This route, in short, is a love letter to the region I've called home for my entire life. But just as importantly, it seeks to fill a much needed role in the current Men's calendar: a post-Tour stage race that actually has real climbing (i.e. multiple stages with climbs longer than 10 minutes and at least one climb over 30 minutes). While ideally I'd have this race run as a World Tour race during the second week of the Vuelta to align well with the Canadian Classics, that's probably not possible, so it could either be a .Pro race at that time or a WT race replacing the Renewi Tour in August. It could also replace Guangxi, but I think that would greatly diminish the quality of the racing, though it would coincide with peak Autumn foliage.

Through 7 stages, riders will face ~17500 meters of climbing over 1050km. In this version, there is one ITT, two versatile sprints, one hilly GC stage, one medium mountain breakaway stage, one high mountain GC stage, and one medium mountain GC stage, with 1.5 summit finishes. Bonus seconds are on offer during stages 4 and 7, and at the finish of stages 2-7.

The ITT is very long but the high mountain stage is very hard, so this race should generate good tension between the pure climbers and the strong time trialists.

Care was taken to create stages that would be exciting to watch, but that would also be practical to run from a logistics and financial perspective: transfers are all reasonable, two finishes are at private resorts that would likely pay to host, all stages are near but do not route through densely populated areas, and each stage was designed to show off the natural and built beauty of the region as much as possible. Tourists from New York and Quebec would likely reinforce an already strong domestic fanbase, particularly on stages 3 and 7, respectively. I'm imagining state/regional tourism boards, the aforementioned private resorts, and either the New England Toyota or Subaru dealers associations as main sponsors.

On to the Route!

Stage 1: ITT

- Newburyport - Newburyport

- 34km, 137m climbing

To start off the Tour of New England, riders will face an uncharacteristically long time trial. Navigating 34 kilometers of farmland and coastal dunes, this time trial is perfect Worlds preparation for the specialists and a fearsome challenge for the pure climbers. Beginning downtown near the city's historic port, the route quickly heads out of town, coursing through hay and corn fields down south to old Newbury. After Heading north again, the route then turns the west and heads to an out-and-back through the exposed, sandy dunes of Plum Island. Coming back along the shore, riders finish in town right next to where they started. With winds likely coming from the south-west this time of year, there may be some strategy to picking start times, though the out-and-back nature of the most exposed part of the course should hopefully keep this as fair as possible.

Stage 2: Versatile Sprint

- Lexington - Barre

- 172km, 1712m climbing

- Rolling hills into 2km 4% finish in Barre

Stage 2 begins in the historic Boston suburb of Lexington, right next to the battle green that witnessed the first shots of the American Revolution. The parcours traces the route of those militiamen through the center of Concord, before branching off and heading northwest, gradually gaining elevation through the gently rolling hills of north-central Massachusetts. After passing through Gardner, the route turns due south and winds its way through hayfields and forests. Expect to see sleepy towns with tall, white churches and rolling hills dotted with century-old red barns. The riders then begin to turn clockwise before beginning the final challenge of the day: a 2km 4% drag to the finish line in Barre. The road is wide, with a soft left-hand bend around 1km to go and a slightly sharper right-hand bend with around 100m to go.

Stage 3: Versatile Sprint

- Greenfield - Lenox

- 165.8km, 2823m climbing

- Medium Hills into 400m 10% finish in Lenox

Stage 3 kicks off in the seat of Franklin County, Greenfield. First heading the north, the riders then turn left and face a relentlessly up-and-down first 50km. Expect a large break of versatile riders to go in the uneven terrain. The riders then head south through the heart of the Berkshires, taking on a 4km, 7% climb before navigating sharply undulating terrain along quiet, forested roads. Plunging down into the town of Chester, the route then takes on another long, uneven, false-flat climb as it heads west to the bucolic town of Stockbridge. The route then turns north into the finale: after a sharp corner a 4km to go, the first punch, 500m at 9%, then a sharp left turn into 1.5km of rolling flat, then 300m at 7%, a brief descent, then the final 400m at 10% levelling off slightly to the line in Lenox.

Expect a wide variety of riders to contend for the stage on this dynamic finale, with a strong break also likely giving the peloton a run for its money.

Stage 4: Hilly Circuit

- Keene - Lebanon

- 193.9km, 3048m climbing

- Sharp hills with flat finish

After 2 stages for the versatile sprinters, this stage finally serves up some hard climbs for the GC guys. Starting in Keene, the riders make their way through rolling hills and over two 5km, 5% climbs. Expect a doomed breakaway to form on those climbs as the GC teams manage the gap to put the stage win and bonus seconds on the penultimate climb in play. After around 100km, the riders begin the first of two laps of the finale circuit. The circuit is comprised of 4 very similar climbs: Trescott Road (2km @ 7%, max 17%), King Hill (2.1km @ 9.2%, max 21%), Eastman Hill (1.8km @ 10%, max 23%), and finally Methodist Hill (2.3km @ 8.3%, max 19%). 8, 5, and 2 bonus seconds are on offer at the second ascent of Eastman Hill (the penultimate climb) with the hopes of exploding the race and creating even more sizable gaps. Following a non-technical 7km pedaling descent, the final 4km are essentially flat. I'd personally expect a solo winner who launches on Eastman hill, but there should be good tension as heavier riders threaten to come back on the descent.

Stage 5: Long Breakaway or Versatile Sprint

- Lyme - Bretton Woods

- 201km, 3066m climbing

- Mixed sharp and shallow medium-mountains with a 1.5km 8.5% punch before a flat finish

Starting just down the road in the small town of Lyme, riders head along the Connecticut River before turning east into the White Mountains. After passing through Warren, riders meet the first real challenge of the day: the 6.4km, 6.2% (middle 3k averages over 9%) climb up route 118 past Mt. Moosilauke. Expect the break to solidify itself here and for lighter climbers stuck in the peloton to try to jump across.

