Logistics, money, access permissions, clout – four reasons why many of Britain's most iconic road climbs have never featured in the modern Tour of Britain races.
Unlike the Tour de France, the prestige, length and importance to its host country of which enables it to go wherever the organisers want, the Tour of Britain's organisers – initially Sweetspot and now governing body British Cycling – have always had a much slighter hand to play.
These climbs would be the centrepiece of any edition of the Tour of Britain, but how likely are they to feature? Simon Warren, Britain's foremost climbing connoisseur, puts his choices to Andy Hawes, the long-time route designer of the Tour of Britain's men's and women's races.
1. Bealach na Bà – Scottish Highlands
- Length: 9km
- Height gain: 616m
- Average gradient: 6.8%
- Max gradient: 20%
- Chance of appearing: 4/5
Apart from being hundreds of miles from everywhere else, and there being nowhere near enough accommodation for the riders and staff never mind spectators.
Apart from the road being perilously narrow with a precipitous drop off its edge.
Apart from the fact it rains all the time and often has winds so strong they would blow the peloton clean off the road, Bealach na Bà would be a brilliant Tour of Britain climb.
The road climbs more than 9km and is as close to a mountain pass as you’ll find in Britain. It’s the big one, our Stelvio.
Aside from the physical test, there is simply no better way to showcase the colossal beauty of Scotland than to run the race over it and then around the back of the Applecross peninsula.
The weather-beaten magnificence of the scenery is second to none and it's one of the best places to ride a bike anywhere.
Andy Hawes, Tour of Britain route director: "There is absolutely no reason why we couldn’t use this climb the next time we head to the Highlands."
- Pros: It’s a genuine mountain pass in Britain
- Cons: Remote, pristine wilderness; always rains
2. Hardknott Pass – Lake District, Cumbria
- Length: 2.6km
- Height gain: 310m
- Average gradient: 11.8%
- Max gradient: 33%
- Chance of appearing: 1/5
The undisputed doyenne of British climbs, the one every rider fears, a climb so vicious that it can force even the fittest rider into the submission of putting a foot down.
Naturally, then, we’d love to see a professional peloton ripped to shreds on its up-and-over incline.
Even as I write this, however, I can’t help but think Hardknott may be too much for a professional race.
If you’ve ever been up it in a car, you’ll know that, while the climb’s liquid diet consists of nothing more than riders’ tears, when it comes to solids, it gobbles down car clutches.
And this is just on the way up – coming down is even worse, for all involved.
Such is the lunacy of Hardknott’s descent, even the most skilled descenders don’t have to do too much wrong to come a cropper.
So, there are plenty of reasons in favour of its inclusion, but many against, too.
Andy Hawes: "This would be a challenging climb for us to get the race over. It’s about getting all the vehicles ahead and behind the race over it safely, never mind subjecting the riders to it. You can imagine the smell of burnt-out clutches and brakes would hang like a low Cumbrian mist. It’s an iconic climb, just one best left to the Fred Whitton."
- Pros: Britain’s most infamous cycling climb gets worldwide attention
- Cons: Too narrow and too steep, for both man and machine
3. Rosedale Chimney Bank – North York Moors, Yorkshire
- Length: 1.5km
- Height gain: 175m
- Average gradient: 11.9%
- Max gradient: 33%
- Chance of appearing: 3/5
Rosedale is one of the most famous climbs in the country, and witness to many heroic acts across generations of ancestors of the current Tour of Britain – the Milk Race and Kellogg’s Tour.
It’s a signature climb that should be a regular, like Alpe d’Huez at the Tour de France.
Stop worrying about the riders, stick it on the route and keep them awake at night, sweating over its 33% slopes.
Their forefathers had no bother with it, so why should they?
Okay, it might be hard to get the race’s caravan – the team cars and race support vehicles – over it, but if a 1970s Ford Cortina with five bikes on the roof could get up it, then the modern fleet will surely have no trouble.
Rosedale is the sort of climb that excites the public and draws them in their thousands. It’ll be royal entertainment, which is what it’s all about in the end, isn’t it?
Andy Hawes: "It’s been used many times in the Tour of Britain of old. I am always looking for other climbs that are just as good but maybe a little less known in the cycling community."
