You can file stage 25 under “Fast and Furious”. The shortest stage to date at only eighteen miles, it’s also the second flattest of the journey so far, so it’s a chance to either hide in the peleton and do no work, or get out there and put the hammer down. The route slices straight through the middle of Wolfsburg on the eastern edge of what used to be West Germany prior to reunification in 1989, before finishing in what used to be East Germany at Oebisfelde. The route’s pretty flat, except for a small climb between ten and thirteen miles: but the the road drops back down again ahead of another wee pimple just before the finish.
The rollout is flat for three miles, curving left then right, past Calberlah, followed by the lake at Ilkerbruch and the nature reserve at Barnbruchswiesen. On approaching Wolfsburg, the route hangs a right onto Tappenbecker Landstrabe followed immediately by a left onto Stellfelder Strabe. On its way into the city, the road crosses over the Mittellandkanal (as the route has done on previous stages) before snaking its way through the heart of the city. The central districts of Rothenfelde and Hellwinkel are at six miles.
The run through Wolfsburg is undulating but once the route arrives at Reislingen at eight miles, It begins a climb that offers a false summit at the crossing of the Hehlinger Bach river at nine miles before second much steeper ascent peaks at Danndorf after eleven miles. Danndorf is the highest point on the stage. The descent off the top is as lumpy as it is interesting. The road swings left out of Dannorf, then crosses route 188 followed by the Katharinenbach canal before rolling into Grafhorst two miles later.
Out of Grafhorst, the route hangs a long looping right hander, most of which occurs as the road passes through Breitenrode at fifteen miles, before advancing through Wassensdorf a mile later, recrossing route 188 straight after that, then rolling into the finish, heading south east, at Weddendorf on the eastern outskirts of Oebisfelde. It’s worth noting that there’s a sharp up/down between Wassensdorf and route 180 and it will come as a rude awakening on the run in to the finish: you have been warned!
Distance: 18 miles / 29 kilometres
Ascent: 233 feet / 71 metres
RGT Magic Road: qBS30KEisEnv
Max elevation: 589 ft
Min elevation: 533 ft
Total climbing: 222 ft
Total descent: -209 ft
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