Tour de France- Beyond category mountain climbs 4-1?

Question

If some climbs are beyond the difficulty categories previously created, why can't they add more categories? The mountains climbs are big, but they're the same damn mountains they've climbed since the race started. Why not add a 6th or 5th category?

Not only that some of these "big" climbs are just over 5k. I live at that elevation, it's not that high.

Answer 1

Well, the organizers could always add another category, but that would take away some of the drama of naming a particular climb "HC"! Remember, there is a bit a showmanship involved. It's like having a guitar amp that goes to 11!

One other thing that wasn't mentioned in how the organizer categorize climbs is their place during the stage. The climbs that occur near the end of the stage (or those that finish he stage) tend to get a higher rating simply because it's tougher to climb after racing for a couple of hours.

Keep in mind that for most cyclists, just one of the so-called HC or even cat 1 climbs would be enough of a challenge. You really can't get a sense of how hard these TdF mountain stages are until you try a simple experiment -- set up a trainer and while you're watching a stage, try to match the pace of the race. If you assume that these guys are climbing at about 300 watts, or heck, give yourself the benefit of the doubt and call it 275, you'll having to sustain such an effort for at least half an hour for a typical HC climb (the record for ascending L'Alpe d'Huez is about 37:30 by Pantani and I'm sure he was generating more than 300 watts...)

Answer 2

Cat. 4 climbs are usually less than 3km in length, an easy pitch that amount to no more than a sustained rise in the road
Cat. 3 climbs are slightly hardr, upto 5km in length.
Cat. 2 climbs are between 5 and 10km, and steeper than a 4 % grade
Cat. 1 climbs are long and steep. Between 10 and 20km, ans steeper than a 5% grade.
HC or Hors-Categorie (above category are the longest steepest mountain climbs. Extremely difficult climbs sometimes 15 - 20km with grades often exceeding 10%

Answer 3

Well they could but they call them HC.

Also 5K, depends where you start from, they start low and then its hard to climb 5K. And its steep (see previous answer). That's a bit like a pedestrian saying i can walk one mile, i can get up everest - its not that high!!

Answer 4

the finest is a form 4, it extremely is commonly decrease than 2km long and approximately 5 p.c. grade, or as much as 5km at a 2-3 p.c. grade. a form 3 could be as short as one mile with a very steep grade, in keeping with hazard 10 p.c.; or as long as six miles with a grade decrease than 5 p.c.. a form 2 could be as short as 5km at 8 p.c., or as long as 15km at 4 p.c. a form a million, as quickly as the utmost type, could be something from 8km at 8 p.c. to 20km at 5 p.c.. An hors catégorie (“above type”) score is given to extraordinarily complicated climbs. this might the two be a form a million whose summit is likewise the end of the point, or one that is extra effective than 10km long with an accepted grade of a minimum of seven.5 p.c., or as much as 25km miles long at 6 p.c. or steeper.