After two cracking stages in the mountains, it’s back to earth quite literally on a more more sedate stage 197. It’s essentially a downhill stage with a couple of lumps just to keep you honest. The first half of the stage, to Novopyatnitskiy, heads east before the route hangs a gentle right to finish the stage heading south east.
The rollout is initially uphill, carrying on from where stage 196 left off, but the climb is short lived and by half a mile gone, you’re beginning a descent that goes on almost untouched for the next nine miles. There’s a tiny wee climb approaching Ol’gino at four miles, but it’s nothing to trouble the scorers and you’ll be heading downhill again soon after. The are junctions north and south at six miles: north to O’gino and south to Uyar, and the road crosses the railway line between Uyar and Gromadskiy soon after.
There’s a railway junction north of Uyar and the highway soon picks up the route of the branch line to Novopyatnitskiy, which you reach at thirteen miles. But before then, there’s a climb to deal with at nine miles. It’s only a hundred feet, but it is the most testing climb of the stage so worthy of a mention.
After Novopyatnitskiy, the road is lumpy flat most of the way to Tat’yanovka at eighteen miles, and that’s where the second proper climb of the stage kicks in, but it’s neither high nor long. After Tat’yanovka, the road takes a long, gentle left hander that doesn’t straighten out until the mile long finishing straight: although the road kicks up on approach to the line, the three miles before that are basically downhill.
Distance: 24 miles / 38 kilometres
Ascent: 377 feet / 115 metres
RGT Magic Road: 2D7DlFrdwNBI
Max elevation: 1442 ft
Min elevation: 1079 ft
Total climbing: 378 ft
Total descent: -641 ft
You must log in to post a comment.