Let's try some races in southern countries. To start, let's go the the two most southern countries of the world. The Vuelta a Patagonia will consist of 6 stages in Argentina and Chile.
Finnally, it went to be a very easy tour. As there are only few mountains to go into the mountains, the connection of the most famous nature sights of Patagonia contains mostly flat stages. To get some hills into it, I had to use quite some dirt roads, which are just assumed to be asphaltic (as I'm perfectly used to do in South America). To not make it just a competition of sprinting stage winners, all categories are HC, so there are no time bonifications at the finish line. That leaves attacks and one intermediate sprint in each days to make the difference. As the tour is nearly completly flat, a mountain jersey would be just a bad joke, so there are no mountain sprints. It'll be a tour for 8 riders.
saved as vueltapatagonia01 to 06
Here the stages:
A short and flat stage, at the Border of the Estrecho de Magellanes, on the continental side. The weather shall be quite dry, but quite cold, and windy. Minute tact starts at 125.
2nd one is as short as the first, and least north to the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The few differences are that minute tact starts later, at 150, and there is one seiveable km at 80, which shall not have a lot of an impact.
The 3rd stage is flat, too, but very long, leading all the way back west. It starts at the Atlantic Ocean and finishes at the coast of the Golfo Almirante Montt, which is a part of the Pazific Ocean. 270 km are to be ridden today, probably all of it with a hard wint from the front. The minute tact starts at 232, 2 ahead from the first sprint.
After 4 flat stages, the race enters the decisive part. A medium stage of 200 km starts at Puerto Natales and leads directly through the famous National Park of Torres del Paine, which, if the weather is adecuate, shall offer some magnificant looks on the Patagonian mountains. The race offers quite some possibilities to sieve, but will not easily offer to shake off the sprinters by a big margin, as the final hill may be steep enough to offer room for attacks, but not steep enough to sieve. The minute tact starts at 135, when the important hilly part begins.
The longest stage of the tour, with the finish at the viewpoint to the Perito Moreno. The stage finishes there with a mountain finish, but the length may open the possibility to outrace the climbers. Minute tact will start at El Calafate, due to the hill that follows, at km 203.
The last stage is again a flat stage, of a medium lenght of 216 km, with mintact starting at 186. It leads to the Patagonian Captital of Climbers, el Chaltén. Behind the city, one may see, weather-depended, Cerro Fitz Roy, and if taking a hike into the Valley in western direction, with a huge junk of luck, even the Cerro Torre.
That could be an amazing RSF experience !
