As you start to finally move away from the Kazakhastan border, having been running 50 miles away from it for ages and ages, you have a lumpy uphill stage 166 to contend with. There’s precious little in the way of geographical features to report, other than trees, the odd lake and the railway line a couple of miles to the north. This is just a stage for keeping your head down, working hard and ticking it off at the end.
The rollout may start off downhill but that’s short lived. The first climb kicks off after half a mile and extends all around the right/left/right combo between miles one and four, down the long straight that follows and doesn’t top out until the left hander at eight miles. There’s then a gentle descent before the next lumpy gradient starts at the right hander on ten miles.
It’s lumpy from there – some quite annoying lumps too – all the way down the next straight, which is six miles long, round the left hander at sixteen miles, and all the way down the straight after that to twenty three miles. Then, less than a mile from the finish, the road dives downhill to an elevation only 20 feet removed (on the plus side) from where the stage started, and you get to sprint for the line round a gentle right hand curve.
Distance: 23 miles / 37 kilometres
Ascent: 299 feet / 91 metres
RGT Magic Road: V6Ht2YWNhgrD
Max elevation: 495 ft
Min elevation: 411 ft
Total climbing: 299 ft
Total descent: -263 ft
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