This stage isn’t as straightforward as it looks on paper. Just over four hundred feet of climbing might look like a bit of a doddle but these stages that have virtually no flat virtual tarmac can be very wearing mentally: if you’re not going up, you’re racing down. and if you’re not racing down, you’re slogging back up again. On repeat.
The stage starts beautifully downhill for a two miles, giving you a chance to warm up your legs, and as you approach the right hander at the bottom of the hill, the route kisses the border between Govisumber province, which the stage is in, and Dundgovi province which sits across to the right hand side of the road. Interestingly, the railway is in the Dundgovi the whole time despite running close by the road.
After the bend, the route is straight and lumpy uphill to ten miles. passing the town of Bayantal and gaining almost two hundred feet of ascent in the process. Over the top, the descent down to Gobi is much more fun because it’s steeper, but because it’s shorter, you don’t lose all of the elevation gained on the climb. After Gobi, the road climbs again for a mile, more steeply this time, then there’s a five mile lumpy descent before a short sharp climb on approach to Choyr at nineteen miles sets up the run to the finish.
There’s a sharp climb to twenty miles followed by a hundred foot descent to twenty two miles, before you need to engage your climbing legs for the assault on the finish: the last mile and a half are uphill and testing: enjoy!
Distance: 24 miles / 38 kilometres
Ascent: 423 feet / 129 metres
RGT Magic Road: LAx9qHBzdip9
Max elevation: 4302 ft
Min elevation: 4134 ft
Total climbing: 424 ft
Total descent: -461 ft
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