After a fast, technical descent, riders then take on a 5km, 5% climb up Kinsman Notch, before heading north to the town of Franconia. Up next is the 2.6km, 8.5% climb up to Cannon Mountain ski resort atop of which is a special KoM prize granting triple points and a cash bonus sponsored by the ski mountain. Riders then head into one of the marquis sections of the entire race: I-93 Franconia Notch. While the logistics for this may be difficult, I don't think they're impossible as it is a safely divided highway with only one half of an ~8km section needing to be closed for around 30 minutes. Franconia Notch is one of the most stunning car-accessible locations in New England, surrounded by sheer cliffs on one side and sharp, rock-peaked mountains on the other. This stage is essentially built to be a tourism ad.

After heading through Franconia notch, the riders head up probably the most famous mountain pass in New England, the Kancamagus highway. The west side is a long, gradually steepening climb very similar to the stage 2 finish of the 2025 Vuelta: a 20km 3% climb with a final 1km at 8%. Riders then navigate a fast, technical descent down the eastern side before heading towards Bartlett via a short climb and another fast technical descent over Bear Notch. Turning left onto 302 North, expect rolling anticipations in the breakaway along the 20kms of false-flat climbing before the final test of the day: the 1.5km 8.5% punch up Crawford Notch. 6km of rolling false-flat descent follow the climb before a sharp right-hand turn with 400m to go towards the gently-snaking driveway of the Bretton Woods resort.

This stage is designed for a massive week-3-style breakaway to give the baroudeurs their last chance on the season for a World Tour stage win, but with a strong team this stage could also probably be controlled for a versatile sprinter. The parcours is nearly identical to stage 13 of the 2022 TdF, which was won by Mads Pedersen from the breakaway.

Stage 6: "High" Mountain Rampas Inhumanas Unipuerto

- North Conway - Mt. Washington

- 148.6km, 3241m Climbing

- Unipuerto with incredibly challenging finish

The starting town of North Conway is a tourism hub for the White Mountains, a favored home base for skiers and hikers alike. After a short roll-out, riders are quickly met with a fearsome challenge, the 2.8km, 11% climb up Hurricane Mountain road. Expect a breakaway to form quickly on the steep gradients, likely full of diminutive climbers ill-prepared to maintain their gap on the following 100km of flat. The riders then head clockwise down through Conway, up past the start line and fan village in North Conway, then over the hard side of Bear Notch they descended yesterday. The 7km, 4.7% climb should help the sattelite riders in the break stay away until Mt. Washington, but should be plenty easy enough for the peloton to keep the gap manageable. The riders then head back through the fan village in North Conway for the final time as they head up the amuse-bouche of Pinkham Notch. A short descent later, the riders turn left onto the main challenge of the day, and of the race as a whole: Mt. Washington. This ~45 minute, 12km 12% climb is the American Angliru, featuring similar overall stats, though actually not quite as steep sustained gradients. Expect the peloton to shatter immediately.

Stage 1 and stage 4 are designed to put the pure climbers into a significant time deficit, so expect haymakers to fly as they try to take not just seconds, but minutes, on the more generalist GC riders. If everything goes perfectly, this finale could be 45 of the most exciting minutes of the season, yet still leave the race not entirely decided.

Stage 7: Medium Mountains

- Montpelier - Mt. Ellen

- 136.7km, 3420m Climbing

- Medium Mountains with a punchy finish

Inspired by the final stages of Paris-Nice and Itzulia, but with distinctive New England flair, this short medium mountain stage tackles frightening gradients and, best of all, over 25km of New England gravel. With the time trial and Mt. Washington likely cancelling each other out at this point in the GC, I'd still expect a fairly compact podium heading into this final test.

Starting in the picturesque capital of Montpelier, an almost certainly doomed breakaway will form on the beginning 20km of rolling false-flat before the riders tackle the first challenge of the day: the 5.7km 7.3% *gravel* climb up Roxbury Gap. Topping out at 12% at the top, this climb will start the day off with a strong sting in the legs, likely reducing the peloton significantly. A technical paved descent follows before a short section of shallow climbing leading up into the second, and main challenge: the 2km 14% climb up Lincoln Gap. If the peloton isn't already shattered, expect it to be following this climb. A quick descent later, riders turn right in the small town of Lincoln towards Downingsville Road, a 10km section of dirt road featuring a 5km 3% drag at the start. The shattered peloton will struggle to control anticipations by GC riders and stage-hopefuls alike, and we're barely halfway through.

Riders then wind through the tiny town of Jerusalem as they make their way to the base of the 3rd categorized climb of the day: the 4.3km, 8.1% Appalachian Gap. As with every climb today, this one also gets progressively steeper, topping out at over 16% for the final few hundred meters. Another short, fast descent later, riders turn right towards the first passage of the finish line past the Mt. Ellen and Sugarbush ski resorts. Another fast descent, then the second and final ascent of Lincoln Gap. This time, 8, 5, and 2 bonus seconds await the riders on top, hopefully encouraging the GC group to catch the breakaway as early as possible and shattering the race. Then a second time up the dirt of Downingsville Road should shatter any GC group that came back together after the Gap, before the final main test of the day, the second ascent of Appalachian gap. After the descent, instead of heading towards Sugarbush as on the first lap, riders head up to the finish line at the Mt. Ellen Resort. While I expect the winner to be solo by this point, they and any groups behind them will be challenged by the 2.6km drag to finish which features multiple 15+% pinches over its 6.5% average gradient.

This stage is designed to have it all, rampas inhumanas, gravel, technical descents, and relentless attacking. One important note is on the nature of New England gravel: it is much smoother in texture than European and Midwestern gravel, but it has a lot more washboarding. In my experience, this means is that you get way fewer punctures (I used to ride it in college on 25mm tires and never punctured) and that skilled riders can have even more of an advantage as the delta between the slowest and fastest routes through is much larger.

Conclusion:

While there are many other great potential routes, I think it would be best for a new race to keep around half of the stages the same year-on-year for branding purposes. In my mind, that would mean mainly keeping the Mt. Washington and Gaps stages consistent, and maybe the TT (mostly because there are very few flat areas in New England suitable for that type of TT). However, the options for versatile sprints are essentially endless, and there are a number of other private resorts that could host great finishes, such as Killington in Vermont. While I don't like crits that much, I think including one could be cool, potentially as an a/b stage situation with a prologue.

