British Classics Weekend: Hebden - Skipton - Hebden 199.8km: Sunday 29th May 2016

Introduction
I'm going to start the British Classics weekend route descriptions with the more low-key Sunday race rather than the Saturday race. The reason for this is to build tension in much the same way as the Hit Parade when it counted down from 40. In at number 2.......

Route

The Hebden - Skipton - Hebden Classic is actually slightly longer than the previous days Hebden Bridge Classic however with over 1,000m less of vertical gain it should be an easier day in the saddle. The race starts in the pedestrianized square of the very scenic town of Hebden Bridge and the rollout will head straight up Cock Hill for a long 8km neutralized section. From here the racing starts and it will start incredibly quickly with a downhill run to Howarth followed by a hard, steep and grippy climb on Green Sykes Road. If a break goes away here then they will be able to build their advantage on the flattish out and back loop into the Yorkshire Dales. Flatish is the word though, it's far from pan flat, in the 140km loop there are 3 significant climbs; Bolton Road (2.4km @5.2%), Kidstones Bank 4.4km @4.4%) and Ribblehead (1.8km @3.9%). It might be that these climbs prove welcome relief from the exposed moorlands that make up much of the mid part of the race.
From the top of Ribblehead, at 433m it's the highest point on the course, there's a 60km largely downhill run to Cross Hills, a suburb of Keighley, and the end-game begins. The course now rejoins the earlier route for the last 25km and the crowds need only walk over to see the slow trudge up Lumb Clough Bank (2.6km @8.7%) and it will be a trudge. The climb starts immediately after the peloton exits Sutton-in-Craven with 700m of 14% before the high roadside walls are replaced with trees and the road "eases" to 7%. The last 800m are dead straight and average 11% - how many riders will be left by the bottom of the last climb?
At the bottom of the final climb, Oxenhope Hill, the north side of Cock Hill and also used in the Tour de France, there will be just 11km left, too early for a last attack? Well possibly, because, although the bottom of the climb is steep and sheltered the top is steep but very very open and a lone attacker might well be riding himself out of the race. It's a balancing act however, any lone attacker who reaches the top with any significant gap will have 7km all downhill and it will be incredibly hard to bring them back. Teams who have managed to retain numbers in the lead group will be at a significant advantage.
The descent from Cock Hill is straightforward, well surfaced and very quick. The last kilometer isn't so easy though. With just 500m left there's an almost 180 right hander before a flat and straight sprint through the center of town.

Points of Interest
Kidstones Bank
Coming after just 73km don't expect fireworks but, a more beautiful place you couldn't wish to watch a bike race. It also featured during the 2014 Tour de France, called the Cote de Cray, at a similar point on the stage to where it is positioned today. If you're feeling adventurous, not to mention fit, then you could ride out to Kidstones in the morning, watch the peloton ride by, and then hop back on your bike to head back down to Lumb Clough Bank, which is just 51km south. In the meantime the peloton will be riding for another 100km before they get to the same climb.

The Cote de Cray during Stage 1 of the 2014 Tour de France

Ribblehead
Under half way to go until the stage finish lies the Ribblehead viaduct and the Ribblehead climb which is the highest point on the race. The climb isn't all that special, it's a bit of a moorland slog and its ease depends hugely on how the wind is blowing. So why head there? Well, the Ribblehead viaduct alone is worth a visit to see its span across the desolate moor. When you've visited that, why not head back over the climb to the delightful motorcycle haven of Hawes. When you've had a cup of tea and a slice of cake head south to take in Fleet Moss, which makes a very good case as the toughest climb in Britain. It's not the longest and it's not the steepest but it is both long enough and steep enough to make it incredibly tough. The finishing stretch is unspeakably tough, if you're still on your bike you deserve a medal and if you're riding up without swerving back and forth across the road then you should become a pro. Finish off the ride by going over Kidstone Bank and back to Hawes or, alternatively, keep on heading south towards Grassington and Settle for more punishing climbs.

Lumb Clough Bank

This could be the decisive point in the race and you can watch the riders twice without moving your bag of sandwiches and cordial. It will be used first as a descent before it appears later, just 25km from the line to break the hopes of the weaker riders. Don't expect to see attacks, instead look to the rear of the peloton to see the masks of pain as weaker riders attempt to hang on for just long enough to make it to the top.
If you're feeling keen, why not watch the riders tackle Lumb Clough Bank early in the day from the south side before hopping on your bike to ride the short distance to Haworth and a visit to the Bronte Museum. Have a slice of cake and practice your best brooding Heathcliffe impression but make sure you get back to Lumb Clough in enough time to see the tired riders haul themselves up.

