Over recent years Monsal Hill Climb has become one of the cornerstones of the increasingly popular British hill climb calendar and in 2015 I was very proud to be able to help support the event via VeloViewer as well as compete for the 4th year running, this time alongside 6 others riding for team VV.  Here are some pictures of the event that, once again, was the welcome recipient of some amazing weather. The event was won by Joe Clark and Lou Bates with Adam Kenway & Jack Pullar and Jessie Walker & Dame Sarah Storey completing the podiums.

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The Aviva Tour of Britain has established itself as the main alternative preparation race for the World Championships (the other being the Vuelta a España). The parcours is tough and often ridden very hard with the domestic teams wanting to show their pedigree whilst the top WorldTour riders looking to get some hard day’s racing in the legs to help rebuild their form. Team Sky always want to fare well being the teams, main, home race but the top tip could well be ORICA GreenEDGE’s Yates brothers looking to take control of the race on their home roads of stage 2. Here are more details of all of the climbs from each stage. Interactive profiles and full stats available on the climbs page.

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The 2015 Tour de France is set to be one for the climbers (if they all make it through the cobbles) with 12 stages finishing at the top of a hill of some kind and a few more testing mountain stages with descending finishes. The early, classics style climbs will certainly make the initial competition for the yellow jersey more exciting with the puncheurs looking to take the lead, but the main GC battle will be decided on the classic climbs of the Pyrenese and Alps. Checkout some of the key climbs of the race below.

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The Critérium du Dauphiné is always one of my favourite races of the year, primarily for the awesome scenery of the high mountains and this year is set to deliver again. Stage 7 is undoubtably the Queen Stage heading from Montmélian to the ski station at Le Bettex perched above the idyllic mountain town of Saint-Gervais. Five 1st category climbs stand between the two towns with the last two basically making up one HC climb with a short and potentially tricky descent thrown in to disrupt the rhythm. I was “lucky” enough to test out those final two climbs for myself and noticed my Garmin reading as much as 20% gradient!

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At 293 km the Milan – San Remo is the longest one-day race for the Pro peloton and has one of the most climactic and open finishes of any of the races. With two short (and not actually that steep) climbs in the last 30 km you see all types of rider attempting to make winning moves. Climbers on the way up, the Rouleurs on the way down and the Sprinters in the last 200 m. Which of those will end up being the move of the day will be anyone’s guess. Here we will have a look at those three sections of the route that will decide the race: the climbs of the Cipressa and the Poggio along with the plummeting descent down to the finish in San Remo.
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