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2024 PTHC Calendar Revealed
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 09-07-2024 10:04
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The 2024 PTHC calendar can now be revealed. Six bands, all with four races combining for 14 RDs. PT and PCT Teams will each race in three bands totalling 42 RDs at the PTHC level. Each band has a variety of locales and terrains. Every race returns, but the bands have undergone some tweaks, races shuffled on the calendar and some profiles changed to keep things fresh and fair.
Details on how and when to make selections for these bands will come at a later date.
 | Tour de Suisse | 7 |  | Tour of Ukraine | 3 |  | Chrono d'Arenberg | 2 |  aaaaaaaa | Rheden GP | 2 |
Suisse and Ukraine once again are the stage races for Band 1, this time joined by two cobbled races in the cobbled ITT event Chrono d'Arenberg and the cobbler's (and sometimes sprinter's) classic Rheden GP. All four staples of the calendar by now, with Rheden the only unchanged profiles, with Ukraine taking on a harder second stage to benefit the puncheurs, and Arenberg doubling down on the cobbles, with it now more notable where the paved sections are than the cobbled ones!
Forming a double- double-header, clashing with two other mountainous PTHC stage races, the Tour de Suisse this year looks like one for the pure climbers, taking in a short prologue, a flat stage, two hilly stages, two mountain-top finishes, and a mountainous time trial in what should be an action-packed week.
| Criterium du Dauphine Libere | 7 |  | Ras Tailteann | 3 |  | Philadelphia International Championship | 2 | | aaaaaaaa | Tour of the Battenkill | 2 |
Band 2 is unchanged from 2023, with two classics in the Eastern United States (one for the tough sprinters, one for the tough classics riders), a sprinter's dream stage race in Ireland, and perhaps cycling's most prestigious one-week stage race.
The Criterium du Dauphine Libere's clash with the Tour de Suisse is one of the most famous on the calendar, historically Pro Tour-level tune-up races for Le Tour de France, now the centrepiece of the PTHC stage racing calendar.
Like its Swiss counterpart, the Dauphine has a change of route this year. Clearly aghast at the fact it was nearly won last year by a - gasp! horror! - punchy climber, the organisers have gone back to basics, with a couple of flat stages and a medium mountain day before an individual time trial and three pure mountain stages in the Alps, with the highest paved Alpine pass of the Col de l'Iseran (2,764m) surely the centrepiece of an exciting route for the pure stage racers.
 | Vuelta a Colombia | 6 |  | Tour of East Java | 4 |  | Riga - Jurmala GP | 2 |  aaaaaaaa | Cheshire Cycling Tour | 2 |
One for the purest of the pure climbers and the stage-hunting sprinters with the Vuelta a Colombia and the Tour of East Java totalling five high mountain stages and five pan flat stages in their combined 10 race days - just good old meat and potatoes cycling profiles, none of this time-trialling or cobbled roads - and definitely nothing for those "puncheurs" - you mean the riders who are too fat to climb mountains and too weak to sprint? Get 'em out of here! The latter race forms Tour de Suisse's other double-header - though riders can take in both Java and Dauphine if their manager so chooses!
The cobblers do at least get one day in this band thanks to the Cheshire Cycling Tour - an up-and-down cobbled classic. Riga - Jurmala GP is another one for the sprinters though - whether or not Bryan Coquard make it a three-peat (and if so, will it be with ELCO - ABEA?) will be the question on everybody's lips.
 | Balkans International | 6 |  | Tour of Lithuania | 4 |  | Grand Prix Cycliste | 2 |  aaaaaaaa | Great Ocean Road Classic | 2 |
Rheden GP swaps bands with the Great Ocean Road Classic, and takes away what was one of the few remaining purely flat stages in this band! Grand Prix Cycliste switches back to its flat-finishing Montréal route but still provides hills, while the Great Ocean Road Classic is an undulating sprinter's classic. Balkans International and the Tour of Lithuania each have one pan-flat stage, with the rest undulating to straight-up hilly in what is a bumpy, bumpy band. Oh, and Lithuania also has the first Team Time Trial of this reveal.
 | Deutschland Tour | 5 |  | Tour of Slovenia | 5 | | Veenendaal - Veenendaal | 2 |  aaaaaaaa | Roma Maxima | 2 |
Band 5 is the same for another year, the only profile change being the Deutschland Tour's individual time trial gaining an extra 20km. Not everyone can easily work off the off-season bulk! A flat stage race with a time trial, a bump stage race with a time trial, a potentially wind-affected sprinter's classic and a cobbled classic - apologies if the Xero manager sounds a little bored! Even if he has a couple of wins in one of these races. If it ain't broke, don't fix it - just because there are no mountains don't mean these aren't four hotly contested and entertaining races, returning together like the horsemen of the flat apocalypse for another year.
 | Volta a Portugal | 8 |  | Franceville Classique | 2 |  | Clasica San Sebastian | 2 |  aaaaaaaa | Japan Cup | 2 |
The stage races return - the Volta a Portugal, with a prologue, four bumpy days of various difficulty, a hilltop finish, a time trial, and a mountain stage; and the cobbled Franceville Classique - but the classics are different, trading in two flat days for two of the toughest puncheur's classics on the calendar in the shape of the frankly medium-mountain Clasica San Sebastian and the very tough Japan Cup.
