This is a tough loop beginning and finishing in Christchurch, New Zealand, there are 6 major climbs throughout the stage, most of which are steep, plus a host of other challenging hills to drain the legs. It's also quite windy in that area, so cyclists will have to watch that too. The final 40km are a little smoother, but they still undulate and the final climb from Lyttelton is a tough 1.5km stretch maxing at over 13%, it's finally followed by 15km of flat roads as they wind their way back into Christchurch to decide the race.
If you do decide to download or test out the stage, play it as a CT race, the WT teams decide the race on the last hill making the rest of the race not useful, but when I watched the AI on CT, there were echelons and attacks to the point where there were only 16 riders in contention (10 riders chasing 6), with 55km to go, the favourite still won, but it was much more interesting and exciting.
Poiana Brașov begins in, where else but, Brașov and traverses the Poiana Brașov climb over three 67km laps, each lap begins first by tackling the section of climb up to Predeal, which averages less than 2% over 21km, it descends and begins the a slightly tougher climb that's just over 4% but again very consistant over 8km, the race then descends into the town of Brașov to begin another lap. The race is usually decided either by the climbers and puncheurs who can get away over the final climb or the sprinters who can win if the peloton is still together by the finish line.
Looks pretty good. I don't know if that was intentional, but in the first screenshot, you have one house buried in the ground. Also I think it would be good to have some vegetation in the city.
togo95 wrote:
Looks pretty good. I don't know if that was intentional, but in the first screenshot, you have one house buried in the ground. Also I think it would be good to have some vegetation in the city.
Thanks
In the first screenshot the houses weren't in the ground but just on a lower section and they look like they are underground from the angle
As for the city vegetation, here I used the Grass and Flowers texture but I've been thinking that it might be good to increase the amount of trees so thanks for the feedback on that, I'll update the route.
In the 5th shot the walls look weird with the staggering. Now I know there is a slope there so can't be helped too much but the 7th shot has a small low wall on the round in the s-bend.
I decided to create another race, to work on my ability to use IBs, then I accidently discovered this neat hill in Bulgaria, and made hell on wheels instead
Feedback is still appreciated though.
Aleko Vitoša
The Aleko Vitoša begins just on the outskirts of Sofia at the base of the Torfeno Branishte, a climb that has 1000m of altitude gain in just 14km averaging at 9% and maxing at 20%, to top it all off, it's cobbled, relatively flat cobbles, but still cobbles and where it isn't cobbled, the road is dirt. Safe to say the riders won't have an easy time here, climbing it 8 times in 190km, with a treacherous descent to break it up.
Note: Tested on both PCM15 and PCM16, to make sure it definitely works on both.
Screenshots:
Spoiler
And the results of one of my tests (only 46 finishers) :
On the AI, the riders race this very fast, from the very start, on one trial there were only 15 riders still in contention with 100km to go, and Kwiatkowski set a pace so fast that only Chavenal and Thomas were there at the base of the final climb.
Two races from me within a couple days of each other, didn't expect that.
Clásico de Cueva de los Portales
The Clásico de Cueva de los Portales or Classic of the Caves of Portales is a tough Cuban race that takes on the climb up to the Cueva de los Portales multiple times from all different directions. With the final ascent just 25km before the finish. Aside from that the stage is predominately flat or undulating but the lateness of the final ascent means that there will be a reduced bunch heading into the finish and a late breakaway could steal the show.
That Bulgarian race sounds Brutal, please remind me to petition for that to be added to the ManGame at the start of next season, something tells me TMM's team will love it and it would make a nice unique challenge for any division.
Would certainly be an interesting challenge to say the least, I wonder which climbers/cobblers are naturally the best in the other stat, or if it would suit an all-rounder better.
Christchurch Classic
Poiana Brașov
Aleko Vitoša
Clásico de Cueva de los Portales
