Grand Prix GSB and Grand Prix El Salvador 2013

Grand Prix GSB

07.03.2013 Official Site
El Salvador, 1-day Road Race, 97km
UCI 1.1

Click to enlarge

El Salvador has not been listed among the great cycling nations in years gone by - though they do take sport very seriously, having had a war with neighbouring Honduras after a football match - but they've certainly got a taste for women's cycling: already this season the tiny Central American country has played host to the Grand Prix de Oriente and Vuelta El Salvador, now it's time for the Grand Prix Grand Saint Bernard and tomorrow the Grand Prix El Salvador. It's a very fine place for bike racing too, with 65% of the nation being mountainous (including volcanoes) and most of the rest being beautiful tropical rainforest - thanks to environmental programmes El Salvador is one of the very few nations where rainforest is actually increasing.

Some of the European riders might feel rather at home at the end of the race due to the finish line being located at the Grand St. Bernard Swiss Resort and Spa. This hotel, high in the mountains at Juayúa and owned by the main sponsor (hence the name of the race) is modeled on a typically Alpine chalet, while the rest of the town is characterised by its well-preserved Spanish colonial architecture. To get there, they'll pass through unmistakably tropical rainforest landscape and climb some tough mountains.

Note that the altimetry profile on the official race website seems not to correspond with altitude
figures given in the race schedule - click to enlarge

The race begins at capital city San Salvador before heading first north and then east around the El Boquerón volcano, a familiar sight to those who took part in the Vuelta El Salvador which climbed it in Stage 4 - they don't need to repeat that climb today and, having started at an altitude of 744m, face only a small and gradual climb over the first couple of kilometres before a long descent - gradual at first, then steeper - leads into a flat section approximately 30km in length. It's likely that several riders, probably in groups, will attempt to use the descent to get ahead of the climbers and then try to extend any lead they can find in the flat section, thus giving themselves a greater chance of staying within reasonable distance on the big climbs lurking towards the end of the race. Many climbers, being too light to keep a comfortable level of control over their machines on fast downhill sections, don't like descents and may prefer to allow a break to get away; their teams will respond to a break by sending out chasers to try to bring back escapees on the flat section in order to get climbers where they need to be for the second half.

Final 3km

The terrain starts heading upward at Ciudad Arce, 44km along the parcours, where the altitude is 470m above sea level. 8km later, having climbed 380m, they arrive at El Congo and an altitude of 850m. A short descent of around 4km follows and precedes another flat section some 12km in length, potentially the scene of more breaks as riders try to get ahead in preparation for the big climb up to 1,471m at 82km. This is where the climbers get their own chance to take the lead: with the road turning downhill for the next 12km, they'll need it because they're going to be chased all the way to the final 3km where the race begins a 40m climb to the finish line - while that's an average gradient of only 1.3%, note that the parcours becomes steeper on the approach to the final flat 500m.


Start List

Not yet available


Grand Prix El Salvador

08.03.2013 Official Site
El Salvador, 1-day road race, 93.2km
UCI 1.1

Click to enlarge

Taking place the day after the Grand Prix GSB, the Grand Prix El Salvador is the final UCI Elite women's race of the season and gives those riders that don't specialise in mountains a chance to turn the tables on the climbers. Possibly, at any rate - El Salvador, being situated on a tectonic rift, has many volcanoes and mountains; a race organiser would be hard pushed to set out a parcours that didn't feature at least a bit of climbing.

Once again the riders start their day in the capital San Salvador, but this time they head south out of the city before turning east towards the nation's second biggest lake, Lago de Ilopango, situated in a 72 square kilometre volcano crater. This volcano was subject to a huge eruption some time in the 5th or 6th Century CE, which destroyed several Mayan cities and made agriculture impossible in the region for many years; it last erupted - on a much smaller scale - in 1879-80. Before reaching the lake, the riders turn south again and head towards Comalapa, descending from the race's highest point at 779m above sea level 2.1km from the start to 154m at 28.1km; since many climbers are not good descenders, this gives the rest of the peloton - especially the less well-known riders, eager to please sponsors by showing off their jerseys at the head of the race - the opportunity to leave the climbers far behind. With a climb of 600m in the final 13.6km, average gradient 4.4%, they'll want to do precisely that to prevent a climber getting away as the finish draws near.

