A bit on the late side due to unforeseen circumstances, here we are with the HC bands for the new season! Some have changed, some stay the same. I'm excited to see how this will impact the new season for many teams! Let's dive right in.
Band 1
Benelux Challenge
6
Down Under Classic
2
Milano - Torino
2
Benelux Challenge
Down Under Classic
Milano - Torino
Band 1 stays the same for the most part. The prologue in the Benelux Challenge has changed. Shouldn't impact the results much as it's only 1 KM longer than last year. The classic Down Under opener stays the same. A my personal favorite from this band you won't hear me complain!
Milano - Torino goes from a C1 classic to being a HC classic in its sixteenth time on the MG calendar.
Band 2
Circulo de Juarez
5
Arab Tour
4
Circulo de Juarez
Arab Tour
Biggest change here is Arab Tour swapping bands with Post Danmark Rundt. Besides that the stage 3 ITT is roughly 10k longer and the final stage 4 about 15k shorter. The absolute sprint fest Juarez remains the same, bit will the results look familiar to past year?
Band 3
Tour of California
7
Lisbon Classic
2
Tour of California
Lisbon Classic
Band 3 has completely changed in different ways. While Tour of California remains in the same band, the route has completely changed. As far as I can see every stage has changed, with a different prologue and a shorter second ITT that has now been moved to the final stage! I feel like it has become 'easier' for lesser climbers who might be better in TT. We will see what effect it has this year.
GP Wallonie disappears as Lisbon Classic moves in to take it's place! The Portuguese classic remains the same however!
Band 4
Tour de Pologne
7
GP Lugano
2
Tour de Pologne
GP Lugano
Tour de Pologne remains the same. Can't say much about it as I have never been to Poland in my two years here. But it should be an epic battle once again! GP Lugano moves up from C1 to fill in the gap Lisbon left behind. It stays the same as last year but will obviously attract better riders than previous years!
Band 5
Tour of Norway
5
Post Danmark Rundt
5
Tour of Norway
Post Danmark Rundt
Post Danmark Rundt joins their Nordic brothers in a Scandinavian styled Band 5! Norway remains the cold hard battle it has been and so does Danmark! The band gets an extra raceday this way so curious how it will affect planning!
Band 6
Tour of Japan
6
Strade Bianche
2
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
2
Tour of Japan
Strade Bianche
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
Omloop stay the same as last year. But the grand Strade Bianchi has recieved a new profile this year! The altitude meters have dropped significantly which is very surprising to me! Does this open up the plot for 'lesser' riders to have a shot at the win? Let's see in 2024. Meanwhile Japan gets a whole new route on the island of Hokkaido. Same basic idea though, prologue, MTT and some hilly stages (Note the MTT is not a TTT, the stage title has an error, the symbols are correct).
Band 7
Tour de Romandie
6
Le Samyn
2
Giro dell'Emilia
2
Tour de Romandie
Le Samyn
Giro dell'Emilia
The 7th and final band sees two important changes. The Swiss Romandie race does the same as Swiss team JURA - Giants as it goes one step up through the ranks of MG, instead of PCT --> PT we're talking about C1 --> HC. The Emilia race, always a fun ending to the season (depending on where you finish in the final rankings of course), moves from Band 1 to Band 7.
My apologies for maybe the lack of exciting commentary but I've had some time issues with the new job and everything. HC Bands do look as good as always and we will surely have another year of great racing on the horizon!
Edited by Ulrich Ulriksen on 15-07-2024 23:34
A couple really interesting moves from C1 -> HC, haven't looked at what that means departed from the HC calendar. Some races to really consider requesting from the CT side and a few that we're excited not to see in the C1/C2 selections.
With Romandie and Lugano being promoted to HC, looks like I left the division prematurely
Looking forward to see many more top PCT contenders compete there than we had in the C1 past! I think the Romandie vs. ToSA swap kind of makes sense given that we have the two Scandinavian TT-heavy hilly stage races. And it's one stage race containing a TTT stage swapped for another, so that's fine (although I would have preferred having both in HC obviously ).
On the other hand, sad to see the only mountainous classic in Hallstatt going all the way down to C2; given that there isn't a single mountain stage race without any kind of TT, there's really nothing for low-TT climbers left in this category. Maybe move Morocco up to HC next year? (And I wouldn't mind an ITT classic, either, even if it comes at the cost of swapping out one of the TT-heavy stage races)
Thanks for the writeup, and thanks to the calendar creators - would be great to get your thoughts about the new bands, too
1. California switches between two routes, so this is the 2022 route. Not sure I agree with Adler about the impact, I think the mountain stage is harder moving this more towards climbers.
2. Japan link was to 2023 profile. New profile for 2024. although the nature of the course is the same. I have made small edits to the post, hopefully Adler doesn't mind.
3. Strade is indeed easier, felt like it was turning into a race for hybrids, this change should de-emphasize the MT stat, but that opens the door for the punchy sprinters as well, so we will see.
1. California switches between two routes, so this is the 2022 route. Not sure I agree with Adler about the impact, I think the mountain stage is harder moving this more towards climbers.
2. Japan link was to 2023 profile. New profile for 2024. although the nature of the course is the same. I have made small edits to the post, hopefully Adler doesn't mind.
3. Strade is indeed easier, felt like it was turning into a race for hybrids, this change should de-emphasize the MT stat, but that opens the door for the punchy sprinters as well, so we will see.
Thanks for the intro Adler.
No worries I was in quite a rush. Abhi and I had already established there had been a miscommunication but seems like Japan slipped through after the correction. Thanks for fixing!
Benelux Challenge 
Down Under Classic
Milano - Torino
Circulo de Juarez 
Arab Tour 
Tour of California 
Lisbon Classic 
Tour de Pologne 
GP Lugano
Tour of Norway 
Post Danmark Rundt 
Tour of Japan 
Can't wait!
