This was always destined to be stage in which you’d need your climbing legs: one look at the geography of the stage is enough to give the game away: once the Augusta Highway passes by Port Pirie at eight miles, it heads inland, and so the only way is up.
However let’s deal with the rollout first: it’s flat for a mile until the point where the railway branches off to the right in order to take the short cut to George Corner. The road takes the scenic route via Wyra Warra, Karthina and Seaview, and as the name suggests, Seaview is up higher than sea level: so the road goes up and down instead of remaining flat: however by the time you reach George Corner at six miles, you’re basically back at sea level again.
While the railway goes into Port Pirie, the highway bypasses it, replying instead on the Spencer Highway junction at George Corner to serve the town. Heading on south, the road begins to climb on the left hander approaching Bungama at eight miles. The climb gathers slope as the road swings back left onto a three mile straight, all of which is uphill.
The straight ends at Warnertown at twelve miles where the road meanders left/right/left but the climb continues unabated. There are further but shorter one mile straights starting at fourteen and fifteen miles punctuated by gentle bends as it runs parallel to the railway almost a mile away on the climb up to Fairview at nineteen miles: the railway, meanwhile, passes by Roscommon away to the west of the road.
Fairview is the highest elevation of the stage at five hundred feet, but as the road bends right away from the town, so it loses a hundred and fifty feet of that on the descent to the finish line west of Crystal Brook.
Distance: 22 miles / 35 kilometres
Ascent: 594 feet / 181 metres
RGT Magic Road: RZmtE2qGJnAu
Max elevation: 497 ft
Min elevation: 3 ft
Total climbing: 594 ft
Total descent: -237 ft
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