The day's route
Welcome to the Carpathian Mountains
The length of this second stage is 292 km, with a 152 km timed section. In fact, the competitors will travel round a 76 km loop twice during the day. Obviously, the terrain will have changed considerably in between these two loops, so all the competitors will have to make sure they can adapt to the worsening conditions and handle the degradation of the track. The route starts with a very wide track, but it soon narrows on its arrival in the medium altitude mountains. The competitors will then have to confront a very winding and very technical track on which it is highly likely that snow awaits: during reconnaissance, the organisers had to use a snow plough to clear a forest track, a large part of which is occupied by snowdrifts. Once again, surprises will clearly be in store for the competitors. Perhaps we might even see the appearance during the special stage of the famous Romanian bears that are very common in this region.