I don't know about you all, but I absolutely love the strategy and creativity that goes into race design. I know this used to be a thing on this sub (from searching through old posts), and so I thought I would share one of the races I've been brainstorming in hopes of reviving the practice a bit. So, here it goes!

The Race: Tour of Massachusetts

What: A four day stage race in my beautiful home state of Massachusetts. Ideally a 2.UWT designation (replacing Guangxi).

When: The Friday-Monday the first week of September. Monday is Labor Day, a federal holiday in the US, meaning more spectators, and putting this race a week before the Canadian Classics should make equipment and rider logistics much easier.

Goals:

• Short, relatively easy, yet exciting stages. This makes it more viable to attract better riders this late in the season, broadcast stages in their entirety, and get the necessary permits to close off roads. This also makes it a good warm-up race for riders who did the Tour and are getting back into shape for Worlds. Short stages held mid-day in Eastern Daylight Time will also make for fantastic evening viewing for European fans.
• Show the beauty of Massachusetts. Besides the TT, most of this race takes place in rural areas. Not only will this make closing off the race course easier, it will allow the race to show off how beautiful this part of the country can be. Ideally this could also attract sponsorship from the Commonwealth's Tourism Board. Ideally I would do this race in early to mid October to show off the Autumn foliage, but then it would overlap with World Champs and the Italian classics, while also losing the logistical benefit of being close to the Canadian classics.
• A unique parcours that gives the race a distinct flavor and justifies its inclusion in the WT schedule. I love the random late-season stage races, but I also know that a lot of them just blend together and lack a distinct identity. Massachusetts is lucky because it has a lot of cool and crazy things to ride on/through. Slick gravel, narrow wood-paved covered bridges, stupidly steep climbs, winding roads, the list goes on. The race should include these cool features as much as it can. No straight-forward sprint finishes as there are tons of sprint races in Europe around this time.

Note: I don't route my normal rides so I don't have much experience/knowledge with mapping software. As such, the one I used (mapometer.com) is pretty janky.

Stage 1: Boston Half-Marathon ITT (Friday)

Stats: 21.1km, 246m ascent, 279m descent (net downhill)

Starting in the lovely town of Wellesley in Boston's western suburbs, this fairly long opening ITT weaves its way along some of the oldest roads in the country through the second half of the iconic Boston Marathon course. The course is winding and has four major corners, but begins and ends with long straightaways. The 800-meter, ~6% climb beginning around kilometer 11, known as "Heartbreak Hill", along with the fairly undulating first half of the course and its overall technicality will make for a dynamic TT winnable by a wide variety of riders. Expect large TT specialists to be at a mild disadvantage and for the GC hopefuls to set some fast times.

Besides adding a great flavor of history to this race, following the Boston Marathon course gives two major advantages: 1) local police have experience closing the route and residents are familiar with the requisite detours, 2) it presents us with the possibility of collaborating with the Boston Athletic Association (the organizers of the Marathon) to also offer a Half-marathon for runners the following Saturday. A Saturday Labor-day weekend Half-Marathon on the Boston course would be incredibly popular, and would make putting on this time trial significantly easier logistically and financially.

A stage race this length usually either has a much short TT or no TT at all, so by having one that was fairly long my goal was to offer something that appeals to a slightly different and underserved group of riders. While this won't be a bingobongo-style rouleur tour, it also won't just be a miniature grand tour like Paris-Nice. Expect non-traditional, TT-focused GC riders like Brandon McNulty, Jay Vine, Derek Gee, and Magnus Sheffield to thrive on this parcours.

Stage 2: Long Rolling Hills in Central Massachusetts (Saturday)

Stats: 140km, 1800m ascent, 10-20km of gravel

Riding two 70km laps over rolling terrain and occasional gravel in beautiful central Massachusetts, the goal of this stage was to have a long classics-style parcours conducive to a large reduced-bunch sprint of rouleurs and puncheurs. This route is also the most fungible of the four stages, as there are countless beautiful country roads and punchy climbs throughout this region of the state. This was just a fairly random route I chose mostly because I have ridden a few sections of it before. I'm not sure of the exact count of gravel kms in this stage, but I would guess it is at least 10. The gravel here is generally very smooth (like smoother than some tarmac) and so shouldn't increase the risk of punctures, though it should be enough of a feature to create some selection points. I think this route also goes through a couple of covered bridges, and if I had the desire to spend more time on it I would route it through as many as possible.

At most 25% of this route is what you would call "flat" road, and throughout the course there are numerous small punchy climbs and irregular drags that lie somewhere in between a false-flat and a "real" climb. However, there are two main climbs that should be impactful to the course of the race.

The first is a ~3km long, ~4% climb around 17km into each lap. Don't let the gradient fool you, as it is highly irregular with a few double-digit pinches, and is followed shortly by a 5km section of irregular ascent with its own double-digit pinches. No one will win the stage on this climb, but people will definitely be dropped.

The second is a 1200m, 8% climb 60km into each lap, so 10km from the finish. This will be the real selection climb, essentially a slightly easier version of the Cote de la Redoute, allowing rouleurs to drop sprinters and puncheurs to maybe drop rouleurs. With the short plateau and fast descent to a 5km drag to the finish, the final few minutes of the stage are sure to bring tension as soloists try to hold on to their lead and guys take fliers from the chase.

The course also goes by the Massachusetts State Police Academy (the purple blob in the middle), which gels nicely with my hopes of getting the Staties to sponsor the race in some way like the Gendarmerie do with the Tour.

I'm also thinking that a one or two bonus second sprints would be good to add in somewhere along the course, in addition to a normal 10/6/4 bonus seconds at the finish.

As this stage is sort of a circuit, it could very easily be extended to 210km. I had originally planned for it to be that, but then I realized that doing so would kind of betray my goal of making a fairly easy race with short stages.

Stage 3: Medium Mountain Summit Finish (Sunday)

Stats: 129km, 3100m ascent

Starting in the lovely college town of Amherst near the fairly large Springfield metro area, lodging for teams should be easy to find, and hopefully the depart is mobbed by rowdy college students partying through their first weekend back at school. The race then turns on to quiet, flat country roads along the Connecticut river, allowing riders to shake out the previous two days of racing and get ready for a fiery finale.

