Just run it on open roads. Tis’ merica afterall.
In that case…
I want a stage going to the top of Haleakala.
Stage from Tucamcari to Las Vegas New Mexico on SR 104.
Kenai to Homer, Alaska
TT across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway
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Make it more American. 12 stages, 1 per week.
Any route you want, open roads, all the tucking and puppy hands you want.
Stupid City Traffic routes:
Albany to battery park.
Milwaukee to Navy Pier.
Key West to Miami Beach
Pick the greatest climbs out west ( Rotating list year to year if anyone survives to do a 2nd year )
Pick another couple truly stupid city rides with traffic. Something ending in LA. Downhill in SF with traffic and draft legal street cars.
The finale, in full nascar stupidness will have to be something like Mauna Kea but its going to be out and back with a downhill finish. We may be able to get some quality super light body armor in the sport.
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How about a flattish stage starting in Philadelphia, going to NYC, a few laps through Central Park and a sprint finish in Times Square.
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Great idea. For the final stage, I’m thinking starting in Northern Virginia, going past the Pentagon, over Memorial Bridge by Arlington National Cemetery, then doing laps on Independence, Constitution and Pennsylvania Ave from the Lincoln Memorial, past the Washington Monument, around the Capitol and back, with the sprint ending at the Washington Monument of course. It’d be just like the final stage of the TDF.
For other stage ideas, I’m a big fan of a stage up and down around the Mid-Hudson valley, NY. The old Tour de Trump used that area and there are a number of climbs with bad pavement and 20+ percent grades. See, for example, Devil’s Kitchen: https://pjammcycling.com/climb/375.Devils%2520Kitchen
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I’ve always thought a TT on the Boston Marathon course would be cool. I’m from Boston, so I’m biased, but I think it would be a good route, net downhill but with the 3 Newton climbs, downtown finish etc. Distance is right (as would any marathon course)
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What about doing it ala OG TDF style. Ridiculous route and a bunch of amateur sickos competing on some stupid windy route through the US that changes each year? Probably more akin to ultra cycling, but it could be cool
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You mean the Race Across America? 
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Excellent point. Like Milan-San Remo bore fest. However, there needs to be a balance, otherwise we end up with the NASCAR version of cycling…oh wait that’s precisely what Crits are 
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fuck i’d love to see a 180 rider WT crit stage for this. maybe one of the intelligensia courses, or tulsa?
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If you go the morning of the marathon, you can kind of chase the road closures and do an ok TT. Gets a bit hairy once you pass Newton, but it’s a fun way to start the day.
I wonder what a ‘made for American television format’ would look like.
Probably closer to a crit/circuit course so you could get good camera coverage. Program start to finish would want to be inside 2 hours. So 90-100 minutes for pre and post race commentary.
You would want several ‘mid race’ climaxes that would be compatible with commercial breaks. Basically primes that would need to count for more than money. Have one right before going into a break then one coming right out of the break. More sprints more better. The winner is purely on points based on the intermediate sprints and the finish line. Figure out some clever but understandable scoring to keep the end from becoming a formality, but keep the start interesting.
Teams win instead of individuals. The team doesn’t sacrifice for ‘a guy’ the team sacrifice for ‘the team’. No individual awards at the end, all 8 guys get up on the podium.
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Yeah I’ve done that before, last I heard though they don’t really let you do it due to security. Do you know if that’s still the case?
What you are describing is pretty much exactly the Hammerseries
Does it work well?
That sounds like a better way to convert new viewers to the sport!
We can use holographic finish line tech as a virtual barrier on each sprint finish too. It could change colour and disappear with sound effect as soon as the rider crossed it and scored a point.
You really need to hook people with new ideas, and the tech that’s around now… amazing. No excuse not to make progress and grow the sport.
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It makes for pretty exciting racing start to finish, that’s for sure. It’s on pause right now (you know why) I hope it’ll return. It’s a fun watch and definitely very different from traditional racing… even crits, becasue there are no individuals. They have 3 different races per event. Here is a 1 min video on how it works:
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Last time I did that was actually 2013 so not too sure, but we’ve been volunteering the last few years in Hopkinton and haven’t seen them give anyone a hard time there.
But the vast majority of roads you’d want to race on are governed by counties or cities. Can you imagine the titanic task it would be to coordinate road closures and policing with hundreds of different transportation bureaus and law enforment agencies across the country?
Which is no different in Italy, France and Spain. It’s a logistical nightmare, but it gets done every year. I suppose the difference is the towns used in the existing GTs actually want the race to pass through and are often bidding to host a start or finish. There’s significant economical benefits, even if only for a day.