December 2024

[Gipfelstuermer]

Preview PDF
December 2024

Races to be designed:
Pave de Noel
Christmas Tour

Races to be checked:


Legend
BLUE = Designer found
GREEN = DONE

[Gipfelstuermer]

Comments:

- Designers Wanted! Pave de Noel and Christmas Tour - who wants to design them?
- Dec Tour: All candidates have 14 days, so dates are fixed. Times subject to the preference of the winner and depending on the discussion here.
- Sahel: Couldn't find a confirmed date. UCI calendar now says January 2025, so likely we are not riding it at all.
- Fantasy Tours: Forgot to ask AAD ahead of the Preview. Now hoping for his wisdom for the Final PDF.
- Offseason Classics: I think the dates are correct. Times are only suggestions by me. They can always be changed by AAD.
- Cyclocross: This year, 30-sec-tact all the way. Down to 2 riders per team.
- General on Times/Editions: I am not 100% aware how numbers develop currently, but it all looks OK despite offseason, so let me know if I put too much / too little. Also, I suggest some unusual times across December because lots of people are on holiday, which kind of randomly changes their schedules. Feedback welcome anyway.

[olmania]

I'd be happy to design the christmas tour this year ! any specific requirement about it (according to other fantasy tours proposed in December) ?

I might have time in the 4-5 next days to do it

[Gipfelstuermer]

any specific requirement about it (according to other fantasy tours proposed in December) ?

- 4 days
- balanced tour (Stages & GC for a variety of rider types)
- some creative title, region and route which has something to do with Christmas^^ (we had Route of the three wise men, tour of the Christmas tree, etc.)

[Bugatti]

Is it possible to put the fantasy tours from monday till friday? A lot of teams don't have the time at the weekend.

And I would like more the Dec tour at 9h or 14h. Don't know at the moment if I will be at the morning or afternoon.

[olmania]

any specific requirement about it (according to other fantasy tours proposed in December) ?

- 4 days
- balanced tour (Stages & GC for a variety of rider types)
- some creative title, region and route which has something to do with Christmas^^ (we had Route of the three wise men, tour of the Christmas tree, etc.)

So, here's a proposition :

Mithragan Tour :

Mithragan is a very old celebration of Mithra, a divinity originally from the indo-iranian culture. This divinity was later celebrated in plenty of regions around the actual Iran; celebrated and integrated in different cults and religions.
It also started to be celebrated in the roman times where christianity was developping later on. In the 1st and 2nd century, Mithra's cult became very important in roman areas and later merged with romanchristian habits and celebrations. Most historians working on the topic agree that the original "Mithragan" celebration near winter solstice is (one of) the ancestor of the later christian celebration of christmas !
That was to make it short, you can read much more about it online

That brings us to south west of Iran. Where many archeologic discoveries were made about Mithra from the ancient times.
So this christmas tour takes place in the origin region of the cult of Mithra, which later became one of the inspiration/source for the christmas celebration that evolved during centuries. Acutally most of the towns/cities where the stages start are where majot archeologic discoveries were made.
I hope that makes a little sense even with a very short explanation like that ! and more importantly I hope you'll like the design :


First stage should be an easy one for sprinters, a chance to win a stage and get the first leader's jersey ! There's a hill with sieb, but quite far from the line.


Stage 2 is hillsprinter friendly. Last climb is 6/6. A come back from pure sprinter might be possible, but look difficult.


Stage 3 is categorised as mountain, even if the difficulties are only in the very end. The main KOM is very steep (13%) and the road after that is mainly hilly. Climbers definitely have their chance here. But will they find a way to coop efficiently ? And more importantly, will they have enough reg to start the last stage fit ?


Stage 4 is a probably impossible to control fully and easily. Up and down all way long. Key stage for the mountain jersey, maybe for the GC and/or even the green/white jersey. Not to forget team classification ! The biggest climbs is early in the stage, but then, there are plenty of sieb kms all way long. The very last categorised climb is irregular, but with a few steep kms (9-10%). The last little climb (uncategorized) is 5/4/5; quite close from the finish line.
Could be for a climber, a strong classic; or even a less strong classic that did a successful attack from far !

My only worry would be about the weather in the mountains, especially for the last stage. Apart that, the weather could be fresh, but should not be super bad/cold.
and also that there are so many mountain points in the last stage, but that's only a worry, the fight could still be fun !

[Robyklebt]

18.12. is wrong in the PDF

Also

Races to be designed:
Pave de Noel

is either wrong or weird. Standard practice was that the calendar guy just chose a pavé race for this spot. If that's still the case, this is wrong. If that's not the case, it's just weird.

[Tukhtahuaev]

If I ride it, 14h prefered for Dec Tour, but morning is also possible.

Not sure if it is a good idea to offer a parallel tour with 4 timeslots to Dec Tour. I think it would be better to reduce it to 2 or 3 slots only

[flockmastoR]

18.12. is wrong in the PDF

Also

Races to be designed:
Pave de Noel

is either wrong or weird. Standard practice was that the calendar guy just chose a pavé race for this spot. If that's still the case, this is wrong. If that's not the case, it's just weird.

Pave de Noel 2024 will be Volta a Baturite

[ECS Cycling]

Do CX races need to be designed?