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2023 PTHC Bands Reveal
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 05-07-2023 10:59
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Classics Specialist
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Welcome to the PTHC bands presentation without much further ado lets head right into the presentation!
INFORMATION ABOUT SELECTION WILL COME IN DUE TIME
| Tour de Suisse | Switzerland | 7 | | Tour of Ukraine | Ukraine | 3 | | Clasica San Sebastian | Spain | 2 | | Great Ocean Road Classic | Australia | 2 |
 Tour de Suisse
 Tour of Ukraine
 Clasica San Sebastian
 Great Ocean Classic
The races in band 1 remains unchanged from last year. This means that we know what to expect although the Tour De Suisse route has been changed a little bit there is still the potentially decisive 32.9km flat ITT smacked in between the two Mountain stages. The Tour of Ukraine route remains unchanged which should be good news for managers looking for stage races where time trials will be the defining element. This band also offers something for the classics riders as Clasica San Sebastian and Great Ocean Road Classic remains unchanged as well.
| Criterium de Dauphine Libere | France | 7 | | Ras Tailteann | Ireland | 3 | | Philadelphia International Championship | Japan | 2 | | Tour of the Battenkill | USA | 2 |
 Criterium du Dauphine Libere
 Ras Tailteann
 Philadelphia International Championship
Tour of the Battenkill
This year in band two we have two changes as Ras Tailteann takes the step from C2 all the way up to the PTHC level, which is going to be interesting for teams with sprinters. Furthermore, Philadelphia International Championship is also a flat classic. This makes Band 2 a really heavy sprinter band. The main course is going to be Dauphine Libere, last year it was already light on TT kilometres but this year there is only a prologue and no ITT. This means that Dauphine will be a race for the grimpeurs and not for the true stage racer. Last race is Tour of the Battenkill, the cobbled classic, is a sight to behold and closes out band 2.
| Vuelta a Colombia | Colombia | 6 | | Tour of East Java | Indonesia | 4 | | Japan Cup | Japan | 2 | | Cheshire Cycling Tour | Great Britain | 2 |
 Vuelta a Colombia
 Tour of East Java
 Japan Cup
 Cheshire Cycling Tour
Band 3 has also undergone a lot of changes with Japan Cup and Cheshire Cycling tour replacing the two flat classics that was in this band last season. Vuelta a Colombia remains a ture climbers paradise with no time trials in sight. The other stage race in this band is Tour of East Java. East Java remains with 3 sprint stages and a mountain stage to decide the GC. The change in this band is also evident as Japan Cup moves in as a puncheur classic and Cheshire moves in as a cobbled classic making this an interesting band for teams with strong riders across every terrain.
| Balkans International | Balkans | 6 | | Tour of Lithuania | Lithuania | 4 | | Grands Prix Cyclistes | Canada | 2 | | Rheden GP | Netherlands | 2 |
 Tour of Lithuania
 Grands Prix Cyclistes
 Rheden GP
Band 4 remains unchanged from last year with the stage races in Balkans International giving room for the puncheurs to enjoy themselves over the course of 6 days with a lot of hills. The other stage race in Lithuania provides us with the first team time trial stage and gives those cores the possibility to shine, with some flat stages and a puncheur GC stage to end on. The puncheurs get even more chances to shine with Grands Prix Cyclistes, with the band closing out with the flat cobbled classic Rheden GP.
| Veenendaal - Veenendaal | Netherlands | 2 | | Deutschland Tour | Germany | 5 | | Tour of Slovenia | Slovenia | 5 | | Roma Maxima | Italy | 2 |
Veenendaal – Veenendaal
 Deutschland Tour
 Tour of Slovenia
 Roma Maxima
Band 5 also remains unchanged this year with Veenendaal – Veenendaal providing a chance for the teams’ sprinters and Roma Maxima giving a chance to the cobblers. Deutschland Tour remains a flat stage race with a time trial to decide the GC. The race against the clock intensifies even more in Tour of Slovenia with a stunning 31km Team Time Trial and a incredible 53km ITT to decide the GC.
| Volta a Portugal | Portugal | 8 | | Franceville Classique | Gabon | 2 | | Chrono d'Arenberg | France | 2 | | Riga - Jurmala GP | Latvia | 2 |
 Volta a Portugal
 Franceville Classique
Chrono d'Arenberg
 Riga - Jurmala GP
Volta a Portugal returns to its glory this year with Chrono D’Arenberg only needing to be raced over a singular stage. A prologue, an ITT, a bunch of puncheur stages that is then finished off with a massive mountain stage to decide the GC is what is in store for the teams that pick this band. Riga Jurmala is now the band’s only traditional classic as Franceville Classique has been turned into an interesting two-parter with the first stage being a classic cobbled stage and the second stage to Poubara looking like a nightmare for anyone who doesn’t like cobbles!