- Pros: Everyone wants to see the riders suffer like they did in the past
- Cons: Not much, apart from how steep and narrow it is
4. Thwaites Brow – Keighley, West Yorkshire
- Length: 0.6km
- Height gain: 88m
- Average gradient: 15.3%
- Max gradient: 30%
- Chance of appearing: 5/5
Forget Flanders, and the cobbles of the Muur de Geraardsbergen and Paterberg, the best cobbles anywhere in the world can be found in Yorkshire.
In Halifax, there is Shibden Wall, Gibb Lane and the infamous Trooper Lane, but the best of the lot, on the outskirts of Keighley, is Thwaites Brow.
What sets this road apart from its peers is not just its surface or colossal gradients but its sweeping curves.
It’s like a cobbled corkscrew, a rugged, hellish obstacle that rips your legs apart.
However, it’s far from perfect for a bike race. It’s not in great nick, with gaps between some stones so big you’ll need rope to pull riders out. Spectators wouldn’t have it so great either, with space at a premium.
It also starts in an industrial estate. But with some creative thinking – and camera angles – there’s no reason this road can’t have its day in the sun and shine for all the world to see.
Andy Hawes: "This would be a climb that would most definitely feature in a stage. Who doesn’t love cobbled hairpins on a climb!"
- Pros: The world’s best cobbles, Flanders included
- Cons: Surface needs a bit of love, not much room for spectators
5. Lowther Hill – Lanarkshire
- Length: 15km
- Height gain: 725m
- Average gradient: 3.2%
- Max gradient: 14%
- Chance of appearing: 3/5
From base to summit, starting from Mennock, travelling from west to east via the village of Wanlockhead (the highest village in Scotland), this road climbs a whopping 15km.
That’s a kilometre-and-a-bit more than Alpe d’Huez. Of course, it can't touch the Alpine giant for altitude, but it is a monster climb with a killer finish.
Part one to Wanlockhead is steady, building ever steeper as it winds through the wonderful interlocking hills.
Passing the village, you reach the service road to the radar station, where things go bang.
Cutting across the pristine scenery, just like a classic Alpine pass, the wonderfully surfaced road snakes upwards, hitting sharp gradients.
With hairpin bends, amazing vantage points and splendid views across the magnificent scenery – not to mention the giant plateau at the top for all the infrastructure that comes with a top-level stage race – there are few more suitable climbs for a Tour of Britain summit finish that have yet to feature.
Andy Hawes: "It’s been looked at, but has never fitted into a route. It's a possibility for the future but the local authorities that we work with have a big say in where the race starts/finishes and sometimes the geography of where the climbs are doesn’t quite fit."
- Pros: Everything about it
- Cons: Getting suitable locations close by to host the race
6. Great Dun Fell – Pennines, Cumbria
- Length: 7.3km
- Height gain: 593m
- Average gradient: 8.1%
- Max gradient: 25%
- Chance of appearing: 1/5
Until Great Dun Fell gets included in the Tour of Britain, I will not stop banging the drum. I see it as my duty for this wondrous climb to get its name in lights.
The Tour of Britain needs to visit the nation’s best roads and Great Dun Fell is England’s mountain, the highest paved road in the country, which climbs for over 7km on slopes as steep as 25%.
At the summit, there is a large plateau big enough to build a stadium, never mind host the finish of a bike race.
As factors against it, it’s remote and narrow, but I’ve visited many a stage finish at the Vuelta a España – a bigger race than the Tour of Britain – set up on a tiny piece of land at the end of a goat path no wider than a single car.
Just think of the helicopter shots. The scenery is massive, the views across the top of the Pennine ridge would be to die for and fans would come in their droves.
The sprinters would hate it, the farmer would kick up a fuss (but I’m sure he could be compensated), as would Air Traffic Control who own the land at the top, but with sensitive negotiations and immaculate logistics, surely there must be a way to make my dream come true.
Andy Hawes: "This climb has been on the lips of many people for years but the stumbling block is that the land is owned by NATS (National Air Traffic Services) and gaining permission would be tricky. Also, the local authority that pays for the stage might not be interested if spectators weren’t allowed, which is what it’s all about, at the end of the day."
- Pros: Would create the ultimate spectacle for a British bike race
- Cons: Far too many to squeeze into this space