Profile

Map

Routes are plotted using plotaroute.com. Profile maps are made using http://paooolino.altervista.org/

A British Classic

Introduction
Britain has won the Tour de France in 2012 & 2013 and the World Championships in 2011. There's also been a team since 2010 but what does Britain have to show for it? A one week stage race which is a glorified World Championship warm up race and a 200km one day race taking in the Surrey hills before a flat run back into London. It's hardly going to ignite the interests of young cycling fans. However there's reasons to feel cheery - the amusingly named Tour de Yorkshire begins this year at the start of May. Finally it seems that the British Cycling authorities have accepted that the north (the heartland of cycling) deserves a top quality race. Unfortunately, as we'll see below, they don't actually think that the huge numbers of cycling fans in Yorkshire and Lancashire will actually travel to watch a race.

If you build it......
Again, the Tour of Britain features a hill top finish - 2013 and 2014 both saw hilltop finishes with Haytor and The Tumble respectively. The last hilltop finish before that? Yep, there hasn't been one in the modern Tour of Britain. The 2004, the first and possibly best ToB, came closest to the perfect route. The highlights were stages 2 and 4 where the Peloton were treated to the climb of Holme Moss as well as numerous other classic Peak climbs, for the latter stage they had less classic climbs available but still managed to produce a steep sinewy route finishing uphill at the Celtic Manor golf resort.

The mighty Buttertubs crammed on Tour de France Saturday

The problem with hilltop finishes is that there's not many large settlements at the top of hills. If there's not a large population already at a finish then modern day cycling route designers tend to think that people won't walk or cycle the 20 or 30 minutes to be in place to watch the riders file by. If this were true then why was the Cote de Buttertubs or the Cote de Holme Moss the densest populated spots on the Tour de France route in Yorkshire? Possibly the Tour de France route full stop. You might say that Holme Moss is actually fairly easy to get too, it's situated between Sheffield, Bradford, Huddersfield, Leeds etc and it's a fairly major road. The same can't be said of Buttertubs, it's in the middle of the Dales, read: nowhere, and with road closures and traffic it must have been a nightmare to get to. But yet, the peloton faced the above crowds, hordes maybe? This proves that if you provide people with the excitement and interest of a mountain stage then people will turn up. What people want to see is riders slogging up the Col d'Izoard, sprinting up the Mur de Huy, flying down the Poggio - they don't want to watch a slight uphill finish in Stoke.

The Future
I fear that the Tour of Britain might be a lost cause. Its slot in the calendar leads it to be utilized as a World Championship warm up and so there's a limit to how difficult you can make your course and still keep the big names. This isn't the only issue however, initially the Tour of Britain was funded by development agencies and they obviously, and quite rightly, have a vested interest in the economic advantages of well populated routes. They have no interest in the quality of the racing. These development agencies then went bust in the recession and the bill reverted to the local councils and sponsor money. You might wonder why the Tour hasn't just employed a title sponsor, the reason is that they wanted security and this couldn't be guaranteed with a title sponsor. The title sponsor might run out of money and then you're left with no race. At the moment if one of the councils goes bust or decides to spend money elsewhere then the ToB can just miss that region out.
The competition comes from the fact that councils, at the absolute maximum, get to host the Tour of Britain once a year. Put yourself in the place of a member of the council - do you put your money on a sure fire stage finish in a large town that is easy for people to get too and easy to see a definite economic benefit from hosting a stage? Or, do you take a chance and stick it up the side of a desolate moor - you could end up with no one at the stage finish and a large bill. You could end up with a huge crowd who either end up in the local town anyway after/before the race or go home and decide to come back to the beautiful countryside they watched the race from at a later date.

Prudential Surrey Classic passing by Westminster

I should say, I am in no way criticizing the local councils, the fact that they provide any money to an event, that could appear to be a folly, when they have so many competing interests is brilliant. But I think there needs to be a change in how races are funded and planned in the UK.

Plan
My plan is to change the races in the UK. We don't need to have loads of races all throughout the calendar and try to overreach ourselves. We just need to improve the quality of each race. My idea is this:

Tour de Yorkshire (Start of May)
British Classic Weekend (End of May)
Prudential Surrey Classic (Start of August)
Tour of Britain (Mid September)

The British Classic Weekend would be run in a similar way to Omloop Het Nieuwsblad/KBK weekend. A harder race on the Saturday followed by an easier race in a similar place on the Sunday. Over the next few weeks I will be fleshing out the actual route designs for the Classics weekend. They aren't just a great weekend of cycling - the idea is that they can prove that moving cycling races away from the big towns and cities and out to the big hills and classic climbs is a viable way to organise a bike race. If it works here it will be almost impossible for the Tour of Britain and Tour de Yorkshire to not do this. Then we'll have three epic races in the UK, and the Surrey Classic, instead of none as we have at the moment.

