mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
2018. They're gravelly but the ones I've ridden a few years ago were not gravel. They were compacted limestone, mostly through or around vineyards. Near but not on the Loire à Vélo (part of EV6), on some of the related routes like the Châteaux à Vélo. It's the sort of thing you'll find on good-but-not-tarmac Sustrans routes in this country, such as NCN26 Strawberry Line through the Mendips, or NCN1 / NCN61 Lea Valley Route. I suspect there's probably one within 100 miles of anywhere in England.
Not so much for sprinters since the wide and famously long 4km finishing straight was cut short to avoid sprinting on new tram tracks. It's now under 1km. I don't think the race takes the old fastish and flattish southern entry into the city either, bumping over hills at Vouvray and Rochecarbon instead, so the ability of the sprint teams to catch a breakaway is much reduced. For a few years between 2011 and 2017, the "sprinter's autumn race" struggled to find a new identity, until it lost some distance and added the vineyard roads.
