride against each other. The winners of these races can gain 30 seconds, second gets 20, third gets 10. But the time of this race is not taken for the GC. Points won't be given on the climbs. (3,2 k @ 5.9% and 2,8k @ 6.4%.)

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Super-Cannes observatoire
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Netserk said:
Nice job:) Though I would like it to be 20-30 km longer.

To be fair, roundabout has stuck pretty much to the right length for Flèche, it's around 200km as it is, with the two 260km monoliths either side of it, so it makes sense to be slightly shorter.

I'm getting the feeling with these series races that Lupetto is an XC skiing fan and enjoys the sprint format.
 
Continuing with our trip around the Basque lands/lands claimed as Basque...

Stage 2a: Pamplona - Alsasua, 85km

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The second day of our travails is split into two; this first half-stage will take us over our first two significant obstacles, with the most notable being the cat.2 Alto de Etxauri in the first half of the stage. The second half of the stage features the gradual climb to the summit of the Puerto de Lizarraga from its far easier southern side, before descending down into Lizarraga before a 15km flat run-in to the line. As the climbs aren't too strenuous and the stage is short, I would imagine this is likely to be another one for the sprinters, though it may have to be a more durable sprinter that takes the win in the town of Alsasua as, yes, even the short stages in this area can't be flat. A notably politically active town, which may be a cause for concern for some, Alsasua itself features some easy cobbles near the finish, but nothing that will cause anybody any threat.

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Climbs:
Alto de Etxauri (cat.2) 6,8km @ 6,4%
Puerto de Lizarraga (cat.2) 18,3km @ 2,8%

Esprintean:
Abárzuza (43km)

Alto de Etxauri:
7_alto_etxauri.jpg


Alsasua:
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The GC gets its first shake-up:

Stage 2b: Lekunberri - Lekunberri, 8,8km (ITT)

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After the riders finish in Alsasua the convoy will undergo the short trek around to Lekunberri (not going by the most direct route since that's over the San Miguel de Áralar climb!!!) for an afternoon spent time trialling. This short time trial loops out of Lekunberri to its east, taking in the three neighbouring villages to the northeast of the town - Arruitz, Aldatz and Etxarri - before returning to Lekunberri where the final 500m is a flat power drag.

Though the profile may suggest that there are some hefty gradients to deal with in the first half of this short test, in actuality these are averaging out at less than 3%, so it's more a false flat; helpful for the pure power rider as it's little more than a drag, before a plateau between the villages and then a slight downhill into Lekunberri to finish. As usual, no sprints or mountain points available here, so those jerseys won't change hands, and no bonus seconds will be available (though the current Itzulia doesn't have bonus seconds anyway). This has been used rather in lieu of a prologue, to try and add some spice and get an extra stage into proceedings.

Lekunberri is another Navarrese town that quite strongly identifies itself as Basque; it has hosted stages of the Vuelta al País Vasco most recently in 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2011 and is perhaps the most common Navarrese stop-off for the race.

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Timecheck:
Aldatz (5,3km)

Lekunberri:
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Libertine Seguros said:
I'm getting the feeling with these series races that Lupetto is an XC skiing fan and enjoys the sprint format.

You've got me there. Yes, I'm an XC skiing fan and I really would like to have races like this in cycling. Actually, even Grand Tours had races like this instead of a prologue. And in my opinion this is much more entertaining and diverting, than 200 riders on a 7k course, where the winner will be Martin or Cancellara. ;)

I will finish the race after the christmas holidays. :)
 
Lupetto said:
You've got me there. Yes, I'm an XC skiing fan and I really would like to have races like this in cycling. Actually, even Grand Tours had races like this instead of a prologue. And in my opinion this is much more entertaining and diverting, than 200 riders on a 7k course, where the winner will be Martin or Cancellara. ;)

I will finish the race after the christmas holidays. :)

Personally I enjoy XC (not as much as biathlon obviously as my posts on wintersports will show), but I can't say I like the sprint format. I do wonder how transferable it is to cycling; I guess it can probably be as successful as it is in XC, but I'm not won over by it as a method of competition and it is my least favourite format in XC by a country mile (I nearly put skiing, but that's a lie since I have little interest in Alpine and I really dislike ski cross).

