Stage 7: Akureyri - Akureyri, 22,3km (ITT)
The final stage of my Tour of Iceland is a mid-length ITT through Akureyri and its surrounding areas. The riders will start on the waterfront on Strandgata, starting with a short uphill to the city church, looping around the north and west side of the city for a few kilometres of rolling terrain, before descending down to the side of the fjörð, with just one technical switchback to deal with. After arriving back at the coast the riders are close to the dramatic in-route to Akureyri airport. In that image you can see a large section of the time trial course - ahead of the runway there is a long bridge traversing Eyjafjörður. The riders will cross this before the toughest part of the route, the climb on the eastern side of the fjörð on Veigastaðavegur; this is approximately 2,5km at around about 5%, so this will give the climbers a bit of a chance to limit their losses before they get back down to the coast and cross the bridge in the opposite direction, then it's a short, flat power burst along the waterfront back to Strandgata for the finale.
This race does favour climbers, but in order to make the most of what the race can offer they will need to spend quite some time on the attack; puncheurs and second-tier climbers willing to take chances will also be in a good position.
Akureyri:
The final stage of my Tour of Iceland is a mid-length ITT through Akureyri and its surrounding areas. The riders will start on the waterfront on Strandgata, starting with a short uphill to the city church, looping around the north and west side of the city for a few kilometres of rolling terrain, before descending down to the side of the fjörð, with just one technical switchback to deal with. After arriving back at the coast the riders are close to the dramatic in-route to Akureyri airport. In that image you can see a large section of the time trial course - ahead of the runway there is a long bridge traversing Eyjafjörður. The riders will cross this before the toughest part of the route, the climb on the eastern side of the fjörð on Veigastaðavegur; this is approximately 2,5km at around about 5%, so this will give the climbers a bit of a chance to limit their losses before they get back down to the coast and cross the bridge in the opposite direction, then it's a short, flat power burst along the waterfront back to Strandgata for the finale.
This race does favour climbers, but in order to make the most of what the race can offer they will need to spend quite some time on the attack; puncheurs and second-tier climbers willing to take chances will also be in a good position.
Akureyri: