Skip Madness
New Member
Every year our national tour sees quite a few big name riders coming to these shores. And it sees very impressive crowds throughout the country.
It also sees sprints. Too many of them. I don't have a problem with sprint stages, but it's coming to something when in an eight-day race, every stage is won in a bunch sprint except for one, which was one by one guy escaping before the break got caught and the bunch sprint being used to decide second place.
Where are the damned hills?
First of all, I do appreciate the logistical difficulties of organising an eight-day race around the country. I don't know if the stages are decided by the cities bidding (a Google search didn't turn anything up to suggest so) or if the organisers request it to the cities they want (anyone have this information?) and proceed from there. But either way, the race seems to have gone backwards as its status has gone forwards.
The folks at ITV4 tried to sell the story of the race as it was unfolding as "close" and "exciting"; but if every stage ends in a bunch sprint then obviously the time gaps aren't going to be big. That doesn't necessarily equate to interesting. The fact is, Britain may not have the Alps, or Pyrenees, or Asturias, or the Apennines; but there are halfway-decent climbs. Yet they are continually neglected to the point where the Gun - a climb with a paltry height gain of 140m - gets awarded first-category status.
In the race's return year of 2004, despite being only five days long it was probably the best Tour in terms of undulating stages, with stage 2 featuring Holme Moss and Snake Pass back-to-back (although the latter topped out 40km from the end) en route from Leeds to Sheffield, and stage 4 being the closest the race has yet managed to a summit finish at the Celtic Manor. 2005 saw a refined Leeds to Sheffield stage similar but superior to the one the previous year. In 2007 the race took in the Porlock Toll Road and Watersmeet (or whatever real name you want to give the climb), those being two of the few recent occasions where the race has pushed above 400m of altitude, but they still came a long way from the finish. Stage 4 that year did feature the Cow and Calf reasonably (reasonably) close to the finish on an otherwise flat day. 2008 used North Molton Ridge (sorry, "Mile Hill") and the Mennock Pass, both again cresting 400m on separate days, but yet again those came too far out to be of significance.
There's a thread about the Great Dun Fell in the Road Rides forum. 7km long at an average of 9% with a good surface all the way up. Why not use try to get a stage finish there? You could probably manage to take in the Fleak, Butter Tubs, Galloway Gate and Lamps Moss along the way and you'd wind up with a stage which would actually suit a climber.
They love taking the rest down here to the south-west at the moment, so why not try finishing a stage on North Hill above Minehead? Again, you could probably stick in Countisbury Hill, Dunkery Beacon and a couple of other climbs as you go and make it... interesting.
I don't expect to see the Bealach na Ba or the Bwlch-y-Groes in the race on account of their isolation, or the Lakeland passes because 30% might really be too steep for slow-travelling race vehicles. But the climbs don't have to be our most famous, just make sure there's a few of them fairly close to each other and fairly close to the end, enough to make attacking worthwhile.
The inclusion of the Porlock Toll Road a couple of years ago was a late amendment to the course when the infinitely superior Porlock Hill was decided to be too steep for the team cars. Debatable, but let's say fair enough. In which case rather than the unwavering 5% gradient of the Toll Road they could have gone a couple of minutes further north and used the approximately 9% average Culbone Hill, whose profile appears to sit healthily between its two neighbours. Not having seen the road with my own eyes I don't know how good it is, but the OS map suggests a standard tarmacked road with steep bits, but steep bits which aren't as steep as Porlock Hill's steep bits.
Does anyone share my frustrations? Does anyone know why the route seems to have been getting flatter and flatter every year culminating in this September's yawn-fest? What about the roads you know? Has anyone got any good climbs that could be used close to a stage finish or as stage finishes themselves? Or any other good, rolling routes you would recommend for future stages?
It also sees sprints. Too many of them. I don't have a problem with sprint stages, but it's coming to something when in an eight-day race, every stage is won in a bunch sprint except for one, which was one by one guy escaping before the break got caught and the bunch sprint being used to decide second place.
Where are the damned hills?
First of all, I do appreciate the logistical difficulties of organising an eight-day race around the country. I don't know if the stages are decided by the cities bidding (a Google search didn't turn anything up to suggest so) or if the organisers request it to the cities they want (anyone have this information?) and proceed from there. But either way, the race seems to have gone backwards as its status has gone forwards.
The folks at ITV4 tried to sell the story of the race as it was unfolding as "close" and "exciting"; but if every stage ends in a bunch sprint then obviously the time gaps aren't going to be big. That doesn't necessarily equate to interesting. The fact is, Britain may not have the Alps, or Pyrenees, or Asturias, or the Apennines; but there are halfway-decent climbs. Yet they are continually neglected to the point where the Gun - a climb with a paltry height gain of 140m - gets awarded first-category status.
In the race's return year of 2004, despite being only five days long it was probably the best Tour in terms of undulating stages, with stage 2 featuring Holme Moss and Snake Pass back-to-back (although the latter topped out 40km from the end) en route from Leeds to Sheffield, and stage 4 being the closest the race has yet managed to a summit finish at the Celtic Manor. 2005 saw a refined Leeds to Sheffield stage similar but superior to the one the previous year. In 2007 the race took in the Porlock Toll Road and Watersmeet (or whatever real name you want to give the climb), those being two of the few recent occasions where the race has pushed above 400m of altitude, but they still came a long way from the finish. Stage 4 that year did feature the Cow and Calf reasonably (reasonably) close to the finish on an otherwise flat day. 2008 used North Molton Ridge (sorry, "Mile Hill") and the Mennock Pass, both again cresting 400m on separate days, but yet again those came too far out to be of significance.
There's a thread about the Great Dun Fell in the Road Rides forum. 7km long at an average of 9% with a good surface all the way up. Why not use try to get a stage finish there? You could probably manage to take in the Fleak, Butter Tubs, Galloway Gate and Lamps Moss along the way and you'd wind up with a stage which would actually suit a climber.
They love taking the rest down here to the south-west at the moment, so why not try finishing a stage on North Hill above Minehead? Again, you could probably stick in Countisbury Hill, Dunkery Beacon and a couple of other climbs as you go and make it... interesting.
I don't expect to see the Bealach na Ba or the Bwlch-y-Groes in the race on account of their isolation, or the Lakeland passes because 30% might really be too steep for slow-travelling race vehicles. But the climbs don't have to be our most famous, just make sure there's a few of them fairly close to each other and fairly close to the end, enough to make attacking worthwhile.
The inclusion of the Porlock Toll Road a couple of years ago was a late amendment to the course when the infinitely superior Porlock Hill was decided to be too steep for the team cars. Debatable, but let's say fair enough. In which case rather than the unwavering 5% gradient of the Toll Road they could have gone a couple of minutes further north and used the approximately 9% average Culbone Hill, whose profile appears to sit healthily between its two neighbours. Not having seen the road with my own eyes I don't know how good it is, but the OS map suggests a standard tarmacked road with steep bits, but steep bits which aren't as steep as Porlock Hill's steep bits.
Does anyone share my frustrations? Does anyone know why the route seems to have been getting flatter and flatter every year culminating in this September's yawn-fest? What about the roads you know? Has anyone got any good climbs that could be used close to a stage finish or as stage finishes themselves? Or any other good, rolling routes you would recommend for future stages?
