Here’s a stage that hogs the South Australian coastline around the natural curvature west of Esperance, and manages to virtually replicate the elevation profile of stage 301. How does it manage that? Rivers: two of them: the Dalyup river at twelve miles, and a tributary that feeds into it two miles later. Had it not been for those two water features, this stage would have offered a gentle but lumpy descent from five miles all the way to the finish. As it is, both crossings demand a short but testing climb immediately after the sharp descent to the water.
The rollout from Coomalbidgup climbs straight out of the gate for five miles, gaining a hundred feet in the process. That’s not severe, but it’ll certainly split the peleton from the off. The summit is just after Myona Downs, and two miles before the right hander that sees the South Coast Highway swing east/south easterly for the remainder of the stage. The descent off the top is lumpy and seven miles long before the sharp drop down to the first river crossing kicks in. The road passes by Belview Downs at eight miles and Hargate Park before the big drop starts just after Wanderin at eleven miles.
Up the other side, the route passes by the Dalyup Nature Reserve on the right hand side of the road at fourteen miles, and Balfron at sixteen miles after the climb away from the second crossing. Thereafter it’s lumpy flat past Hosslen at nineteen miles before more water at twenty miles means another down/up three mile stretch back to the same elevation. The road passes between Dinner Camp and Catup Downs at twenty two miles, and that’s where the lumpy two mile descent to the finish begins. The finish line itself is just before Helms Arboretum on the left hand side of the road.
Distance: 24 miles / 38 kilometres
Ascent: 584 feet / 178 metres
RGT Magic Road: JnSkdXKy0mZH
Max elevation: 256 ft
Min elevation: 78 ft
Total climbing: 585 ft
Total descent: -572 ft
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