Click to enlarge

At the airport 29.6km in, the altitude drops to 59m and then remains relatively flat, climbing only two small hills before a long, gradual descent to 79.6km where the riders will be only 9m above sea level - 50km in which a breakaway group could extend its lead or the peloton could draw them back in, sending chasers out to catch them while the teams cluster around their climbers to keep them up to speed and get them into position for the final climb. The final 3km, running into Zaragoza, climb at an average gradient of around 5% all the way to a straight section leading to the finish; a challenge after 90km, but not steep enough to automatically give the climbers a winning advantage - the eventual winner of this race might not be a dedicated climber, as was the case in 2012 when all-rounder Noemi Cantele won days after taking sixth place overall in the Vuelta El Salvador.

Start List

Not yet available

Vuelta El Salvador 2013

28.02 - 05.03.2013 Official Site Race Schedules and further details
El Salvador, 7-stage Road Race, 491.2km
UCI 2.1

Stage 5 finishes near to the El Boquerón crater, clearly
seen on the satellite photo

With the Women's Tour Down Under - really a criterium series rather than a stage race like the men's Tour - cancelled this year, we have only three women's stage races from outside Europe before the 2013 season gets into full swing. The first was the Tour of Qatar, won in spectacular style by Argos-Shimano's powerhouse sprinter Kirsten Wild; the second is the Vuelta Femenina a Costa Rica. The third the is the Vuelta El Salvador, and it will not be won by a sprinter.

The El Salvadoran parcours is the absolute opposite of the Qatari route - Qatar is much flatter than the Netherlands and the roads are long and, usually, arrow straight; El Salvador is one of the world's most seismologically active regions, sitting atop two tectonic plates that have created mountains including 22 volcanoes - among them are Izalco, so active until the middle of the 20th Century that it was known as "The Lighthouse of the Pacific," and El Boquerón at San Salvador, which will be climbed in Stage 4.

Stages

1 28.02 LA LIBERTAD - NAHUIZALCO, 95 Km
2 01.03 PASEO DEL CARMEN, SANTA TECLA - CIRCUITO MONSEÑOR ROMERO, SANTA 
TECLA, 11 Km (team time trial)
3 01.03 CIRCUITO MONSEÑOR ROMERO, SANTA TECLA - CAFETALON, 77 Km (criterium)
4 02.03 APOPA – QUEZALTEPEQU 50km
5 03.03 SALVADOR DEL MUNDO - REDONDEL MASFERRER - MULTIPLAZA - ESTADIO FLOR 
BLANCA- REDONDEL OLIMPICO- SALVADOR DEL MUNDO,  53.2 Km
6 04.03 OLOCUILTA - PUENTE DE ORO RETORNO - OLOCUILTA, 115 Km
7 05.03 NUEVA CONCEPCION - NUEVA CALLE LONGITUD DEL NORTE - METAPAN  
SANTA ANA, 90 Km.

Stage Details
Stage 1 95km

Stage 1 - click to enlarge

Most of the riders will have got a taste of the sort of climbing El Salvador has to offer during the Grand Prix de Orient, which took place the day before this stage, but the masseurs had better not pack away their oils just yet because there's plenty more to come - including in this first stage which, following some 70km with only a few small hills (and five tunnels, something that many cyclists detest), ends with a fearsome Category 2 575m ascent in 17km to the finish. That's an average gradient of only around 3.4%, but the climb comes in two sections. Separated by a plateau in between, both are far steeper than the average and there are climbing points on offer at the top.

Stage 1 - click to enlarge

It looks to be a route that will encourage early breakaway attempts, the terrain in the first half, where tunnels carry the riders through headlands that would otherwise have been steep climbs, create a good opportunity for those riders with little chance of contesting the General Classification to get away from the pack, pick up points at the first intermediate sprint and - maybe - even retain a sufficient lead for more at the second intermediate sprint. If this proves to be the case, they'll most likely be caught on the plateau shortly after the first big climb, but it's not impossible that a couple of riders who can keep up a good pace on the flat as well as when climbing could stay out in front - and if that happens, the peloton are going to want to reel them back in as soon as possible, lest they stay away and win the stage.

Stage 2 11km (TTT)

Stage 2 - click to enlarge

Taking place the morning after Stage 1 and prior to the afternoon's Stage 3, Stage 2 is a team time trial - the only time trial in this race, as the organisers have elected to include a criterium stage instead of an individual competition against the clock.

Stage 2 - click to enlarge

It's not a flat parcours, but with total climbing over the 11km no more than 150m it's no knee-breaker. The only point at which riders will need to slow appreciably is at the western end of the course where they make a U-turn to head back the way they came and, as a result, we should see some fast performances - don't expect records to be broken, however; with all the climbing ahead, teams are going to be sending riders they know can get up and over the mountains rather than their out-and-out time trial specialists - there have been climbers who were extremely talented time trial riders, but this race is definitely for the climbing specialists.