Preview: Vuelta al Pais Vasco 2015

With the Vuelta al Pais Vasco coming up it's the start of one of my favourite parts of the season; there's something about the Paris-Roubaix, Pais Vasco and Ardennes classics month which feels like the season is heating up towards the Grand Tours. This preview will look at what I believe to be the best stage in the Pais Vasco.

Stage 5 - Eibar - Aia 156km
It's not a very long stage nor does it have any huge mountains to navigate. What it does have though is three climbs up to Aia which are all punishingly steep and narrow. The final climb is a gradual climb from the east of Aia which makes its way over a beautiful shoulder of mountain on a well surfaced two lane road. But this is short lived, within the last 5km there's a hairpin bend and the well surfaced duel lane road turns into a farm track style single lane road that ignores all thoughts of road geography and just heads straight up. It's normally not possible to see gradient on a still photo but the fact that the two street view photos below look so so steep is testament of the climbs difficulty.

Using my crystal ball I would say that the winning rider will be a Grand Tour contender who can deal with these Monte Zoncolan style climbs - from the start list this would be Nairo Quintana. Now, this is a fools errand, but the following are my predications for top 10 on the stage and the time gaps.....

1. Nairo Quintana
2. Thibault Pinot +0.03
3. Tejay Van Garderen +0.05
4. Rinaldo Nocentini +0.05
5. Joaquin Rodriguez +0.10
6. Adam Yates +0.18
7. Robert Kiserlovski +0.25
8. Jean Christophe Peraud +0.41
9. Rui Costa +0.41
10. Igor Anton +0.41

Tour of New York 2016 Part II

Stage 5 - Ithaca - Binghampton 220.7km
Another long flat stage to test the riders. Not hugely difficult but some of the later climbs coupled with the distance will really hurt. With more than 400km in the legs in two days, whichever team is leading will be grateful of the shorter stage tomorrow.

The finishing laps around Binghampton are totally flat and untechnical. Expect to see the bunch lined out as the sprint favourites ask their teams to keep the pace high through downtown Binghampton.










Stage 6a - Liberty - Mohonk Mountain House 88.9km
The queen stage of the race. The first challenge is the Mohonk Preserve climb which comes after 54km. On paper it doesn't look like being that difficult - 8.4km @3.9% but with sections of 6%, 8% and 10%. At the top there will be a downhill dash before a flat run to New Paltz. There will then be another chance for the riders to show their climbing legs with the climb to the Mohonk Mountain house. There's 9.7km from New Paltz to the finish but it's the middle 3.9km which feature the hardest climb - 3.9km @7% before a 3.4km false flat to the finish.

With the level of difficulty during the stage, how many riders will be left to contest the finish?




Stage 6b - Mohonk Mountain House TT 18.5km
The winner of the Tour of New York will almost certainly be crowned today. This is a tough stage to ride, the actual length of climbing is just 3.9km, but you feel that riders would lose handfuls of time on a time trial bike, equally the other 15km are flat so riding these on a normal road bike is unwise. The winner will likely be a time trialler who can hang on in the hills - Tony Martin for example.

By sending the race back up the climb that they finished on earlier in the day will be advantageous for the supporters who can stay on the climb all afternoon and witness some excellent racing.

The finishing climb to Monhok will excite the climbers who have had a tough week on the flat. The false flat run in will be tough for lone attackers and it might suit a small group who have gone away on the steep sections. It could also be a stage for a strong classics style rider who can hang with the climbers and then go away inside the final 3km.




Stage 7 - New York Criterium 12.2km x 8 laps
This could certainly be seen as the queen stage. A criterium in downtown New York is a massive occasion for any sponsor and the sprinters will be extra motivated. The course is significantly different from the opening criterium. Because it is held in Central Park, the route consists of sweeping corners and long straights and so is different to the classic inner city criterium route.

The start and finish line is at West 57th Street just east of Carnegie hall, offering what must be the most urbanised finish in world cycling. The finish is also a great cycling
showcase for the people in New York who, as we've mentioned, have been poorly served by bike races in the last few years. A New York City finish will ignite the interest in cycling in the city and, coming just a week before the Champs Elysees finish could be the finest finish in world cycling.






To find these routes please go to plotaroute.com and type ToNewYork into the search bar. The Monhok profile is created using http://paooolino.altervista.org/elevation-chart/

Let me know if you have any questions about this route or any suggestions. I will be revisiting it and adjusting before the end of April.