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 09-07-2024 10:17
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Ehm... I think Dauphiné has 7 stages as well, so all bands should have 14 RDs. Otherwise some PT teams would end up with 181 RDs 
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 09-07-2024 10:21
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Can we get some info on Chrono d'Arenberg cobbles rating? Last year was a nasty surprise for my win goal.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 09-07-2024 10:24
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Ollfardh wrote:
Can we get some info on Chrono d'Arenberg cobbles rating? Last year was a nasty surprise for my win goal.
I think the difference of the profiles should speak for itself:
2023
2024
So, in 2024 it's almost exclusively cobbles (you need to search hard to find some tarmac it seems), and it's red cobbles rating.
But I'm sure it has been tested, so the tester can certainly tell us more about the cobblers' chances 
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 09-07-2024 10:26
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World Champion
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Fabianski wrote:
Ehm... I think Dauphiné has 7 stages as well, so all bands should have 14 RDs. Otherwise some PT teams would end up with 181 RDs
See the Skype chat, my proofreading skills were not good here. There was also another error nobody caught that I managed to fix sneakily
I'm going to bed!
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT]  Xero Racing
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| redordead |
Posted on 09-07-2024 11:55
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Great job by the calendar team. We should have some fun PTHC racing this upcoming season, looking forward to it!
Thanks for the writeup, jandal
"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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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 09-07-2024 13:58
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Small Tour Specialist
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Looks good! Thanks for making this
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 17-09-2024 01:51
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 09-07-2024 15:03
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After having posted twice already, an actual reaction from my point of view:
It's interesting that Tour de Suisse and Dauphiné should attract pretty much the same rider types this year. In 2023, only TdS had a longer TT; now it's both of them. And both are more for the pure climbing specialists, so Areruya needs to find another playground
I don't really know what to think about making Band 1 even more TT-heavy now with Arenberg added as well - we'll see which teams are most attracted by this change 
Thanks for the write-up to jandal, and thanks to the calendar team for these interesting bands!
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| Laurens147 |
Posted on 09-07-2024 15:25
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Thanks for all the work guys, I'm thrilled 
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
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| ember |
Posted on 11-07-2024 08:23
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Thank you for the amazing work putting this together! Also happy to see Arenberg altered to (hopefully) suit the cobblers with a decent TT better again.
Had hoped for slightly more race days for the puncheurs, as it last season (and the previous one) felt like those pure puncheurs had very few good race days for them. Very curious to see if this is taken into account when the full PT calendar is revealed.
Being on holiday, I've got no clue what bands to prefer, will have a deeper look into it later |
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 12-07-2024 23:41
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3159
Joined: 02-11-2010
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Fabianski wrote:
Ollfardh wrote:
Can we get some info on Chrono d'Arenberg cobbles rating? Last year was a nasty surprise for my win goal.
I think the difference of the profiles should speak for itself:
2023
2024
So, in 2024 it's almost exclusively cobbles (you need to search hard to find some tarmac it seems), and it's red cobbles rating.
But I'm sure it has been tested, so the tester can certainly tell us more about the cobblers' chances
Mostly 3 and 4 star cobbles. The cobblers definitely have a chance. Testing showed it is slightly tipped to the strong CO/IT over pure IT but probably not as much as in 2022. But no guarantees, planning risk lies with the manager.
A few other notes on changes - Balkans has a small change to the course with a new stage 1 and last year's stage 1 becoming Stage 2 and in Colombia the last stage is a summit finish now due to some funky breakaway stuff happening this year.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 13-07-2024 21:53
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3268
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Thank you jandal for the nice write-up and great edits
And thank you as always to the stage creating/changing and calendar team for their work.
With LPH (or well, Oxxo, whatever) we still have to see how our transfer period goes to see where we'll be going, but I assume I'm not the only manager with that problem so far
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| cio93 |
Posted on 04-09-2024 18:12
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It's been ages since this got published, but I have a question:
Is stage 1 in Balkans International rated flat or hilly? There's no icon visible in the screenshot.
It looks hilly, but it would be nice to know for sure.
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 04-09-2024 18:44
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3159
Joined: 02-11-2010
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That stage is hilly will fix on the profiles.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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