Edited by Ulrich Ulriksen on 06-07-2023 03:06
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| redordead |
Posted on 05-07-2023 11:27
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Always an exciting time. PTHC bands certainly are important to get right. I like the changes, whoever did them 
Thanks for the writeup WJ 
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| knockout |
Posted on 05-07-2023 11:49
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Grand Tour Champion
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First of all, thanks for evening out the bands. Having all four bands consisting of two stage races and two classics is a major step towards fairness.
On the negative side, Riga - Jurmala 
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 06-12-2025 17:03
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 05-07-2023 12:03
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Thanks for the writeup, WJ
Excited to get to do PTHC selection again! It looks like an easy choice currently, but taking potential transfer moves into consideration will surely make it non-straightforward... I don't like to see Arenberg in the same band as Franceville, though - but who knows, maybe I'll finally get some kind of cobbler
Btw, I thought those 2-day stage races had been eliminated for good, due to the ridiculous amount of points they yield, so a bit surprised to see a comeback. But I trust the calendar team that it'll all be fine, and would like to thank them for their great job!
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 05-07-2023 12:29
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Choices, choices, choices...
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 05-07-2023 12:56
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Looking at this it would seem very obvious for us to go back to the same three bands at this point but none of the PTHC bands seem to suit us that well. I guess we should be taking advantage of the current OVL undervaluing TT and getting more time trialling riders for the deluge of ITTs in the calendar
The balance of all the bands makes it quite interesting I think so well done to the team and thanks as always to them and to wj for the write-up!
Spoiler Speaking of, Volta a Portugal is not "at its former glory" until it is 11 stages and balanced between HI, MO and TT again 
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| ivaneurope |
Posted on 05-07-2023 13:07
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Wish I could comment on that, but I can't
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 05-07-2023 13:15
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Classics Specialist
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I'm also going to wait until roturn confirms my relegation before commenting in detail.
Big thanks to the calendar team for making this possible, and thank you wj for the write-up as well
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 05-07-2023 14:02
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Yummie!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 05-07-2023 15:34
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Some very interesting choices to be made. But, just to make sure Franceville is a stage race and not a one day races with two legs like we did with the time - trials, right?
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 05-07-2023 18:10
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alexkr00 wrote:
Some very interesting choices to be made. But, just to make sure Franceville is a stage race and not a one day races with two legs like we did with the time - trials, right?
From what I have been told it should be considered a stage race from the scoring perspective, but will wait for someone from the race team to confirm it fully.
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 05-07-2023 19:05
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Some nice bands for sure! Thanks
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| knockout |
Posted on 05-07-2023 19:11
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Btw Portugals profile shows 9 stages, is listed with 8 RDs.
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 05-07-2023 19:19
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Classics Specialist
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knockout wrote:
Btw Portugals profile shows 9 stages, is listed with 8 RDs.
Fixed! Somehow missed that when I was posting it!
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 05-07-2023 22:14
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Now it looks weird because it's the only band not having 14 RDs... I can also see that there's a version of Portugal with 8 stages on the server (although the naming suggests that the 9-stage version is the right one). Can a member of the calendar team confirm that it's indeed 9 stages (and hence Band 6 has 15 RDs)?
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 05-07-2023 23:34
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Fabianski wrote:
Now it looks weird because it's the only band not having 14 RDs... I can also see that there's a version of Portugal with 8 stages on the server (although the naming suggests that the 9-stage version is the right one). Can a member of the calendar team confirm that it's indeed 9 stages (and hence Band 6 has 15 RDs)?
That is an error - it should be 8 stages so all bands have 14 RD but when we switched back to the '21 route I forgot to take out a stage. Will fix that later.
A few other notes - yes we had eliminated all 2 day stage races. But in the effort to balance the bands per Knockout's note it got brought back. Not our first choice but we are picking between evils. The other choice we have is to make the longer tour shorter and that would "reduce the glory" of that finely balanced Portugal route.
EDIT - Portugal now corrected. Also one other note - GP Cyclists moves back to Quebec this year as opposed to Montreal last year. So not identical.
Edited by Ulrich Ulriksen on 06-07-2023 03:07
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 10-07-2023 10:04
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Classics Specialist
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For consistency please move this thread to [Man-Game] Discussion
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| tastasol |
Posted on 10-07-2023 11:49
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Classics Specialist
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There's some I like very good and others, well, not so much Hopefully we can get most of our top choices.
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Balkans International 