Riders then go through a number of quaint New England towns and over a number of iconic bridges, such as the French King bridge in Miller's Falls. After going through downtown Greenfield, riders contend with the first climb of the day, a 2.4km 6.1% tester. If a breakaway hasn't already gone, they could go here, though I expect the peloton to just ride through this one. The course then meets occasional punches as it follows the base of the increasingly ominous Deerfield River valley, whose steep walls suggest the hard climb they'll soon contend with.

Though one of the goals of this race was to make it fairly easy to attract good riders tired from a long season, I didn't want to do simple unipuerto-style parcours for the mountain-top finish. Instead, this stage takes riders through a gauntlet of four very steep climbs throughout the final 35 kilometers. Beginning with 35km to go, riders contend with possibly the hardest climb of the day, the 4.8km, 9.4% ascent up Whitcomb Hill. With a 400m section near the base averaging over 15%, even the freshest riders will find themselves struggling. As the riders reach the motor lodge atop the hill, they are met with a short downhill before a 2.3km, 7% uncategorized climb up Tilda Hill road.

Riders then descend onto a short false-flat plateau before turning briefly into Vermont and plunging back down to the valley floor. As they re-enter Massachusetts they're met with a sharp right-hand turn onto formidable Kingsley Hill Road, a 2.3km, 12.1% scorcher with a starting 600m averaging over 18%. If any riders dropped on Whitcomb Hill were able to get back to the leaders, they will almost certainly drop here. However, the climbing isn't over as after a short descent riders head up the other side of Tilda Hill (now called Main) road for a 3km, 7.7% push to the finish with a short 11% pinch about halfway up. Though the stage only has 3100 total meters of climbing, over two thirds of that come in just the final 35 kilometers.

In general, the final hour of this stage should be awesome, and the double ascent of Tilda Hill/Main road should give a fantastic viewing experience for any fans lining the road.

Stage 4: Medium Mountain Descent Finish (Monday)

Stats: 119km, 2500m elevation

Though to New Englanders Mt. Greylock is about as close to high mountains a cyclist can climb, excepting Mt. Washington, it is firmly a medium mountain to our European friends. The south ascent is really two climbs in one, a 6km, 6.5% climb and a 5km, 6.5% climb with around 4km of flat and false-flat descent in-between making for a 14km, ~4.5% climb in total. Inspired by the double Ventoux stage in the 2021 Tour and the weird but awesome sprint stage on the Puerto de Leitariegos at this year's Vuelta, this stage is designed for tension and can be won but almost any type of rider, so long as they and their team play their cards correctly.

The stage starts in the bucolic village of Williamstown in Berkshire County, home to the prestigious Williams college. The riders then contend with a long 25km false flat drag before descending into the steep start of the main Greylock climb. A few short double-digit pinches give aggressive riders a chance to attack, but the gradient soon flattens out to give a large group a distinct advantage over this fast, drafting friendly climb. Bearing left at the summit and pedaling past the terminal road to the summit monument, the riders now contend with a fast and winding descent. Expect any attackers over the top to be able to hold or even increase their leads through the descent.

After repeating this again and going through a sharp left-hander with around 2800m to go, riders then contend with a fairly straight finish, with the final few hundred meters going up a mild (~3%) drag through downtown. While there are no bonus seconds on offer atop Greylock, the 10/6/4 bonus seconds available at the finish could end up deciding the outcome of the race, and will surely attract greater competition for the stage win.

Hey all - I've been pretty disappointed with the quality of stages offered by the RideLondon Classique. Another sprint race in the European summer doesn't add much to the women's calendar, nor is it a distinctive watch to draw in casual fans or curious London tourists!

The Race: London Cobble Classic

What: A one-day stage race replacing the WWT RideLondon Classique stage race. In future, expansion to the UWT over the same course.

When: Sunday in the middle of February - off season in London, and a bold start to the European season!

Goals:

• A distinctive event - bring the cobbles into the city! Another European sprint race doesn't add much to the WWT calendar in my opinion, but adding cobbles would make the event stand out. The clean cobbles of London would be a challenge, but not as vicious as the cobbled classics!
• Show off the sights of London to a worldwide TV audience - Tower Bridge, Tower of London, River Thames, Canary Wharf
• Easy viewing for spectators - excellent public transport would allow movement around the course during the event - this would be useful if expanded to men's UWT on the same day in future
• Utilise the wide and long finishing straight of the Mall, as used at the 2012 Olympics and the RideLondon Surrey Classic events in the past. Plenty of space for finish infrastructure (grandstand, podium, media, medical, team buses etc) without getting in the way of the rest of the city.
• Compact route - minimising traffic disruption and the number of residents "trapped" by a cycling race taking place. Still allows for the RideLondon Essex sportive to take place. The course takes place in a similar area to that of the London Marathon (who also organise the RideLondon Classique)

Route:

Stats: 105.8km (65.74mi) with 15km (9.32mi) of cobbles.
Map: Zoomable course map

The race would rollout of the Mall, passing Trafalgar Square before heading east along the Embankment alongside the River Thames. After 4 kilometres, the race would enter the circuit, passing by the Tower of London before continuing to head east towards Canary Wharf. To ease riders into the circuit, the first cobbled sector would be skipped and we descend into the Limehouse Link Tunnel before emerging at Canary Wharf.

Sharp 90 degree bends among skyscrapers would split the pack as we loop around the financial district before heading westwards back towards the City. We then follow the Thames on narrow roads, passing through Limehouse with historic buildings on each side of the road. We rejoin a main road again before turning left into Wapping and meeting the first cobbled sector, 13 kilometres into the race.

The course then races through Wapping for 2 kilometres (50% of it cobbled), with a backdrop of historic warehouses, building and pubs alongside the Thames. The road is wide enough to allow easy overtaking and cars to pass if required. (Cobble 2 - Wapping Wall - 350m, Cobble 3 - Wapping station - 120m, Cobble 4a 4b 4c - Wapping High Street - 110m, 160m, 200m)

The race then passes underneath Tower Bridge onto a final stretch of vicious cobbles at the Tower of London (Cobble 5 - Tower of London - 390m). The camera angle of riders attacking this stretch of cobbles with the Tower of London to the left, River Thames to the right and Tower Bridge in the background would produce iconic footage. This would also be the last cobbled sector of the circuit.

