This stage is a real challenge: a real test of being able to hang on in there and go again. The reason is that it starts at just under 1800ft and rises to almost 3000ft, but it does so in three waves, each dropping back down before the next wave begins. That’s what gives this elevation profile its character.
It all starts off quite innocuously: the first eight miles are pretty much flat, with only a small lump at four miles giving any cause for concern. But that all changes as you pass through Povorot at eight miles. The first climb is three hundred feet over a three mile stretch to edge of the forest at eleven miles: then the road drops down for a mile before the second climb kicks in.
There’s a five hundred foot climb between miles twelve an sixteen, most of it in the forest: then, just like the first time, the road drops back down a couple of hundred feet before the third, and this time the longest climb kicks in at eighteen miles. That one rises another five hundred feet, topping out just below three thousand feet at twenty two miles. But the joy of that summit is that it comes at a series of switchback bends, which means a rapid descent on the other side. Indeed the last two miles of the stage offer a five hundred foot descent which will make for a flying finish once the road exits the forest.
Distance: 25 miles / 40 kilometres
Ascent: 1670 feet / 509 metres
RGT Magic Road: 1TNnJ9hUaxeX
Max elevation: 2931 ft
Min elevation: 1769 ft
Total climbing: 1668 ft
Total descent: -994 ft
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