Triangles

WHY IS A CLIMB INSIDE OUR LISTS ? HOW ARE BUILT OUR SELECTIONS ?
 

You often asked us why a top (climb) is inside our list and what are the criteria to select them .

The yellow, green and red triangles, when they are colored, give you a tooltip with the explanation when your mouse is over. (only available with a computer, not a phone)

--- YELLOW --- MEDIA ---

Which kinds of explanations for the yellow colored triangles ?? The media. Media means the most wellknown races in this country and that the summit is known thanks to a cycling event:

CONDITIONS :

OR - Twice 'King of the Mountain' (KOM) in cycling races for professionals at any level, or for U23 and Juniors at international level ;

OR - Once Uphill finish in cycling races for professionals at any level, or for U23 and Juniors at international level ;

OR - Once in European or World Road Championships ;

OR - Part of a specific cycling events, like hill climbs or Etape du Tour ;

OR - Part of sportives (gran fondo) at significant level. This level can change according to the importance of cycling activities in the country ;

OR - In countries where the cycling activities are scarce, summits can be yellowed thanks to events like a MTB race or a car hill climb.

 

---GREEN --- TOURISM ---

What does a green triangle mean ? That a place of interest is connected to the climb (not only the summit, but the whole climb, even the foot). A natural environment or a beautiful viewpoint aren't enough. In one way or another, they must be recognized as places of interest.

As the definition is partly subjective, we work with labels, that guarantee that authorities have considered a place as a place of interest :

CONDITIONS

OR - UNESCO sites (official and tentative lists) ;

OR - Protected areas (national parks, natural parks, nature reserves, landscape reserves,…) ;

OR - Other natural places (lakes, glaciers, capes, vineyards, volcanos,…) ;

OR - Scenic roads, but 'scenic' is rather subjective. We only select the green roads on French Michelin maps or in the Atlas Stradale d'Italia (ASI) ;

OR - Buildings (castles, religious buildings, museums, (lookout) towers, lighthouses,…), but not all the buildings. A building that one visits.

OR - Winter and / or summer resorts ;

OR - Particular geographical points (official highest point or centre of the country, tripoint, …)

OR -  Special place or monument, tribute to a wellknown cyclist or to the bike itself.

 

--- RED --- SPORT ---

Which kinds of explanations for the red colored triangles ? The difficulty (sport). This means 2 things : The energy neede to climb (europoints) or the intensity of the effort (bomb).

What does a red triangle mean ? That the summit is sportingly attractive given the difficulty of at least one of its sides.

CONDITIONS :

OR - Its europoints get enough score. That means that at least one side leading to the summit has a score higher than the minimum required. The europoints represent the energy expenditure during the ascent and are linked to the length and the addition of the gradients of the climb.
These minimum requirements are (alphabetical ranking) :  

ALB        500
AND        300
AUT        800
BEL        150
BIH        300
CHE        700
CRO        300
CYP        700
CZE        400
DEU        300
FRA        800
HUN        200
IRL        200
ISL        300
ITA        800
KOS        500
LIE        700
LTU        100
LUX        150
MDA        200
MKN        500
MLT        200
MNE        500
NED          50
POR        700
ROM        800
SMR        200
SRB        500
SVK        700
SVN        500
UKD        200

OR - Its Bomb-points get a score higher than 25. That means that at least one side leading to the summit has a score higher than the minimum required. The Bomb-points represent the intensity of the effort and are linked to the average and the maximum gradients.

 

NO TRIANGLES

The summits in the lists without colored triangles have been selected because the are the best regionally, as the most wellknown climb with a flat neighbourhood, or filling in the right way a still desertic zone for us.

 

REMARKS

1 ) It is « OR » and not « AND ». One of those criteria is enough to get a triangle.

2 ) Us, the Newlist-Group (Eric Lucas and Daniel Gobert) keep on mind and papers archives about those topics since nearly 40 years and those archives and objective data lead us during the long and difficult task to select our lists. We must choose and eliminate climbs. The specificity of our association lies in the fact that our lists have a maximum amount of climbs and it is not the case for the other associations for cycloclimbers for life. We never make a personal decision but an objective decision at a time T, with the data that we have in our archives and we choose those who have the best data or the ones that will give the best balance between the triangles in one region. This doesn't delete nor the worth of the deleted climbs neither the love that you can have for one some of them. That is our method.