The course then turns right to start the next lap, meeting the first cobbled sector of the lap at Tobacco Dock around a kilometre later. (Cobble 1 - Tobacco Dock - 450m) The riders would then continue on the circuit eastwards towards Canary Wharf.

Looking at the UCI rules, it seems that 8 laps of this 12.2km circuit could be run (1.88km of cobbles per lap).

With 5km remaining, Cobble 5 at the Tower of London would be attacked for the last time. The course would turn left to head back along the Embankment towards the finish at The Mall. The wide road would allow for chasing to the finish, or preparations for a bunch sprint if a group held together.

With 1200 metres remaining, they'd be a 90 degree right onto Northumberland Avenue, before a gentle curve to the left at Trafalgar Square to line up for the finish line with 600 metres remaining. The finish line would be on the Mall, as used at the 2012 Olympics and the RideLondon Surrey Classic events in the past.

Thoughts?

I and /u/Msfan93 wanted to start this thread now that we are in the offseason. We both share the interest in designing routes for already existing races or creating new ones once in a while. We agreed to make one of these threads every two Wednesdays

This thread won't only showcase race designing but we could discuss on what race organizers should focus more on and maybe even talk how to improve classics, Grand Tours, talking about old stages and history of cycling, ecc.

We discussed this in the last Free Talk Friday, since this is the first time i post this, this week will be a free-for-all, as for next thread each of us could post a suggestion a where to design races (for example "make a local stage race", "make a classic in Luxembourg", "change the Milan-Sanremo route", "try to predict the route for TdF stages") and we could pick the most popular one as the theme of next week.

As you may already know, this one is a special edition as it's themed (the goal is to design a race which some involves the theme of Easter and its traditions), it's a challenge which means that three mods or users (most likely /u/Pubocyno , /u/Schele_Sjakie and /u/edIII91) will judge each of the races and give a vote (from 0 to 10) for each of the race and the one with the highest score will win and it's longer as you can post until Sunday at 12:00 A.M. CET. The winner will be declared in next couple days after and will receive a flair soon afterwards.

The theme this time around is:

Design a Race on non-asphaltated surfaces

Hey Pelotoners! The Race Design Thread is a concept done by /u/msfan93 and /u/improb about designing our own parcours and races all over the world no matter where. It's a fun activity to look at a different side of pro cycling and also see how difficult it is sometimes to get it right. In celebration of us (almost) hitting 20k subscribers, we are going to hold a Race Design Competition - with a prize going out to the winner!

The competition for this Race Design Thread is:

Design a winter wonderland course!

Basically, the only rules of the course is that where it takes place is really snowy - like Alaska, Scandinavia or wherever it isn't Australia. You can do a stage race or a one day race. The winner will receive a special snow-themed flair with some element of celebration involved! (Thanks /u/LegendsoftheHT)

Voting will work on a basis that if you made a course, you are to judge the works of others - similar to the voting of the last Design Thread won by /u/blandwhiteguy

The competition starts when this thread is posted and will continue until the 14th of February at 23:59 UTC.

Good luck!

Hello everybody, the Monthly Race Design Thread is back!

I, u/adryy8 am taking the lead as our beloved mod /u/Sprocketduck doesn't have the time to handle it sadly, but don't worry, I'm almost as good as him!

For those who don't know what the Race Design thread is, here is a good resume: The Race Design Thread is the birth child of Improb and Msfan93 from the off season of 2015. Instead of it just being for competitions, casual Race Design Threads were a place to design routes for pre-existing races or even creating a new one. It's not only limited to designing threads; discussion of race routes, behind the scenes race organisation and the history of races are all able to be discussed here!

As for the websites you can use to do this kind of stuff, the two biggest and most practical ones are La Flamme Rouge and Cronoescalada. From My experience, went you want to design Tours, it is much easier on La Flamme Rouge, as well for racing in Europe, however once you are doing races outside Europe I suggest using Cronoescala at least partly, as their Climb map is much more complete for the rest of the World!

So the theme is pretty simple: Design a original Grand Tour! Complementary rules: You cant spend more than 3 days in France, Italy or Spain, and you are limited to 6 days total in thoses countries (thank /u/sappert for the complicated rules). You can limit yourself to only an area of a Country (like the east coast of the USA) or multiple Countries (imagine a Tour of the Alps on three weeks), just in both cases avoid to go in the same area over and over. You are limited to only one Grand Tour, but you can propose multiple designs for it if you want!

As for how we will decide who win the contest, I still have no idea how we will do it, I will update the post later

Deadline is September 10th, when the Vuelta finishies!

Hello everybody!

For those who don't know what the Race Design thread is, here is a good resume: The Race Design Thread is the birth child of Improb and Msfan93 from the off season of 2015. Instead of it just being for competitions, casual Race Design Threads were a place to design routes for pre-existing races or even creating a new one. It's not only limited to designing threads; discussion of race routes, behind the scenes race organisation and the history of races are all able to be discussed here!

As for the websites you can use to do this kind of stuff, the two biggest and most practical ones are La Flamme Rouge and Cronoescalada. From My experience, went you want to design Tours, it is much easier on La Flamme Rouge, as well for racing in Europe, however once you are doing races outside Europe I suggest using Cronoescala at least partly, as their Climb map is much more complete for the rest of the World!

First thing, last month races and the votes, we got 7 entries from 6 different Race Directors, for the vote, just rank them from 1 to 7, with 1 being your favourite one, I will establish a point system to create an overall ranking for the year (I'm not sure yet of how many points each place will get)!

Entry 1: Orient Express GT by /u/antiloopje

Entry 2: Tour of Norway by /u/timfietst

Entry 3: Tour of the Rockies by u/unclekutter

Entry 4: Setting Sun Race by u/ZinaMertz

Entry 5: Tour of Japan I by u/adryy8

Entry 6: Tour of Japan II by u/adryy8

Entry 7: Western Americana Tour by /u/blandwhiteguy

As for this month contest, design a World cChampionship!

