Noyon to Tergnier is a game of four fourths: up, flat, down, then flat again. I would have called them quarters, but they’re not equally distanced. It’s one of those stages where you never really get any rest. Burning your legs straight off the start, then toasting them on the descent before emptying whatever’s left to stay in touch on the run to the end. It’s also another dicey road to be on a bike with loads of heavy lorries flying past in both directions: however it’s certainly much safer to do this stage in the virtual world of RGT. It’s also a stage that maintains the ongoing love affair with the L’Oise river as it flows south west while the route makes its way north east.
The rollout from Passel, south west of Noyon, takes a long right hander straight off the start, and it climbs steeply from half a mile into the stage. The road crosses the Canal du Nord as the bend finally ends after a mile and a half, then the D1032 highway runs east to Morlincourt at three miles where the climb finally begins to flatten out. A left/right combo of gentle bends take the road on past La Rosiere and Baboeuf, and by the time the highway gets to the junction with the D130, which runs south to Appilly, its reached the highest point on the stage at twelve hundred feet above sea level.
Beyond Appilly, the route carries on heading north east past Mondescourt, Dampcourt and Marest Dampcourt to the left hander at Ognes at eleven miles: although it will appear as a left hander on RGT, in reality its the D0132 taking a detour around Chauny which sits on on the right hand side of the road between miles eleven and thirteen. But let’s return briefly to Marest Dampcourt because it sits at the top of the hill where the road descends steeply down to the Ognes junction: however while its certainly a chance to bag some speed, the descent will be over in no time at all.
Beyond Chauny, the road swings left at Viry Noureuil on a bend that runs for three miles to Frieres Faillouel where the road swings back the other way to re-assume its north easterly tack to the finish at the crossing of the Canal de Saint Quentin at Mennessis.
Distance: 19 miles / 30 kilometres
Ascent: 574 feet / 175 metres
RGT Magic Road: VCAyQGJcZvNX
Max elevation: 1245 ft
Min elevation: 733 ft
Total climbing: 575 ft
Total descent: -525 ft
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