Stage 3 77km (criterium)

Stage 3 - click to enlarge

The Stage 3 parcours is immediately familiar, consisting as it does of the same roads that made up the main section of this morning's team time trial. Cutting out the first section heading north reduces the distance to 10km; riders will complete six full laps and one final lap of 7km.

Stage 3 - click to enlarge

Adding a criterium stage seems to be the in-thing at stage races in the western hemisphere these days, with several organisers in the USA and other American nations, north and south, adding them to their events. In Europe, they tend to be stand-alone events, often rather local in nature, and as such can be somewhat overlooked - if you're new to the sport, the format involves a short course, usually in a city centre and raced at high speed. With numerous corners, this leads to a down-and-dirty style of racing with riders fighting hard for good places; not unlike cyclo cross on the road, it's a fantastic spectacle and, as broadcasters are beginning to realise, absolutely ideal for TV. Anything can happen - all it takes is a tiny mistake on a fast corner, allowing a large number of rivals to power past and block off access back to the head of the race, and a rider standing a good chance of overall victory can suddenly lose a huge amount of time in a criterium. The hopefuls know that and are ready to grab what they can. Extra points will be awarded to the first riders to reach the start line at the beginning of laps 2, 4 and 6.

Stage 4 50km

Stage 4 - click to enlarge

After yesterday's time trial and criterium, the Vuelta returns to standard stage race format - albeit it with an unusually short parcours of only 50km. However, only a brief glance at the altimetry profile is required to see that by no definition whatsoever is this an easy route: after a relatively flat 36km, the riders face the Category 1 1,113m ascent of the San Salvador volcano which can clearly be seen in the south of the satellite photo. The average gradient is 7.95%, but it gets steeper 4km before the top with a maximum of 21%.

Stage 4 - click to enlarge

Those first 36km matter little to the eventual outcome of either the stage or the race. There might be a break, aiming to grab the intermediate sprint points 22km into the parcours and perhaps make it to the climb with enough of a lead to stand a chance of making it to the finish line without being left too far behind and failing to make the time cut-off; there might be a battle between the teams to get their climbers to the foot of the volcano before anyone else, ready to point them upwards and light the touchpaper. None of it matters, really, because sometimes tactics will only get you so far - this stage is all about the climber who is strongest on the day.

Stage 5 53.2km (criterium)

Stage 5 - click to enlarge

Another short stage and another criterium, this time following a more typical roughly square format than Stage 3. There are several long, fast, straight sections to allow riders to break away from the peloton, but there are also some tight corners where places can be lost - and where crashes are always possible. Unusually, there's a considerable amount of climbing - with an ascent of around 130m in the first 3km (average gradient approximately 4.3%), riders will climb around 550m over the course of the four 13.3km laps. Extra points will be awarded to the first riders over the start line on the second, third and fourth laps.

Stage 5 - click to enlarge

Stage 6 115km

Stage 6 - click to enlarge

The longest stage of the race, Stage 6 begins with a fast descent of more than 400m from Olocuilta, then begins a small climb to 159m from 18-36km - there's an intermediate sprint at the end of this section. Another descent follows, then from 48km the terrain flattens out all the way to 70km where, having turned back the way it came, it follows a similar route taking in the first climb for a second time, now reaching 204m at 86km. A short but steep 2km descent follows, then the parcours heads gradually downhill to 108km, at which point it arrives back at the foot of the Olocuilta climb and riders have an ascent of 408m to the finish line 7km away. With an average gradient of 5.7%, the first half is considerably steeper than the last; earning it Category 2 status.

Stage 6 - click to enlarge

It's probable that a climber will win again; largely because, as the longest stage, other riders will find the last ascent harder going. However, climbers are frequently not good descenders, lacking the mass and physical strength required to maintain control of the bike on fast descents such as the one at the beginning of the stage, which presents other riders with an opportunity to get ahead. Therefore, teams will need to use some careful tactics and pool their resources, sending chasers out after any breaks that form while also keeping enough riders around their climbers to get them through to the end - and pay close attention to what's happening out in front so that they can respond to changes the moment they happen.

Stage 7 90km

Stage 7 - click to enlarge

Nice easy stage to wind down the race? Not a chance - there are no really big mountains today with the highest point along the parcours being 803m, but there are numerous smaller ones and the total amount of climbing over the 90km is in excess of 1,350m.

The first and biggest climb, Category 2, comes in the 14km immediately after the race begins, rising 477m in 12km with an average gradient of 3.9% and a much steeper section between 6 and 8km, which promises to see the climbers take an early lead. A steep 6km descent follows and ought to even things up a little - however, the "climbers can't descend" rule doesn't always hold true and any that is able to keep up a high speed on the way down will find a massive early advantage here - one that, with all those climbs still to come, could even permit a solo break all the way to the finish. If a General Classification contender managed to pull that one off and if the gaps between the top riders are not too great, this could lead to big changes and even win the race.

