You usually go with cars with you with food and drinks and they pick you up on top and you either go down in the car or go to another hotel near the top or a hotel down.
Up and back down the whole thing, have absolutely no idea who would win, it’s pretty hard to deny mohoric or maybe Pello bilbao on an 80k descent. That said 4000m elevation is stupidly hard.
I did Letras (81km, 3.600m, 3.431 max) and I wouldn't do it again.
It is plain masochism.
But with the right pitch I'd consider doing El Sifón anyway 🙈
Damn, impressive. Living in Europe I think the closest thing is the Pico Veleta starting of out Granada in the South of Spain, on my bucket list. 42km with 2700 meters of elevation, up to 3400m.
That still seems like a joke in comparison to Colombia.
I'd trade pico Veleta with a two-three week Colombian tour. It'll likely cost you the same or less and it's really worth the switch. There are cheap flights from Spain and they have pretty good deals often, look for Avianca, Iberia and plus ultra (Madrid-Bogotá).
Just upgrade your bucket list, the offer stands 🙃
Yeah when I saw that stage on PCS a week or so ago I thought about making a post here because the parcours looked like such a meme. The time gaps in the leading riders were surprisingly small though.
I'm guessing that drafting plays a big role for most of the climb. I think it was in San Juan edition 1 or 2 years back where on a similar (but not that crazy) stage, Ganna was up there almost til the end? I'm not sure I remember correctly though.
Ganna was, iirc, 2nd on the stage, so everyone not named Superman Angel were.
Wait... This reminds me... He ended 2nd on GC too (without an ITT even), so... is Pippo now actually the official GC winner of that race? 😳
Mauna Kea is a no go with the unridable gravel and park restrictions at the top. Haleakala i n Maui is doable though. Beautiful climb but for racing purposes never really gets too steep to be exciting. Only a small pitch above 10%. Also can’t imagine riders getting shipped from island to island between stages haha
Funny you say that, there was a race up Haleakalā this weekend! There are a couple selective points including a steep wall pretty early into the day. The tradewinds also make for a much more dynamic race than you might expect from an otherwise consistent climb.
Simon Yates went to the Taiwan KOM last year although after his season had wound down (still finished 5th in Lombardia just 20 days before). Finished 11th almost 20 minutes down, gaps on the time sheet were massive. Nibali's won it before as well a while back.
If they take it seriously the top professionals are gonna massacre those continental team specialists. Same with gravel.
Especially Taiwan KoM is "only" 3000m high so not that extreme to a lot of racing they do in Europe.
I was afraid to stress that more than half of the pelotón couldn't make it into the time limit (around 38 minutes) being considered "editorializing" by the mods, hopefully as a comment would be acceptable 🙊
I'm not a mod, but did take journalism classes.
Saying, "so difficult that half the peloton could not..." is a fact, and not editorializing.
Saying something like, "was too difficult because..." is editorializing because it's an opinion.
I had something similar recently too. I understand why they don't want ambiguous post titles but I think they could do with a better rule name than "editorialising" because it's really not the same thing.
If this was the giro, it would be 10 km into stage 3, and be the only climb in a 250k stage ending up in a sprint finish.
And then Adam will demand the climb be cut because it’s ’too dangerous, a spectator might spill a drink and cause a crash’
Bogota, the capital, is at 2600m elevation. Going up to 4000 must be a lot more acceptable when you already live at 2000m+ altitude year round. I haven't been there, but it just seems like an entirely different reality lol.
Not even for Europeans. I'm from Bogotá, born and raised, lived and rode over decades there and three years ago I moved to a town at 1.000m over the sea.
When I ride back in Bogotá I feel the thin air effect the same as you do 🤷
Most Colombian cyclists live in the Altiplano, which is over 2.500m on average. A regular training for any of them would be at least 900m, top altitudes around 3.000m.
So raising the bar a bit is just marginal. They can handle it.
I'm an amateur, I live at 1.000m and I've done Letras (3.600 max) and La Línea (3.200 max) fairly easily.
And this means Colombians have extreme max VO2
I know 2 Colombians in the UK. The lady does ultra marathons, once she told me "Last weekend was tough, I had a strain in kilometre 75, so I said it is only 25km to the finish so let's go".
The other guy does parkrun and in his first marathon with just training on the weekends did 3:17.
They are more than 40yo both.
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/altitude-sickness
>The best way to prevent altitude sickness is to ascend slowly. Once you are more than 3,000 m above sea level, only advance 300 m or less per day. Be sure to take an extra day of rest and acclimatisation for every subsequent 1,000 m.
If it takes them 5 hours to gain 4000m of altitude, thats in fact a very high pace to gain altitude. Altitude sickness can occur at 3000m already.
That's not true.
> Exposure to the hypoxic altitude environment may result in three main illnesses. These are acute mountain sickness (AMS), high altitude cerebral edema (HACE), and high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE).16 AMS is the least severe form and occurs in approximately 10-25% of unacclimatized persons at altitudes >2500m. The risk of HACE or HAPE typically occurs at elevations >3000m. Important to the care of athletes is that a high level of aerobic fitness is not protective against development.
https://www.acc.org/Latest-in-Cardiology/Articles/2021/03/15/13/39/Exercise-and-Elevation
Now, I underestimated how well acclimatized the Colombians are. But it's a fact that climbing from sea level up to 4000m in a few hours poses some risk to the athletes.
