This is a race I've been working on for a while, trouble getting the mapping software to work so far north has been one bane (though of course it's not as far north as my GP of Tromsø!), the other is turning it into a reasonably realistic race in terms of organisation and logistics given the nature of the area in question.
I feel that I have, at least to an extent, solved these and can therefore proceed to introduce the
Tour of Iceland. Or, given the linguistic purism of the Icelanders,
Reiðtúr á Íslandi. For this Tour, we will spend the first half in the southwest, close to the main population centres, before spreading further afield. I will also explain the logistical procedures in terms of how equipment and riders come to be in the right places at the right time to compete.
Stage 1: Reykjavík - Reykjavík, 153km
Climbs:
Perlan (3rd passage)(cat.3) 2,5km @ 1,8%
Perlan (8th passage)(cat.3) 2,5km @ 1,8%
Perlan (13th passage)(cat.3) 2,5km @ 1,8%
We start with a circuit race in the capital of the country, which will hopefully draw some attention to the race. Just under 40% of Iceland's population live in the capital and its outlying districts (and in the whole area some two thirds of the country's population), so this will probably be the best attended stage of the race.
The stage consists of 15 laps of a 10,2km circuit which begins and ends at one of Iceland's major landmarks, the Hallgrímskirkja. From here, the riders will head southeast to the summit of the Öskjuhlíð hill, site of another landmark, the
Perlan ("The Pearl"), a monument built on top of six water storage tanks atop the 61m high hill. As the ceiling of the stage, mountains points will be given out on three circuits despite the meagre statistics.
These statistics (2,5km @ 1,8%) aren't entirely accurate, however; they account for two separate climbs. The first, which comes before the finishing line, from Íslenska Operan to Hallgrímskirkja, is 700m at around 4,5-5%; there is then a bit of flat and descent before climbing from the Fridríkskapella to Öskjuhlíð, which is about 850m at 4,5%. Certainly not enough to trouble most sprinters, although 15 times around the circuit may manage to harm the likes of Furlan and Guardini, you never know. The "descent" takes us north again, past
the City Theatre and the old University Campus, before turning left onto
Laugavegur. This lightly cobbled street is Reykjavík's main shopping street - how do we know? Because
it says so!
This is then swapped for the winds coming in on the coastal front of
Sæbraut, nice wide open roads where the cameras can pick up the North Atlantic and the mountains in the background. Then the riders head inland for a series of corners encircling another Reykjavík sight,
Tjörnin (aka "The Pond"), an inner-city man-made lake with
Fríkirkjan Reykjavík on one side of it, and the
City Hall built so that it is
actually standing in the middle of the lake.
From here we turn back onto the other end of Laugavegur for only a few metres before turning right onto that final, uphill 700m described earlier, on
Skólavörðustígur, with Hallgrímskirkja
ominous in the riders' view. So, a pretty straightforward stage, a circuit race around the capital not to finish the race but to start it; and with this being the biggest city around, the riders can rest up and enjoy a bit of Reykjavík's famous nightlife.
Reykjavík:
Hallgrímskirkja: