Abtenau - Salzburg   

Abtenau to Salzburg is a climbing race that will take the riders from a small village called Abtenau to the far bigger tourist attraction known as Salzburg. The race will take them almost six hours to complete due to the tough climbs situated along the route. However, as the crow flies the course will only take the riders some 60km to Salzburg.

The initial 30km will see the riders race along the valley floor, with ver...

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Abtenau to Salzburg is a climbing race that will take the riders from a small village called Abtenau to the far bigger tourist attraction known as Salzburg. The race will take them almost six hours to complete due to the tough climbs situated along the route. However, as the crow flies the course will only take the riders some 60km to Salzburg.

The initial 30km will see the riders race along the valley floor, with very few uphill sections. A breakaway will struggle to form here as the peloton will not want anyone who is good at climbing to get any advantage. Just 20km away from the destination, the riders will take a left turn and begin their first climb of the day. The first section of the first climb is very steep, but it is neither long enough to drop any of the slowest climbers, nor give the chance for the teams of the favourites to attack one another. However, it does give a few of those willing to chance their legs the ability to form a breakaway that will survive for the time being, as long as no favourite joins in. After the first few corners, the gradient settles down to just a few percent and the riders will make their way up to the ridge which separates Germany from Austria after a short descent which will take them around the back of the ridge. Having cycled along the top of the ridge, which can be blustery, the riders face a tricky descent down into the valley below. Once on the valley floor they have less than 5 kilometers to prepare themselves for the next climb of the day, and chasing those who took risks on the descent may continue onto the climb. Once again, the climb should not dislodge the sprinters unless the peloton is going at full pace, but few of the favourites try their legs from such a distance. The next 40 or so kilometers are occupied with the ascension of small but sharp hills with some longer but not so steep climbs. The descent off of the climb above the Hirschbuhel is tricky enough that an attack may occur on the way up in order to form a breakaway that will succeed, leaving the better sprinters behind. The next valley will normally see the teams of the sprinters helping their man rejoin the splintering peloton, but success for the sprinters teams may help the original breakaway for neither the teams of the climbers nor the tired teams of the sprinters will want to do all the chasing by themselves. Following a few more hills, as the race past Egelsee, the riders will see the finishing line distance in the distance, and work will begin to catch the breakaway.
As the riders enter the suburbs of Salzburg the breakaway will fragment as their co-operation ends and a last minute closing down by the peloton on the breakaway will ensue. As they race along the narrow streets of the old part of Salzburg, the time gaps will be hard to measure unless you are in a helicopter. The riders will finally turn right onto the road along the river before suddenly attacking a very short sharp climb up onto the Monchsberg. With 500m to go, the breakaway may still be concealed from sight with more hairpin bends. But they may not be the winners, for those who survived the climb up onto the hill will start to unleash the lead out trains, which will reel in the breakaway even quicker. The final sprint will be tense, and more often than not the top two positions will be split between peloton and breakaway in the results list. The sprinters though that have survived to the finish are the favourites to stand on top of the podium.
The winner will look over the stunning city of Salzburg, knowing that his team had outfoxed the others in a race of the mind games.