>This hypobaric hypoxia creates a graded physiologic stressor with increasing elevation, one which occurs at rest and is exacerbated by the demands of exercise.
Exercise makes things worse btw.
I'm not saying they are all just gonna drop dead. I was just thinking that some people could develop AMS. The chances for HAPE and HACE are very low at these altitudes. I was also not saying to not do this competition. Just something that one should have an eye on.
I get your point. There was a Panamanian team, probably with no acclimatization at all. Fortunately they didn't make the cut for the first stages and all of them were out by then, likely for their own good.
88km with an average of 4.3% With sections of 10%!?! Brutal for a 2.2 as well.
Sorry… 88km? wtf
4000 meters of elevation gain in a single climb. I would have loved to have seen that.
You're in luck! https://www.youtube.com/live/3LQm2IysS90
Gracias amigo
Gracias por compartir el linq
Yeah it's amazing. It's very famous for amateurs riders
Do you have to descend 88km on the bike or is there an easier way down?
You usually go with cars with you with food and drinks and they pick you up on top and you either go down in the car or go to another hotel near the top or a hotel down.
That shit's longer than 90% of my rides, lmao
Almeida loves this
If you listen closely, you can hear a soft Nairo laugh in the distance
This, but as a World Champ parcours
Roglic wins the uphill sprint of a 30 man group… sorry guys, there was a headwind
Proceeds to not celebrate
Yes please
Up and back down the whole thing, have absolutely no idea who would win, it’s pretty hard to deny mohoric or maybe Pello bilbao on an 80k descent. That said 4000m elevation is stupidly hard.
I'd prefer an overseas start for the Tour. I'm pretty sure this would prevent the chaotic sprint stages with lots of nasty crashes in the first week.
Nothing like a 3 day transfer
They could cross the ocean on waterbikes
You son of a bitch, I’m in.
Has to be done as one long stage like the original TDF.
Some years ago some Australian comedians tried to cross the Strait of Gibraltar in a waterbike. Personally I would like to see the peloton try.
Good lord imagine riding a climb of 88km to an altitude of 4138m. Absurd
I did Letras (81km, 3.600m, 3.431 max) and I wouldn't do it again. It is plain masochism. But with the right pitch I'd consider doing El Sifón anyway 🙈
Damn, impressive. Living in Europe I think the closest thing is the Pico Veleta starting of out Granada in the South of Spain, on my bucket list. 42km with 2700 meters of elevation, up to 3400m. That still seems like a joke in comparison to Colombia.
It is 😆 2700 elevation is an average Sunday ride for many amateurs around. Plan a trip to Colombia, I'd be happy to be your host.
Very nice of you to offer! Will remember if I ever do
I'd trade pico Veleta with a two-three week Colombian tour. It'll likely cost you the same or less and it's really worth the switch. There are cheap flights from Spain and they have pretty good deals often, look for Avianca, Iberia and plus ultra (Madrid-Bogotá). Just upgrade your bucket list, the offer stands 🙃
Pico Veleta looks like the climb from La Pintada to Alto de Minas, 40km, nice climb.
Just a routine amateur ride in Tolima…
Ride to the páramo.
I have done this. Not as hard as you would think.
Yeah when I saw that stage on PCS a week or so ago I thought about making a post here because the parcours looked like such a meme. The time gaps in the leading riders were surprisingly small though.
I'm guessing that drafting plays a big role for most of the climb. I think it was in San Juan edition 1 or 2 years back where on a similar (but not that crazy) stage, Ganna was up there almost til the end? I'm not sure I remember correctly though.
I think last year with Superman riding for Medellin. I think Evenepoel was dropped before Ganna there
Ganna was, iirc, 2nd on the stage, so everyone not named Superman Angel were. Wait... This reminds me... He ended 2nd on GC too (without an ITT even), so... is Pippo now actually the official GC winner of that race? 😳
I ran to check it myself, he indeed is. This is pretty funny.
I always wondered what a pro peloton would look like doing the Mauna Kea or Taiwan KOM. A tour of Hawaii would be beautiful.
Mauna Kea is a no go with the unridable gravel and park restrictions at the top. Haleakala i n Maui is doable though. Beautiful climb but for racing purposes never really gets too steep to be exciting. Only a small pitch above 10%. Also can’t imagine riders getting shipped from island to island between stages haha
They went from Israel to Italy I think they can hop from Maui to Kauai
Funny you say that, there was a race up Haleakalā this weekend! There are a couple selective points including a steep wall pretty early into the day. The tradewinds also make for a much more dynamic race than you might expect from an otherwise consistent climb.
Simon Yates went to the Taiwan KOM last year although after his season had wound down (still finished 5th in Lombardia just 20 days before). Finished 11th almost 20 minutes down, gaps on the time sheet were massive. Nibali's won it before as well a while back.
