This is the stage you’ve been waiting for. This is a stage you’ve waited 277 long and often arduous stages for. This is the daddy of the stages you’ve craved for. Five hundred and fifty six feet of descent, and just sixteen of ascent. In metric, that’s just five metres of climbing in thirty eight kilometres of cycling. It’s a flyer in every sense of the word.
The rollout from the centre of Wanquan heads downhill for a mile to the Yanghe river where the road hands a sharp left and heads along the river bank to seven miles where a swift right/left sees the route cross the river and keep following the water on the southern bank. It’s all downhill, which basically means you’re racing whatever’s in the water.
The route remains on the right hand ride of the river right up to twenty one miles, descending all the time, before crossing back onto the northern side to head into the city of Xuanhua, a city of 274,000 people, and historically regarded as “The Gateway to Beijing” which is now only just over a hundred miles away.
Once over the river, the road weaves right/left/right/left/right at approximately 250m intervals before eventually emerging on a 500m straight to the finish alongside the railway station.
It’s a belter of a stage and one of the most enjoyable to date. Definitely one for the fast and furious category.
Distance: 24 miles / 38 kilometres
Ascent: 16 feet / 5 metres
RGT Magic Road: IWmf2uYg5ZN5
Max elevation: 1002 ft
Min elevation: 464 ft
Total climbing: 18 ft
Total descent: -557 ft
You must log in to post a comment.