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New PCT and CT Races in 2018
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 14-06-2018 01:01
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Across the HC, C1, C2HC, and C2 calendars, things never do stay the same - and in 2018 this is no different. Some races will go, some will have revised routes, some stay the same, many wil switch categories, and some new races will join (or return to) the calendar. This thread reveals some of the examples of the latter case for next season.
The exact number of races in each category will be confirmed later, as will the total number of race days for PCT and CT teams - although teams in both divisions will certainly see an increase in race days next season. There should be therefore a higher average amount of teams in each race, and more cross PCT/CT competition, but there is going to be an increase in races to choose from - and more variety as well!
 Cheshire Cycling Tour
Some time has been spent in the off season (by tsmoha!) to understand what makes cobbled stages tick inside stage races. 5 Jours de Dunkerque had it's frustrations, and the outcome of the work is a brand new HC race to take it's place. The Cheshire Cycling Tour, with two key cobbled stages book-ending the race.
A shortened return of the former C2 race, now a HC race instead. The Tour of the Middle East takes us from flat openers in Doha and Dubai, to the climbs of Oman - where the race will ultimately be decided.
 Tour of Cyprus
Mountains, cobbles, and hills are all integral terrains to the ManGame calendar. But all in the same race? What would happen then? We'll have to head to Cyprus to find out. Mount Olympus will provide the high point of the race - although perhaps the previous stage will be the more anticipated?
  Jelajah SKL
Singapore and Malaysia are connected by two road bridges and now, a cycling race. Two prologues in this race, in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and in between a couple of interesting road stages, with hills near the end to offer up a challenge.
 Tour of Southland
It's back! But not quite as you might remember it. No place for the Coronet Peak this time around, as Stage 5 comes to a halt just short in Queensland. Time trialling is the focus, for the race based in Invercargill.
 Le Samyn
Appearing in the MG for the very first time, a new Belgian cobbles test for the peloton.
 Ronde van Het Ijsselmeer
Looks can be deceiving. Long? Flat? Boring? We're in the Netherlands here, and there's a strong wind about!
 Macskako Kerekparverseny
With the Cheshire Cycling Tour joining the HC calendar, Lincoln GP made way. And in the reshuffle, Kigali GP will become HC, and a new Hungarian race joins the cobbled collection.
 Chrono d'Arenberg
A cobbled classic ... with a difference. No team support or rival tactics here, a simple race against the clock, over 50km of the hardest cobbled terrain in the world - from the Trouee d'Arenberg through to Mons-en-Pevele. This race has a red cobbled rating.
A fair comment about last year's CT calendar was that it was somewhat one-dimensional. That won't be the case in 2018.
 Tour of Turkey
One stage for the puncheurs (S2), one stage for the climbers (S6), and one stage where they will meet in the middle (S3). The Tour of Turkey returns to the calendar, after a six year absence.
Grand Prix du Midi Libre
A historic race makes a comeback, and a true all-rounder will surely be the winner here. There's a trip to the Pyrenees in the first half of the race, but following a 50km time trial, there are then some hills to contend with, before the final summit finish at the Puy de Dome.
 Hong Kong Challenge
A three day competition around Hong Kong with a concluding mountain stage up the Tai Mo Shan. But before then, there's a time trial and a challenging hill stage to contend with.
 Coppa Placci
Finally the San Marino Hill Classic has a name worth noting, and perhaps finally, it will be rewarded with a non-breakaway win? It's not simply a ride in the hills either, some mountainous skill will play a factor, on a route that takes the peloton from the start in Florence, across Italy to the San Marino climax, at Monte Titano.
1 Jour de Dunkerque
A race that has featured in every season of the MG since the introduction of the 2nd division. It is shortened, but the key Mont Cassel circuit remains, and CT teams will now have the opportunity to compete over this well-ridden climb.
 Rio Vista Chinesa
Brazilian sponsors are returning to the game this season, and not just in new teams, but in a new race as well. The Olympic course, over the Vista Chinesa circuit, will invite an interesting battle.
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As with the PT/PTHC thread, most of the new stage creation is thanks to tsmoha, 9 of the race listed here in total. The rest come from compilation and some adjustment of existing stage files, and my own Rio route.
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 14-06-2018 01:15
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I love this, really really awesome work guys! 
So many interesting profiles that will make for such awesome racing, Cyprus will perhaps be the best race we ever see, that Hungarian race looks fun, Arenberg will be a brilliant race to try out. Like the look of the tough CT tours and the efforts made to stop break wins.
Looks like we'll see some really exciting and interesting racing next season, love it all!
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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Posted on 23-11-2024 19:42
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| Yellow Jersey |
Posted on 14-06-2018 01:34
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First of all thank you tsmoha, some of these races are pure excellence and very well designed!
Really excited with preety much all races here reveiled, Tour of Cyprus and Chrono d'Arenberg may be some of the best races (Arenberg in comparison with other TT's) in the whole season and I really love how they're made to fit so many different riders, so hard to predict.
Grand Prix du Midi Libre is another awesome one, and the way I see the calendar so far it seems vital to keep a very strong TT team, and this race is the perfect example.