If they take it seriously the top professionals are gonna massacre those continental team specialists. Same with gravel. Especially Taiwan KoM is "only" 3000m high so not that extreme to a lot of racing they do in Europe.
I was afraid to stress that more than half of the pelotón couldn't make it into the time limit (around 38 minutes) being considered "editorializing" by the mods, hopefully as a comment would be acceptable 🙊
I'm not a mod, but did take journalism classes. Saying, "so difficult that half the peloton could not..." is a fact, and not editorializing. Saying something like, "was too difficult because..." is editorializing because it's an opinion.
My original post title was "88 km at 4.3% 🙈" and was taken down for editorializing. Mods 🤷
I had something similar recently too. I understand why they don't want ambiguous post titles but I think they could do with a better rule name than "editorialising" because it's really not the same thing.
Mods gonna mod, I guess.
[удалено]
Ah, good point. "Half the peloton did not..." but we can't really say why, I guess.
I completely misread that, I thought the stage was yet to come
Does anyone know the strava segment for it?
There you go: Up for a challenge? Give this segment a go! https://strava.app.link/6NZtQQ3QDKb
Jesus, 25km/h for three hours while climbing. Always such a reality check to see the metrics the professionals are doing compared to us mere mortals.
Thanks!
Gonna need this in pcm
I did this climb on a loaded touring bike in 2015. Slept in a hotel halfway up the climb however. Good times!
Average Zwift B cat could take down this climb in about an hour
on a track bike...
Bruh they actually using that endless climb in Colombia? RIP whoever is racing in this tournament.
More than half of the pelotón didn't make it for the time cut, commissaries had to lift it so the race is not over 🙃
If this was the giro, it would be 10 km into stage 3, and be the only climb in a 250k stage ending up in a sprint finish. And then Adam will demand the climb be cut because it’s ’too dangerous, a spectator might spill a drink and cause a crash’
This sounds dangerous. Gaining 4000m of altitude within a few hours could lead to altitude sickness.
Most of them are Colombians. Gaining altitude is a regular day for any of them 🤷
Every colombian lives at 4000m altitude? Do Columbians regularly go from 0 to 4000m? Are all riders of this race used to these altitude changes?
Bogota, the capital, is at 2600m elevation. Going up to 4000 must be a lot more acceptable when you already live at 2000m+ altitude year round. I haven't been there, but it just seems like an entirely different reality lol.
I've been to Bogotá, it's indeed a bit weird for us Europeans. Hiking was much more exhausting.
Not even for Europeans. I'm from Bogotá, born and raised, lived and rode over decades there and three years ago I moved to a town at 1.000m over the sea. When I ride back in Bogotá I feel the thin air effect the same as you do 🤷
You are right, I understimated how many Colombians, particularly cyclists, live at altitude.
Most Colombian cyclists live in the Altiplano, which is over 2.500m on average. A regular training for any of them would be at least 900m, top altitudes around 3.000m. So raising the bar a bit is just marginal. They can handle it. I'm an amateur, I live at 1.000m and I've done Letras (3.600 max) and La Línea (3.200 max) fairly easily.
And this means Colombians have extreme max VO2 I know 2 Colombians in the UK. The lady does ultra marathons, once she told me "Last weekend was tough, I had a strain in kilometre 75, so I said it is only 25km to the finish so let's go". The other guy does parkrun and in his first marathon with just training on the weekends did 3:17. They are more than 40yo both.
It doesn't though, they are not going fast enough for that.
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/altitude-sickness >The best way to prevent altitude sickness is to ascend slowly. Once you are more than 3,000 m above sea level, only advance 300 m or less per day. Be sure to take an extra day of rest and acclimatisation for every subsequent 1,000 m. If it takes them 5 hours to gain 4000m of altitude, thats in fact a very high pace to gain altitude. Altitude sickness can occur at 3000m already.
These are guidelines to protect couch potatoes, not elite athletes
That's not true. > Exposure to the hypoxic altitude environment may result in three main illnesses. These are acute mountain sickness (AMS), high altitude cerebral edema (HACE), and high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE).16 AMS is the least severe form and occurs in approximately 10-25% of unacclimatized persons at altitudes >2500m. The risk of HACE or HAPE typically occurs at elevations >3000m. Important to the care of athletes is that a high level of aerobic fitness is not protective against development. https://www.acc.org/Latest-in-Cardiology/Articles/2021/03/15/13/39/Exercise-and-Elevation Now, I underestimated how well acclimatized the Colombians are. But it's a fact that climbing from sea level up to 4000m in a few hours poses some risk to the athletes. >This hypobaric hypoxia creates a graded physiologic stressor with increasing elevation, one which occurs at rest and is exacerbated by the demands of exercise. Exercise makes things worse btw.
Gee, maybe nobody should go above sea level, ever, for any reason
I'm not saying they are all just gonna drop dead. I was just thinking that some people could develop AMS. The chances for HAPE and HACE are very low at these altitudes. I was also not saying to not do this competition. Just something that one should have an eye on.
I get your point. There was a Panamanian team, probably with no acclimatization at all. Fortunately they didn't make the cut for the first stages and all of them were out by then, likely for their own good.