14) Col d’Izoard, France

The Col d’Izoard is a Tour de France favourite, with the exploits of former champions Fausto Coppi and Louison Bobet celebrated in a small cycling museum at the summit.

The rocky landscape, dubbed the Casse Deserte, has formed the dramatic backdrop for some of the Tour’s key moments and marked the climb out as a must-ride ascent for Alpine adventurers.

Expect plenty of hairpins, wooded slopes and stunning views at the top – with the gradient, which averages six per cent over the 18.8km ascent – really kicking up at the halfway point.

Team Sky’s David Lopez and Great Britain’s Emma Pooley top the Strava leaderboards, with more than 6,000 attempts having been logged in all.

12) Passo Stelvio, Italy

The stunning Passo Stelvio is a bucket list favourite, and it’s little surprise that it features regularly in round-ups like this.

Snaking up the mountainside, the Giro d’Italia icon is the highest in the Eastern Alps and second only to the 2,770m Col de l’Iseran in the whole Alps with its peak at 2,757m.

The 24.3km climb packs in an incredible 48 hairpins, with an average gradient of 7.4 per cent, and the changeable weather conditions can add to its difficulty – Team Sky’s Dario Cataldo claimed the Cima Coppi prize on the ascent at the 2014 Giro d’Italia in thick snow.

Possibly one of the most photographed climbs in the world, the Stelvio’s beauty is renowned globally. Quite simply, a must-ride ascent.

11) Mount Hotham, Victoria, Australia

Located in the Victorian Alps, in Australia’s Great Dividing Range, Mount Hotham is said to be the toughest climb down under.

Just shy of 30km in length, the climb is one of the few chances to pit yourself against a tough, long climb when riding in Australia and it will put your climbing ability to the test with some of the steepest sections towards the summit.

Another climb with a dramatic, rocky backdrop, the full 29.9km segment features a number of false flats and even a couple of descents to really examine your ability to pace properly.

The average gradient of four per cent belies the true difficulty of the ascent, which climaxes with Victoria’s highest ski resort at the summit.

9) Alpe d’Huez (Official Crono Course), France

Alpe d’Huez has become a cycling mecca thanks to its prestige, beauty and the iconic Tour de France moments that have played out on its slopes.

Fausto Coppi was the first man to triumph on the 21 hairpins, while the Strava leaderboard is topped by the most recent stage winner on the iconic climb, Thibaut Pinot (FDJ).

Pinot ascended the climb in July 2015, on a day when Chris Froome’s Tour de France nearly blew up just one day from Paris, in a time of 42m09s, while other Strava pros Romain Bardet (42m15s), Laurens ten Dam (43m12s) and Adam Yates (44m15s) are all near the top of the Strava leaderboard thanks to their efforts that day.

Its bare stats are a 13.9km climb at an average gradient of eight per cent, but it is the history and prestige in which it is seeped which make it one of cycling’s absolute must-ride climbs.

8) Mt Faber Rd Climb (to top), Singapore

Singapore is flat as a pancake, right? Wrong – Mount Faber Road is one of the (albeit few) short climbs in the country, offering great views from the summit.

It is neither long, nor particularly challenging, but for the locals at least it is a chance to get those hill repeats sorted – hence the number of attempts that have been recorded on Strava and it’s place towards the top of this list.

The 1.7km ascent, through Mount Faber Park, carries an average gradient of five per cent, which you will feel most in the middle sections.

From there it is a sprint to the finish with, at the time of writing, 3m32s and 4m17s the respective King and Queen of the Mountain times to beat.

7) Col du Galibier, France

The Col du Galibier is another Tour de France icon and another of the Alps’ highest-paved roads. That, along with the frequency it features in the Tour, means it often represents the highest point of the race.

Though closed in winter – and also shut for the part of last summer after a landslide – the 17.6km ascent, with an average gradient of seven per cent, still attracts plenty of riders in the summer months.

Its brutal nature is reflected by the fact only three riders got over without walking on its maiden Tour de France appearance and, while things have improved both in terms of technology and the quality of the road, it’s still not one to be taken lightly.

But, reach the summit – saving yourself for the steepest section, in the thin air, at the very top – and your reward is almost unparalleled views.

5) HKPeakClimb, Hong Kong

Victoria Peak is a major tourist attraction in Hong Kong, representing as it does the highest mountain on the island with the incredible vantage point over the city.

But if you want to swap the tram, which takes the tourists up to the summit, with two wheels it’s a narrow, twisting 5.4km ascent with an average gradient of five per cent.

‘The Peak’ is lined with trees as you climb, before making way for a view across the city – which for the early risers means a great view of the sun waking Hong Kong up.

And if you’re after more of a challenge than the HKPeakClimb segment offers, then the full Mount Austin segment ramps up much more sharply to really get the burn going.

4) Coll de Soller, Mallorca, Spain

Ask anybody to name a climb in Mallorca and chances are Sa Calobra will be one of the first to spring to people’s mind – but the Coll de Soller rivals its Mallorcan sibling for popularity.

The 7.3km ascent comes with a steady six per cent gradient almost from bottom to top, but the road snakes up to the summit.

Two sections in particular boast switchbacks packed tightly on top of one another as the summit approaches.

More than 20,000 attempts have been logged on Strava, but you will be hard pushed bagging the KOM title – currently held by a certain M.Kwiatkowski, who ascended in just 17m12s.

3) Koppenberg, Belgium

The Koppenberg, in Flanders’ country in Belgium, is just 600 metres in length, but is one of northern Europe’s most fabled ascents.

The climb, a staple of the Spring Classics and integral part of the Tour of Flanders, has forced even the best pros out of the saddle for a miserable walk to the top on its slick cobbles.

When the bone-jarring cobbles are not throwing you around the road, the typically unpredictable Flandrian weather will be doing all it can to beat you back instead. And that’s not to mention the 22 per cent gradient at the climb’s steepest section.

To the uninitiated, the Koppenberg just an unpaved, farm track – but to the cycling public is one of the sport’s most famous arenas.

1) Chapman’s Peak (Noordhoek Side Full), Cape Town, South Africa

Even more popular than Mont Ventoux, however, and topping the tree when it comes to the most frequented Strava Classic Segments, is Chapman’s Peak in Cape Town, South Africa.

The only African segment in the entire list, the number of attempts recorded on the challenging coastal stretch is approaching 40,000 at the time of writing.

Its average gradient is just three per cent, over 4.4km, but that includes a short descent about a third of the way through before it’s all uphill at something more like five per cent.

It won’t challenge the most adept climbers, but what it does boast is a simply awesome riding experience which sees riders tackle what is essentially the edge of the cliff.

‘Chappies’ overlooks the South Atlantic Ocean and was considered an engineering feat when it was built – now you have the Argus Tour pros to challenge for the KOM and QOM honours.