Coppa Placi is San Marino basically, but a better profile, and importantly less suited to a break. Dunkerque, "1 Jour"  loved it.
Also nice to see the hardening of the cobbled races.. It was indeed an issue at CT level last year that some of them had very passive AI, not only as these races look interesting, they should also bring the specialists more chances.
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 14-06-2018 02:36
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Disgusted by the name change to Dunkerque. 4 Jours is forever, no matter how many jours there are in reality 
Some very cool new (and old!) races, love the Cyprus Tour and the Le Samyn introduction. Arenberg could be fun too. Glad to hear of the changes to the CT calendar, thanks 
The NZ PCT race being TT/flat pisses me off Gisborne (presumably) staying C2HC and Southland being the PCT Kiwi race seems wrong considering the different strength in TTs and hills of the Kiwi teams
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 14-06-2018 03:07
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jandal7 wrote:
Disgusted by the name change to Dunkerque. 4 Jours is forever, no matter how many jours there are in reality
+1 Quatre jours pour toujours!
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 14-06-2018 03:46
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Wow, those are some super interesting routes! Especially loving the amount of new cobbles races on the calendar! Absolutely stunning and some very enticing options going forward. I'm definitely gonna need to reassess my cobbles team, particularly it's leadership, going into next season.
Especially interested to see how a long cobbles TT goes. How will cobbles guys with not TT stats fair? I guess we'll see. I'm sure it's been tested and proves for really exciting stuff, and that's what matters. I can't wait to see!
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 14-06-2018 09:02
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Guess we'll never win Dunkerque then, but it was a frustrating race indeed. Looking forward to its repacement! But totaly agree to keep the name as it was, it's always quatre jours, no matter how many jours it is.
Some tricky C1 races, both Cyprus and Arenberg have unusual profiles, could be a gamble.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 14-06-2018 09:39
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Interesting additions.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how Cyprus and Arenberg will play out.
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| Sykkel_Freak |
Posted on 14-06-2018 09:47
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Really interesting additions here. There's a lot of variety in these stage races, so should be difficult to pinpoint a clear-cut favorite in many of them. Expecting some challenging race planning and interesting twists and turns.
Coming in with a Belgian team, I'm of course very happy to see Le Samyn added, and Tour of Cyprus looks absolutely filthy. I honestly have no idea what rider type is likely to go out on top there, with only a very limited number of riders excelling both on the cobbles and in the mountains.
Thanks to tsmoha and the other stage makers for some good looking races, and to SN for a nice presentation.
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| tastasol |
Posted on 14-06-2018 09:58
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Some great additions here. I almost want to go back to the PCT!
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 14-06-2018 10:36
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Great stuff
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| Scorchio |
Posted on 14-06-2018 12:03
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Definitely deserving of another chapeau for the hard work of SN and TSM beavering away with calendar work. Great to see some really diverse race profiles that should add a lot more uncertainty into race selection and results in all the categories presented. Appreciate that areas for potential improvement in the C2HC calendar have been picked up in terms of offering some stage races which ar not just about the mountain stat, giving some of the top quality all-rounders something to aim at.
Also, there I was thinking that WCC would be a cert to sign up for the PCT GT challenge at ToA this season, and now I see all these lovely new C1 races to confound my thinking .
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 14-06-2018 13:11
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Wow! Some really interesting profiles there. Really looking forward to race some of those HC/C1 races. Cyprus could be one of the best races of the season
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 14-06-2018 13:25
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Some nice looking additions to the calendar, should be fun seeing the outcomes |
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| knockout |
Posted on 14-06-2018 13:33
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I was critizising the ct calendar last season quite a bit but these glimpses that we can see so far look very promising
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Forever the Best |
Posted on 14-06-2018 16:26
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What are the big two climbs in the final stage of Tour of Turkey?
What are the final two climbs in the 3rd stage of Midi Libre? Tourmalet and Plateau de Saugue?
Edited by Forever the Best on 14-06-2018 16:32
The user formerly known as 'The Schleck Fan'
Gracias Alberto.
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 14-06-2018 20:31
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Cyprus looks to be a crazy race which hopefully won't be ruined by horrible AI. Also nice to see the Tour of the Middle East returning to the calendar, albeit in a shorter version.
While we're at it, I want to point out that Ronde van het Ijsselmeer should be spelle Ronde van het IJsselmeer, the J should be capitalised as well since IJ is technically one character in Dutch. And if I could suggest something else, rename Dutch Food Valley Classic to Veenendaal - Veenendaal if it's still on the calendar please
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 14-06-2018 21:37
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Isn't it Arnhem Veenendaal Classic nowadays?
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 14-06-2018 21:59
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Why do i feel like i recognise the Arenburg race?
And goddamnit! Why couldn't we have Cyprus in 2017 when Burghardt hadn't declined too much!
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 14-06-2018 22:14
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It was for a while but the start is moved back to Veenendaal and hence Veenendaal - Veenendaal (Classic) again since last year
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Tour of the Middle East
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
