We are entering into demanding final 3 weeks. No more sprinting fun, no more hiding behind the wheels until final meters, it’s time for the pain!
We are back in UK, this time in London for the Leith Hill After Party course.
There are only three weeks left in this autumn series and this the easiest of three. Actually it’s all about the last 5.2 km since opening 36 km is flat as roads in London downtown supposed to be. And most importantly, it has the sharp sting with strong poison right at the end of its tail.
As mentioned, the whole climb is 5.2 km long with a modest 5% average but the climb is all but even and gradual. It rises and levels until the last 1.5 km when climb kick’s up relentlessly with gradients between 7-12%. If the entire climb will take between 11-15 minutes depending on the ability of an individual, the last 2 km will demand between 5-7 minutes of an all-out climbing to the finish line. There is no theory any sprinter or fast men can survive this. But on the other side, the final climb is not long enough for pure climbers either. The final climb is actually best suited for light sneaky and smart punchy climbers who can accelerate during climb and kill any wheel sucking inertia overall and who can dig for few minutes extremely deep.
But despite the predictable finish scenario, the stage is far from closed and boring. It’s actually long enough for any strong non-climber to attack early and try to build enough of a gap to steal the stage. Because many will try to hide and conserve energy until the final climb as much as possible, it is quite possible for duo, trio or quartet of riders to break away and build a decent gap to the field before the climb. And even on opening 3km of a climb gap might be maintained since field always rides hard on steep ramps and eases off on flat parts.
All categories 
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will do the same distance of 41 km with 410 m of ascent. Expect around 1h minutes of racing for the fastest group and around 1h 25 minutes for the last finishers to cross the line.
There are two slots available and remember; you can do either one or both, your best result will count towards general points classification.
Click on the day that fits your schedule for a link to Zwift event signup page.
Saturday at 15.05 CET (3 PM CET) / 2 PM BST / 9 AM EDT / 6 AM PDT / 11 PM AEST / 2 AM NZDT
Sunday at 10.30 CET (10.30 AM CET) / 9.30 AM BST / 5.30 AM EDT / 1.30 AM PDT / 7.30 PM AEST / 9.30 PM NZDT
Here is the VeloViewer 3D map of the course.
Have you ridden the course before? The easiest way is to check the segment in your Strava account.