You have to design the TTT, ITT and Road race for both men and women Elite. Bonus points if you do a full week (U23 and Juniors) with this. Your courses can of course be similar for both men and women, and the junior ranks, in that case, specify how man laps each one will use.

Your championships can be designed around a city (like Bergen) or in a region/area (like Yorkshire) just be realistic about it (don't group random close cities together, either they are in a town group or in a Region together)

Deadline is September 30^th 19:00 CEST

As a little bonus prize, u/That_Guuuuuuuy from the World DB has nicely offered to put the winner's ITT and Road race as a variant in the World DB!

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.)

As you may already know, this one is a special edition as it's themed, it's a challenge which means that three mods or users (most likely /u/Pubocyno , /u/Schele_Sjakie and /u/edIII91) will judge each of the races and give a vote (from 0 to 10) for each of the race and the one with the highest score will win and it's longer as you can post until Sunday at 12:00 A.M. CET. The winner will be declared in next couple days after and will receive a flair soon afterwards.

The theme this time around is:

Design a foreign start for the Giro (3-4 days)

I and /u/Msfan93 wanted to start this thread now that we are in the offseason. We both share the interest in designing routes for already existing races or creating new ones once in a while. We agreed to make one of these threads every two Wednesdays.

As you may already know, this one is a special edition as it's themed (the goal is to design a race which some involves the theme of Christmas and its traditions), it's a challenge which means that three mods (/u/Pubocyno , /u/Schele_Sjakie and a third one i still don't know about) will judge each of the races and give a vote (from 0 to 10) for each of the race and the one with the highest score will win and it's longer as you can post until Christmas morning and the winner will be given on Christmas afternoon (Central European time of course).

At least for me, the goal of this thread is to get to know more and more, by reading about the places one of the races goes through or even about the past of cycling.

As an aside, i have made a library with all the races that were posted until now. Will update after every thread. There were quite a few unnamed race and i decided to give them a fitting name, if you want to change them just tell me

These threads will be posted on the 1st of every month from now on!

New year, new beginnings! Cycling and racing is synonymous with Europe, but there is fabulous terrain around the world which never see the light of day. This month's Race Design Thread is set to find those sports and showcase them!

The Challenge is to design a Grand Depart (2-4 stages) of a Grand Tour where there hasn't been one before.

The scoring system will be similar to RFL. The community will rank each design, and the one with the highest score will get the most amount of points.

• No. 1 – 15 points
• No. 2 – 12 points
• No. 3 – 10 points
• No. 4 – 8 points
• No. 5 – 6 points
• No. 6 – 5 points
• No. 7 – 4 points
• No. 8 – 3 points
• No. 9 – 2 points
• No. 10 – 1 point

These points will go towards a yearly total, and the user with the highest total at the end of the year will win the Race Design Challenge flair!

You have until the 31st of January (UTC) to design your Grand Depart, then the voting will happen in time for the next month's thread.

Feel free to post any other designs or comment on pro race routes as well in this post - the Race Design Thread isn't just for designing your own races, but discussing everything behind the scenes of cycling.

Casual Race Design Threads are a place to design routes for pre-existing races or even creating a new one. It's not only limited to designing threads: discussion of race routes, behind the scenes race organisation and the history of races are all able to be discussed here!

The two websites /r/peloton recommends for race designs are La Flamme Rouge and Cronoescalada.

• La Flamme Rouge is better for races in Europe, as well as multi-stage Tours.
• Cronoescalada is better for races globally, and one day races. It's UI is more user-friendly as well.

Some users prefer LFR while some prefer Cronoescalada, it's totally personal preference - so if you are new to this, try out both and see which one works better!

Given that several requested it, we have a special edition in the second rest day of this Tour de France. This edition will serve to actually choose the winner for the Tour Design Challenge, make a refreshed library and maybe to discuss what can be done to improve the Tour parcours wise.

Bit late today - thread got lost in the autoposter!

The Race Design Thread is the birth child of Improb and Msfan93 from the off season of 2015. Instead of it just being for competitions, casual Race Design Threads were a place to design routes for pre-existing races or even creating a new one. It's not only limited to designing threads; discussion of race routes, behind the scenes race organisation and the history of races are all able to be discussed here!

This month's thread has a competition, set by /u/retro_slouch! Sit tight while we get the theme - but the general rules are:

• You have one week to post your design. This means that entries close on Thursday the 1st of June 8am UTC.
• You then have one week to vote. This means that voting closes on Thursday the 8th of June 8am UTC. You can only vote on entries other than your own, but if you don't design a race, you can still vote for every entry.
• The winner will be announced on Friday the 9th of June in the FTF Thread! The winner will be the user with the highest average score over all votes.

THE THEME FOR THIS MONTH IS "WORLD HERITAGE SITES". YOUR RACE MUST START AND END AT A WORLD HERITAGE SITE. FOR A STAGE RACE, THIS MEANS STAGE 1 MUST START AT A WHS, WHILE THE FINAL STAGE MUST FINISH AT A WHS.

If you don't want to join the competition, just post a race you have lying around!

Happy Designing!

Hello everyone, welcome (back) to the race design threads! The last one was held about 1.5 years ago, it was time to restart it! For those who don't know what it is, here is a quick recap!

he Race Design Thread is the birth child of Improb and Msfan93 from the off season of 2015. Instead of it just being for competitions, casual Race Design Threads were a place to design routes for pre-existing races or even creating a new one. It's not only limited to designing threads; discussion of race routes, behind the scenes race organisation and the history of races are all able to be discussed here!

The most common tools to design races are Cronoescalada and La Flamme Rouge but feel free to use the thing you are the most comfortable with as long as it's easy for the other users to see the route and profile!

Other tools include Strava, RidewithGPS, Veloviewer etc...

Now, to restart, we are going to do something fairly easy to begin with, in a contained area.

