Swissminiatur

Welcome back, everybody! I hope you found the change of scenery this stage, well, interesting at least. Plus, you all needed a break from being able to read everything around you (I’m evil that way). But it’s over now, and here are the results! The stage is won in 12:41 by u/JosefAndMichael; a whole minute clear of u/exohugh’s 13:39 and u/BarryFishyBear’s 13:57.
This stage is won in 12:41 by u/JosefAndMichael, who took advantage of u/exohugh’s errors. Those errors netted the latter 2:15 in penalties, which puts them in second place at 13:39, just ahead of u/BarryFishyBear7 at13:57. In fourth is u/Tall_ImpalaL49’s 21:44, while u/orpheuus57 manages to make it in fifth with 24:43 despite errors on R2 and R5. Who saw that coming?! Honorable mention to u/Douddde who achieved a perfect score but couldn’t quite make it onto the leaderboard this week.
Round 1, on the approach to Minamihamacho, is won by u/exohugh in 1:07, followed by u/Queeg77 at 1:22 and u/JosefAndMichael at 1:31.
u/JosefAndMichael breezes into the top spot on Round 2, in the middle of Osaka, with a time of 1:29. They’re trailed by u/exohugh’s 3:57 and u/Tall_ImpalaL49’s 4:22.
Round 3 on the opposite end of the route in Kobe was a much closer battle: u/BarryFishyBear7 and u/orpheuus57 are nearly neck-and-neck again, with the former winning by two seconds, 1:08 to 1:10. There was a similarly tight competition for third place between u/The59Soundbite and u/JosefAndMichael, with just 6 seconds separating them, but it is u/The59Soundbite who’ll get away with the points this time around.
u/exohugh’s 1:13 wins them Round 4, on the E1 expressway south of the railway tracks, just 5 seconds ahead of u/JosefAndMichael at 1:18. U/orpheuus57 rounds out the top three here with 1:39 on the clock.
Round 5 in Kobe’s Higashinada ward proved tough for pretty much everyone, the fastest time being u/BarryFishyBear7’s 3:05, u/exohugh nearly a minute behind at 4:01, and u/JosefAndMichael another minute and a half clear at 5:46.
Here are the times for this stage, along with the overall times:
https://preview.redd.it/9ej2alr7c7c71.png?width=596&format=png&auto=webp&s=0efacb96b454f93d4c0026948496d9fc36ba8d70
And the points table:
https://preview.redd.it/pyb84vr8c7c71.png?width=400&format=png&auto=webp&s=137c4906e47f3aa0eb15bf8b89709dcfada1ebee
Congratulations to all the winners from this stage! The stage for this week is of a similar length, but a much different character. Those of you who took part in the first Time Trial in the Giro d’Italia might want to brush up on your Italian, because we’re venturing into the Alps for the first cross-border race of the tournament – a 40km (medium category) race between the lakeside towns of Lugano, Switzerland and Como, Italy!

Route

Route Map
We begin this stage by the Centro Esposizioni (aka Expo Center) Lugano, on the eastern side of the city, heading northwest through it towards the municipality of Massagno, where we’ll get onto the H2 road. Familiarize yourself with it, because you’ll be spending some quality time here. After passing Lugano Station, make your way to the lakefront near the Chiesa Santa Maria and the Lugano Arte e Cultura museum, and then follow the H2 for 5 kilometers, taking in the lakeside views, until you arrive at Melide and the Swissminiatur park, where you’ll cross Lake Lugano. After following the H2 through the villages of Bissone, Marrogia, and Melano, take the exit at Capolago towards Riva San Vitale, from where you’ll head south towards Rancate, and then cross the A2/E35 for a quick stint in the town of Mendrisio. I hope you’ve prepared for the climbs, because they’re coming up soon! Make your way up the (relatively) gradual slope up to Castel San Pietro and cross the gorge at the Breggia river before turning off the road to begin the descent into the border town of Chiasso. Hairpin turns await you here, but soon enough you’ll be in the town, once again with your friend, the H2. Make your way through the streets of Chiasso, past the train station, and cross the border into Italy! Sprint down the Via Bellinzona through Monte Olimpino and follow the hillside road into Como before crossing the finish line on the waterfront, in front of the Monumento alla Resistenza Europea.
Please note that you may take notes or attempt to memorize the route, but you may not have the route map or description open to view during the challenge. Also, the locations on the challenge are not necessarily in the correct order for the route.

Scoring

As a reminder, the goal is to achieve a perfect score on each round in the fastest time possible, with a penalty of 5s for every meter above 15m if you don’t get a perfect score. If needed, ties on time are broken by distance.
On each round points are divided 3-2-1 among the 3 fastest players, while for the stage as a whole they’re divided 15-10-5-3-1 amount the top 5.
Challenge Link: Stage 5 (Format: [2], no time limit)
Deadline: Monday, July 26th at 12:00 GMT
A quick note: I realized I might have a few too many stages planned for this, so I’m going to organize this competition into sets (or seasons, if you will) of 10 stages each, just like the Giro and Tour. This means a few things: (a) I can incorporate some of the changes to scoring that’s been discussed in the comments between u/Douddde, u/orpheuus57, and me, (b) it doesn’t permanently handicap those with a single bad stage (something also fixed by scoring changes), and (c) this isn’t literally 50 stages long (that’s just how many pairs of close-by cities I could find). To that end, the tournament will continue in the same format through five more stages to complete “Season 1”, before starting the next set of stages after a short break.
Tired of spectating? You can still join the tournament at any time – just leave your GeoGuessr username below and I’ll add you to the list. Your times for the previous stages will be set to the maximum time for each stage. You don’t need to report your score here, but feel free to discuss the stage or provide feedback! Good luck, and enjoy the stage!