Tour of New York 2016 Part I

Introduction
Currently, the growing number of UCI ranked events in the US have neglected the East Coast preferring to cover the Western US in well attended stage races filled with exciting climbs and European racers. But why is the East coast being ignored? It wasn't always the case, for many years the Tour of Georgia was the only excursion a pro-rider made to the US however with the end of that race came the emergence of more events across the other side of the country. It is easy to see why, the west coast offers bigger European style climbs and, it certainly seems like, a more outdoorsy population.

The East Coast cycling future is looking more promising. The 2015 World Championships will be held in Richmond, Virginia - just the second time it has been held in the USA. The time is now right to introduce a stage race to the East and specifically New York. New York has the 4th largest population of any state but it also has plenty of space, specifically in the North, which is still very rural. In the far North East there seriously high mountains however this race largely avoids that region in favour of the more rolling terrain in the West.

Race Details
The race is seven days long featuring a split stage on the penultimate day. Weather considerations mean that it would have to be held between April and October. As you can expect the calendar is well filled during this time so fitting a seven day long stage race in here is difficult. Potential slots could be in the first week of May where it wouldn't clash with any World Tour event and could act as a warm up for the Tour of California. The last week of May would also be a possibility although it would clash with the Dauphine (when travel times are included) so it's unlikely to attract the main Tour contenders. Mid July could be a good time as well, due to the time difference it wouldn't clash with the Tour TV coverage and would likely capitalise on cycling's popularity. With this in mind I would suggest the race starts on the 11th July and run until the 17th - Monday to Sunday. Although this would mean that the biggest names in cycling would be absent the race would still be able to attract the biggest teams and a large number of top quality riders.



Stage 1 - Syracuse Criterium - 10 x 9.47km

A classic American criterium late Monday evening to start the race. Although it looks like the only difficulty will be the twists and turns of the course, requiring constant acceleration, there is actually a significant amount of climbing. Each lap throws out 95m of vertical climbing so almost 1,000m by the time they cross the finish line. Despite this we would still expect to see a bunch sprint on the fast downhill run in to the Oncentre War Memorial.

Accepting for a crash, no one is going to lose the Tour of New York today but for the collection of smaller US teams it represents an excellent opportunity to bag an early victory.





Stage 2 - Syracuse - Rochester - 165.8km
At 70km more than the previous stage but with around 200m less ascent this is a custom built sprinter's stage. The finish consists of laps of downtown Rochester which are much less technically demanding than the Syracuse circuit. Although the final circuit does feature a climb up the State Highway 31, it is drag strip straight and and only rising gradually.

One potential difficulty early in the stage is the proximity to Lake Ontario. If the wind is blowing then expect a much much tougher stage.




Stage 3 - Niagra Falls - Silver Creek - 147.24km
Another short flat stage, this time starting in Canada for 7km. The early part of the stage is absolutely flat as it traverses the Niagra river down to Buffalo. South of Buffalo the race enters some short sharp hills which, given their mid stage positioning, are unlikely to test the riders.

After the mid stage difficulties it's back to the flat plains. The difficulty here is the proximity to Lake Erie which could bring a stiff breeze off the water, firstly as a headwind and secondly as a sidewind for the final 12km.








Stage 4 - Jamestown - Springwater - 229.5km
The longest stage of the race. An epic, lengthwise, but the difficulties only start within the last 25km. It should be a really quick start to the stage with a helpful tailwind coming off the Erie. When the wind stops the difficulties start, with just under 25km to go the riders turn skywards on the 4.4km Main Street climb. It could be a good opportunity for a group to go clear, although the false flat after the climb will dissuade lone attackers.

The 2 laps of Springwater appear to be without difficulty but upon closer inspection you can see the 1km of dirt road hidden there and the small rises that will sting tired legs. The questions are; can you organise a leadout train on a dirt road and will there be any sprinters left by that point?

Stages 5, 6a, 6b and 7 will follow. For more information on the stages go to plotaroute.com and type ToNewYork into the search bar.

Introduction

So what is this blog? There will be reviews of upcoming race routes as well as proposals for new races or route designs for existing races. We'll also have some editorial about the history of race route design and opinion on the future of route design.

This blog won't be a blog about results or current riders, or at least not mainly. I am a big cycling fan of course, so these things do interest me but there are websites that do results/interviews much better than I ever could: Cyclingnews, Steephill.tv, Pezcyclingnews and Velonews are all examples.

Lastly, I hope you enjoy the content here. If you do then I would love to hear from you, if you have any suggestions then please also send them to me.

Thanks,

Sam