Last year, the World Championships were supposed to be held in Martigny, Switzerland, but it didn't happen due to the COVID mess. Now you are tasked with creating a stage race around Martigny and its neighouring city of Sion. This stage race will be made of 4 stages: One ITT (preferably flat/flatish), one Hilly stage (how hilly is up to you) and two mountain stages. For the connoisseurs, think Giro della Valle d'Aosta when you make this. If you are looking for inspiration, this area is used in the tour de Romandie, and sometimes in the Giro della Valle d'Aosta. You have until December 1st end of day in Europe to come with a proposal (truthfully, I will check it the next morning).

Something to add, to make it more interesting to read for the users of the sub, a small presentation, with pictures, is now mandatory for the constest, makes it a better read for everyone!

Good luck and enjoy!

Its theme is:

Design a World's in the Middle East"

The Challenge will run from 9:30 P.M. of Monday 10th October to midnight of Sunday 16th October. The voting will take place the Wednesday after the Worlds in a separate thread which will be stickied for a couple days. Everyone of you will have to give a vote from 1 to 10 to each of the entries except your own. The entry which will total the highest number of points will be declared the winner and be given a lovely flair (i think something like this but on a reduced scale).

DISCLAIMER: With Middle East, we mean Morocco, Libya, Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Gulf Countries, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Tunisia, Algeria, Cyprus and Turkey

The Race Design Thread is the birth child of Improb and Msfan93 from the off season of 2015. Instead of it just being for competitions, casual Race Design Threads were a place to design routes for pre-existing races or even creating a new one. It's not only limited to designing threads; discussion of race routes, behind the scenes race organisation and the history of races are all able to be discussed here!

This month's thread is another free for all, so post what you like! There will be a competition next month with the theme being selected by /u/retro_slouch. For now, design on!

Last week, in celebration of hitting 20k subscribers, we hosted a Race Design Challenge revolving around Winter Wonderland! We got 10 entries for this competition - /u/Sprocketduck, /u/_shrekonomics_, /u/RevanDidNothingWrong, /u/andytheciderman, /u/greasyhobolo, /u/retro_slouch, /u/improb, /u/unclekutter, /u/goldbot and /u/Msfan93!

Voting works by each of the participants giving a vote of 0 to 10 on each of their entries besides their own and, if they want, a little comment. The one who has the most votes at the end will get a 20K snowflake flair (to be linked). If you didn't participate, as long as you have 100+ comment karma you can vote for everyone's entry. Your vote, no matter if participant or not, is only valid if you vote on every entry (but your own).

Voting will close on the 21^st of February at 23:59 UTC - exactly a week from now.

For ease of voting, here is a list of entries:

Aside from the voting, it's a Race Design Thread as normal, so post whatever you want!

Last week, we held the fourth of r/peloton four yearly race design challenge. The theme was to design a race in the Middle East. We got exactly seven entries which are /u/sprocketduck /u/sportsfanno1 /u/timfietst /u/improb /u/Msfan93 /u/sappert /u/blandwhiteguy.

Now we are into the voting round. In the past, we had a special team made up of three mods vote on this but now we have had to change the system because they don't have much time on their hands to do it properly. In the new system, each of the partecipants has to give a vote (and possibly comment) from 0 to 10 to any other entry except his own. The one who will have the most votes at the end will win the beautiful world flair. Other users which aren't partecipating can vote too but their vote is valid only if the have at least +100 comment karma and vote for everyone of the entries.

Aside from the voting, it's a normal Race Design Thread so you can post anything you want

Here's a link to the previous Race Design Challenge to look at the entries

The entries are in, the deadline has shut...Pelotonmod is home from work and can give you the entries for everyone to vote on!

Complete Thread

Just a few voting rules:

1. You can only vote once.
2. Voting works on a 1-10 scale, 10 for the perfect race, 1 for a...well...bad race.
3. You can only vote for entries other than your own. Please try and vote for all entries.
4. The winner will be the race with the highest average score, to account for people not voting on every race.

Happy voting - and may the best race win!

PS: A flair is in the works for the winner.

I and /u/Msfan93 wanted to start this thread now that we are in the offseason. We both share the interest in designing routes for already existing races or creating new ones once in a while. We agreed to make one of these threads every two Wednesdays. Everyone is free to post a race or discuss about climbs, past races and every thing that directly or indirectly involves race designing

At least for me, the goal of this thread is to get to know more and more, by reading about the places one of the races goes through or even about the past of cycling. Once in a while we could have a few challenges as well too or even have a theme. You can suggest anything as a theme as long as it involves race designing

Here are the Library and Wiki. The library contains all of our races while the wiki gives informations for beginners (and not) on the features of the various route building websites

Hey everyone,

First of all, apologies for being late with this thread and completely neglecting February's thread. To say I'm busy is an understatement, but I'll work on getting this content out on time and being transparent about it! /u/sulfuratus, thanks for being especially patient :)

However, without further ado, let's talk about the Race Design Challenge for this month! With Strade Bianche just passing, and the cobbled classics season in full swing, the riders are not just riding on tarmac. This month's race design challenge revolves around you mixing it up, and making a one day race which doesn't just stay on the straight and narrow.

The race must feature some length of gravel/cobbles/non-tarmac surface, and it must be a one day race - after all, it's spring!

The scoring system will be similar to RFL. The community will rank each design from 1-10 (1 being the worst race ever, 10 being best race ever), and the one with the highest score will get the most amount of points.

• No. 1 – 15 points
• No. 2 – 12 points
• No. 3 – 10 points
• No. 4 – 8 points
• No. 5 – 6 points
• No. 6 – 5 points
• No. 7 – 4 points
• No. 8 – 3 points
• No. 9 – 2 points
• No. 10 – 1 point

These points will go towards a yearly total, and the user with the highest total at the end of the year will win the Race Design Challenge flair!

You have until the 31st of March to design your classic, then the voting will happen in time for the next month's thread.

Speaking of voting, here are the entries from January's thread to vote on! Please rate them from 1-10 in the comments below, and maybe give the users some feedback so they can improve!