Stage 7 - click to enlarge

The next climb begins at 20km and reaches a summit only slightly lower than the first 4km later; as the climb begins at a greater altitude, it's not as long as the first but the gradient is considerably steeper for most of the ascent with an average of around 7.5%. The next 50km is characterised by numerous smaller climbs followed by more descents; if a climber or group of climbers has successfully got away, this section will see a drawn-out game of cat-and-mouse and the climbers extend the gap on the way up and the chasing peloton decreases it on the way down. Where they stand at 80km, when the final climb to 753m begins, will give us some idea of the outcome: if the climbers still have an advantage the race is theirs, but as the last climb flattens out considerably after the first 4km (rated Category 3) it's not impossible that a strong rouleur could stay with them and then have just enough left over for an uphill sprint on the flatter section in the final kilometre. Whether they can do so with enough time to make any difference to the overall standings is another matter entirely.

Jerseys

Red - General Classification leader
Black and gold - Points leader
Dark red and white - Combination leader
Orange with white polka dots - Mountains leader
Light blue and white - Combativity
Grey - leading young rider
Dark blue and white - leading Salvadoran rider

Start List


Brazil
1 FERNANDES Clemilda
2 DA SILVA  Fernanda
3 DE OLIVEIRA Flavia
4 FERNANDES Marcia
5 FERNANDES Uenia
6 FERREIRA Luciene
7
8

Pasta Zara-Geas-Manhattan
11 BORGATO Giada
12 CALLOVI Rossella
13 CILVINAITE Inga
14 GARCIA Evelyn
15 JANELIUNAITE Edita
16 NEBEN Amber
17 PIERCE Amber
18 SILINYTE Agne

Be Pink
21 AMIALIUSIK Alena
22 ALGISI Alice
23 CANTELE Noemi
24 FRAPPORTI Simona
25 MUCCOLI Dalia
26 SCHWEIZER Doris
27 VALSECCHI Silvia
28 ZRIMSEK Petra

Lituania-Gatorade
31 JANKAUSKAITE Milda
32 KUBILIUNAITE Jurgita
33 LATOZAITE Silvija
34 NORVAISAITE Kristina
35 POSKAITE Egle
36 TITENYTE Zavinta
37
38

Bogota-Gatorade
41 GULUMA Wendy
42 ESTRADA Nicole
43 MUNOZ Paola
44 RAMOS Yuleidy
45 ROJAS Gabriela
46 SALCEDO Jannie
47 TOVAR Luz
48 VALLEJOS Karla

Venezuela
51 BRICENO Maria
52 CESAR Jennifer
53 CHACON Lilibeth
54 GARCIA Daniely
55 GONZALEZ Angie
56 MORENO Wilmarys
57
58

Vanderkitten
61 CHILCOTT Kate
62 CUTLER Jessica
63 KUHAJEK Jennie
64 RACHETTO Liza
65 REITHER Jennifer
66 TEDDERGREEN Starla
67 WILLIAMSON Sophie
68 WINDER Ruth

Garrobo Texops
71 ALBERSHARDT Addyson
72 DIAZ Iris
73 ESTRADA Xenia
74 FORTIN Veronique
75 MAJANO Natalia
76 RUZICKOVA Martina
77
78

Iscorp-USA
81 GUIDENS Heylen
82 PANIAGUIA Valentina
83 ROJAS Adriana
84 RUBIANO Marcela
85 SANTOS Patricia
86 TELLADO Marisol
87 VARGAS Lorena
88

Rayvita
91 BERTINE Kathryn
92 CAMACHO Susan
93 CASAS Ana-Teresa
94 CORTES Cristina
95 LOZANO Camila
96 RIOS Julissa
97 ROJAS Fiorella
98 VICENCIO Maria Paz

San Luis
101 ARIAS Andrea
102 GUZMAN Florencia
103 MONSALVO Valentina
104 MAZZOCCA Gisela
105 OLIVERA Lucila
106 SAENZ Silvana
107
108

Colombia-Specialized
111 BUITRAGO Claudia
112 FAGUA Ana
113 GULUMA Serika
114 MORENO Liliana
115 MUNOZ Natalia
116 PENUELA Diana
117 SANABRIA Ana
118 SANABRIA Angie

Costa Rica
121 GUILLEN Edith
122 HERRERA Katherine
123 MARTINEZ Daniela
124 MUNOZ Brenda
125 RUBIANO Marcela
126
127
128