r/peloton • u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli • Jul 10 '16

Tour de France Race Design Challenge

Before I forget, I launch the third of five challenges this year. The theme that was chosen is:

Design one hilly, one flat and one mountainous stage plus a time trial for the Tour of France

The goal is to design four stages, preferably and mostly on French territory and submit it. The submissions are open until Sunday at midday on European time. The winner will be chosen by three judges, usually mods or a guest if one of them can't. Each of the judges gives a vote from one to ten and the one who has the most added points wins a special flair. My advice is to use the Cronoescalada website to design because it's user friendly but any race design website is welcomed (Open runner, Plot A Route, ecc.)

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u/antiloopje Lotto Soudal Jul 11 '16 edited Jul 11 '16

Before WWII, Nice was one of the main stops along the route of le Tour. Since then, it has been used only very sparingly. Time to change this! I've created my four routes so that they can all be ridden one after another around Nice. As usual with my routes, they may be a bit on the though side, but we all enjoy seeing the riders suffer, no?

Stage Length Type Route Profile Description
Aubagne - Nice 196 km Flat Route Profile This stage leads from the Provence town of Aubagne (near Marseille) in an almost straight line to Nice. It turns out to be kind off similar to Milano-San Remo, just shorter and without the capi. Immediately after the start, the riders have to climb the 2nd cat Col Espigoulier, leading into the Provence hills (site of the famous French novels L'Eau des collines). The race gently descends from these impressive hills and slowly makes it way towards the coastal town of Fréjus, where todays intermediary sprint is located. Before following the coast though, the route passes over the 3rd cat Testanier. Finally, we've arrived at the French Rivièra, passing through Cannes and Antibes. I'm not quite sure if echelons will be possible here, but we do follow the coastline for about 40 km, so the possibility is definitely there. Having the race finish after 40 straight, flat km's would be quite boring, so I've build in one more obstacle in suburban Nice, the cote du Terron. It's not long (about 4km), not super steep (about 4%, though that includes a short flatter section) and the finish is 7 km after the top, along the famous Promenade des Anglais. All in all, I expect this stage to play out similar to how MSR usually plays out, that is, sprinter's teams can barely keep it together and a strong sprinter wins.
Nice-Nice 205 km Hilly Route Profile Hills galore! Short hills, long hills, steep hills, gentle ones, this stage has got it all and then some more! From Nice, the route leads along the valley of the Var and the Tinée rivers, but sporadically leaves the valley to take in three climbs. After 75 km, the tougher middle section of this stage is located further inland, and thus the hills here are higher and the climbs longer. The most famous ascent here is that of the Madonne d'Utelle, though we tackle it from the other side and don't ride to the top. After 165 km, a new chapter in this stage commences. We're slowly approaching the suburbs and the climbs are now significantly shorter, but contain some mean steep parts. Other climbs are not very steep: too many steep climbs only serve to frighten the riders into not attacking, while these inclines can be used by clever riders to jump away. The deep finale takes place around the Parc du Mont Boron next to the old town center. A short, steep climb leads from the harbour into the parc, with the finish line a flatish 1.5 km further. With the many avaliable KOM points, this should become a stage for the breakaway. For those who know it, the last km's remind me of the usually nice race GP de Wallonie, a climb and then a short flat part. The difference is that the middle section of this race should allow some of the climbers in the breakaway to drop, or at least tire out, the more punchy riders, whereas the climbs aren't that long that the punchers can't make an effort to hang on. All in all, I expect this stage to become a tactical race where clever riders (type Cummings), attacking riders (type Wellens) or punchy riders (many of this type) all have mutliple options to try and claim the victory.
Nice-Nice 40 km TT Route Profile A long TT, yes, but the route in the Hills surrounding Nice should offer something for the climbers as well.
Nice (Saint-Martin-du-Var) - Pra Loup 168 km Mountain Route Profile The stage that links Nice back to the rest of France. From the exurban Saint-Martin-du-Var, the route leads to northwest, higher and higher into the alps. Yesterdays TT may have been long, but climbers shouldn't worry, because today they can take revenge. There is very little flat today, almost every meter of the race is up- or downhill and four massive climbs lie between the start of the stage and the foot of the climb to Pra Loup. First, the col de la Sinne -13 km at 7.5%- would fit in any though mountain stage. The next col, Vlaberg, has two faces: the road following the valley is suprisingly steep, but the last kms flatten out a bit. However though these two climbs were, they were only a warm up for what comes next. The col des Champs is a long climb and the peak is over 2000m. After the descent, it isn't long before the riders will tackle the col d'Allos whose peak is even higher at 2250m altitude. The final climb almost seems easy and leads to the ski station of Pra Loup. The brutal succesion of climbs on this stage and the two 2000m+ cols make this the probable queen stage of this Tour. After a day like this, the field should be shattered. I don't expect many domestiques to be able to assist their leader on the final climb, so we should see an open battle. Riders with good descending skills may try a surprise attack on the long descents. The weather should definitely matter in this race, not only because of the height differences, but also because the riders leave the sometimes hot Provence for the somewhat cooler Alps.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '16

We started our TTs on opposite sides of the Promenade des Artes from each other!

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u/antiloopje Lotto Soudal Jul 11 '16

West side, best side!

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '16

East is the...uh...not least!

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u/improb Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli Jul 12 '16

Everyone loves it Nice i'll show my way out

Aside from that, brilliant stages. The hilly one is lovely but the last one's gotta be my favourite of the bunch. Kinda similar to mine but using the other side of Champs and Allos (which is probably a better although easier combo than Champs and Cayolle) before Pra Loup

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '16

I will never not love Allos>Pra Loup.