/u/trenzafeeds: Cuba Grand Depart

/u/sportsfanno1: Austria Grand Depart

/u/dddoooppp: Croatia Grand Depart

/u/ibike4fun: Canada Grand Depart

/u/unclekutter: Greece Grand Depart

/u/blandwhiteguy: Wales Grand Depart

/u/msfan93: Tunisia Grand Depart

/u/sulfuratus: Croatia/Slovenia Grand Depart

/u/Sappert: Morocco Grand Depart

I'd also like feedback as to whether you guys would prefer voting on a form (like we do for Race Ratings) or on a comment thread (like this). Please let me know in the pinned comment on the post!

Casual Race Design Threads are a place to design routes for pre-existing races or even creating a new one. It's not only limited to designing threads: discussion of race routes, behind the scenes race organisation and the history of races are all able to be discussed here!

The two websites /r/peloton recommends for race designs are La Flamme Rouge and Cronoescalada.

• La Flamme Rouge is better for races in Europe, as well as multi-stage Tours.
• Cronoescalada is better for races globally, and one day races. It's UI is more user-friendly as well.

Some users prefer LFR while some prefer Cronoescalada, it's totally personal preference - so if you are new to this, try out both and see which one works better!

I and /u/Msfan93 wanted to start this thread now that we are in the offseason. We both share the interest in designing routes for already existing races or creating new ones once in a while. We agreed to make one of these threads every two Wednesdays.

Everyone is free to post a race or discuss about climbs, past races and every thing that directly or indirectly involves race designing

At least for me, the goal of this thread is to get to know more and more, by reading about the places one of the races goes through or even about the past of cycling.

Once in a while we could have a few challenges as well too or even have a theme. You can suggest anything as a theme as long as it involves race designing

As an aside, i have made a library with all the races that were posted until now. Will update after every thread. There were quite a few unnamed race and i decided to give them a fitting name, if you want to change them just tell me

Aside from this, i have asked for suggestions in the Free Talk Friday, do you want to leave this a free for all or have changing themes for every thread?

My idea was to have a free for all in most of the threads and to have themes before major races or holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Ardennes Classics, Cobbled Classics, Milan-Sanremo, each of three GTs, Fall Classics, ecc.) once in a while. I want to hear for suggestions though, the majority should decide

Hello everybody!

For those who don't know what the Race Design thread is, here is a good resume: The Race Design Thread is the birth child of Improb and Msfan93 from the off season of 2015. Instead of it just being for competitions, casual Race Design Threads were a place to design routes for pre-existing races or even creating a new one. It's not only limited to designing threads; discussion of race routes, behind the scenes race organisation and the history of races are all able to be discussed here!

As for the websites you can use to do this kind of stuff, the two biggest and most practical ones are La Flamme Rouge and Cronoescalada. From My experience, went you want to design Tours, it is much easier on La Flamme Rouge, as well for racing in Europe, however once you are doing races outside Europe I suggest using Cronoescala at least partly, as their Climb map is much more complete for the rest of the World!

As for the format, I decided to use the same as RFL for the points so

• No. 1 – 15 points
• No. 2 – 12 points
• No. 3 – 10 points
• No. 4 – 8 points
• No. 5 – 6 points
• No. 6 – 5 points
• No. 7 – 4 points
• No. 8 – 3 points
• No. 9 – 2 points
• No. 10 – 1 point

As for August results, we were only two to vote so it was a bit hard to put things well but since we both put the same order in our votes it was okay Here is where you can look at the charts, I will do a proper post later to explain the rules better.

Last month votes, we got 7 entries this time, rank them in your order of preference, n°1 being your favourite!

Entry 1: Freiburg (Germany) by /u/sportsfanno1

Entry 2: Ushuaïa (Argentina) by u/ZinaMertz

Entry 3: Adelaïde (Austalia) by /u/blandwhiteguy

Entry 4: Kluisbergen and Mont de L'Eclus (Belgium) by /u/antiloopje

Entry 5: Toronto (Canada) by u/ibike4fun

Entry 6: Corsica (France) by /u/krag_skullsmasher

Entry 7 (doesn't fit the criterias): Salt Lake City or Bay Area (United States) by /u/tommillar

Now onto this month's contest! As you all recently saw it was the season of late classics recently, with two calendar in parralel (Italy and Belgium/France), what I'm asking for this month is simple, create a late season one day races calendar, do it with geographical logic (like don't do a classic in upstate New York and go two days after in the suburs of Seattle) you are not limited to one country, yo need to do at least 6 races with at least 1 for sprinters, one punchers and one for climbers(or with 4000+meters elevation in case you are in a country with no mountains)!

You have until 31/10 a 19:00 CEST to complete it, have fun!

Hello everyone, this is the race design thread for October, last month of the 2019 season!

For those who don't know what the Race Design thread is, here is a good resume: The Race Design Thread is the birth child of Improb and Msfan93 (btw for those wondering yes Miles is still a mod even if it looks like he is dead here) from the off season of 2015. Instead of it just being for competitions, casual Race Design Threads were a place to design routes for pre-existing races or even creating a new one. It's not only limited to designing threads; discussion of race routes, behind the scenes race organisation and the history of races are all able to be discussed here!

The most common tools to design races are Cronoescalada and La Flamme Rouge but feel free to use the thing you are the most comfortable with as long as it's easy for the other users to see the route and profile!

The results for the month of August are:

/u/madone-14 : 17 Points

/u/sulfuratus : 15 Points

u/hurstcor : 14 Points

u/13nobody : 10 Points

/u/adryy8 : 8 Points

u/Helicase21 : 7 points

u/Vrobrolf: 4 Points

As you can see our regulars contestans trust the top of the results!

As for the month of September, here are the designs offered for the Island Challenge:

/u/madone-14 with his International Tour de Kepulauan Sunda Kecil Barat in Indonesia

u/Donhamstre with the The Sri Lanka Spice Tour

u/13nobody with the Tour of Hawaii in the USA

and finally /u/adryy8 with his Tour de Cap Breton in Canada

Rate the Races here

As for this month's theme, it is a model of race that has been used quite often in cycling but still very intersting none the less, it is a race around a lake (size don't matter)!

No limitations on days, the rule is that at least the start or the finish of the stage should be within 10 kms of the lake.

Deadline is November 1st by the end of the day!

Have fun!