This is a sub-par climbing stage, which you’ll probably be happy about after what’s gone before these past few stages. The direction is relentlessly south east, and that’s good because Irkutsk is now only six stages away, and it opens up the gateway to Mongolia, sitting on the north shore of Lake Baikal.
Compared to previous stages, there’s not a lot of forest in this stage: one two mile stretch from mile two, and a second, even shorter spell at fourteen miles. The rest of the stage lies in open, rural countryside.
The rollout is lumpy flat/gently uphill for four miles. That’s followed by a mad descent down to six miles for no apparent reason as there’s no water involved at the bottom. The descent is merely a tease because the next two miles, up to mile eight, regain all of the elevation, and more. However you can really tighten your proverbial seatbelt over the top because miles eight to fourteen throw in a four hundred foot descent down to Kimil’teyskoye at thirteen hundred feet above sea level.
For much of the stage, the road runs parallel to the railway, but two miles to the north, and when the road goes through Kimil’teyskoye, the railway simultaneously goes through Karymskoye two miles to the south. That just leaves nine miles to negotiate to the finish. The summary version is that it’s uphill, but that’s not really true: yes, it’s uphill over the whole nine miles, but the elevation gained only stretches to a hundred feet so it really isn’t much of a chore: just find a gear that works and keep turning it.
Distance: 24 miles / 38 kilometres
Ascent: 472 feet / 144 metres
RGT Magic Road: XgMAL3tS7MO5
Max elevation: 1724 ft
Min elevation: 1321 ft
Total climbing: 471 ft
Total descent: -690 ft
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