Certainly it's an interesting break from formula in cycling, however. I liked the idea of using it in lieu of a prologue in the Tour of Japan; that's a way to incorporate it that I think could well work.
 
Tour of Slovenia - 1

This stage race will last 5 days and it contaons a prologue, 1 flat, 2 hilly and 2 mountain stages. It covers whole country, which isn't after all very hard to do.

Stage 1a: Ljubljana; 4,5km

A prologue around Ljubljana castle opens the tour.

Map and profile

Climbs:
Castle (cat.3) - 1km; 7%

Ljubljana:
1olmc5.jpg


Stage 1b: Ljubljana - Maribor; 142km

First day there will be also a flat stage to Maribor

Map and Profile

Climbs:
Trojane (cat.2) - 7km; 4%

Maribor:
az7ymp.jpg
 
In the spirit of Christmas, I'm giving the péloton a tough day in the saddle. Merry Christmas, guys.

Stage 3: Leitza - Mauléon-Licharre, 181km

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The first day of potential major GC action begins in the hometown of Mikel Nieve. Leitza has been raced through by the Euskal Herriko Itzulia many a time, most recently last year, and is one of the main Basque strongholds in Navarre; many ikurrinas can be seen in the town. This stage has a flattish first half, with only two less-than-challenging climbs to mark it; after 63km the péloton crosses the Col d'Izpeguy and we enter Iparralde for the first time. The intermediate sprints are both early in the stage, because the second half of it is more about the climbers.

The first real test of the day is one of the toughest climbs in the area, and in France as a whole, the brutal Errozate. This is 10km of pain at 9,6% that seldom lets up in its whole length on narrow, twisty roads, categorised as "Berezi" (special category). See some unfortunate souls in the Irati Xtreme take on the beast here, and look at its evilness here, here and here.

But this is just the warmup; there are still 72km to go when the riders top this. Afterwards there is the easy climb to the Col de Sourzay to tackle, before a long and technical descent. Then the riders arrive at the base of the final climb of the day, the Col de Landerre. According to the ClimbByBike profile, this is 17km @ 5,1%. Don't believe them, not least because we're starting at Mendive, so cutting all that false flat at the start away. Instead, from where we're climbing, as in the altimetrias profile above, it's 9,9km @ 8,1% - though 6km of that, the main body of the climb, is at over 10%, with three km averaging over 11% and a maximum of 16% - so there will be plenty of opportunity to break things apart here. The road is also very, very exposed to the elements, as shown here and here.

The Col de Landerre crests 31km from home, so you may suggest that this would deter attacking. The first four kilometres after the summit are flat, and certainly small gaps could be bridged in that time; I would expect riders to be in small groups rather than alone by the time we get to the descent, but several kilometres over 10%, sometimes it's simply not possible to maintain everything together as one big favourites group. The descent gets steeper as you go further downhill too, slightly unusually, so if a good descender can get away, then their advantage could easily snowball as the descent goes on, giving them enough time to hold on for the victory in the final 10 flat kilometres into Maule-Letxarre, capital of Zuberoa/Mauléon-Licharre, capital of Soule.

dev30j.png


Climbs:
Puerto de Ezkurra (cat.3) 4,5km @ 4,5%
Col d'Izpeguy (cat.2) 8,2km @ 4,3%
Errozate (cat.B) 10,1km @ 9,6%
Col de Sourzay (cat.3) 6,1km @ 4,3%
Col de Landerre (cat.1) 9,9km @ 8,1%

Esprinteanak:
Doneztebe (29km)
Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (Donibane Garazi)(83km)

Leitza:
524707251_259a34b5d3.jpg


Mauléon-Licharre:
adenora_mauleon.jpg
 
Tour of Slovenia - 5

Stage 5: Bovec - Kranj; 181km

Last stage doesn't have any big mountains near the finish, but it can surprise those, who will take it easier.

Map and profile

Climbs:
Sedlo Vršič (cat.1) - 13km; 9,5%
Gozd (cat.2) - 4km; 10%
Jamnik (cat.2) - 4km; 10%
Zabrekve (cat.2) - 5,5km; 9%
Lavtarski vrh (cat.2) - 1,7km; 18%
Šmarjetna gora (Kranj) (cat.2) - 2km; 10%

Šmarjetna gora in Kranj:
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