For many keen cyclists there is no other time of the season that is looked forward to with the same excitement and sense of trepidation as the spring classics, the traditional starter to the year.

These one-day races test cycling’s toughest riders with the worst conditions imaginable—sucking mud, choking dust, leg-numbing sleet, and Europe’s narrowest, most bone-grinding roads. Clattering through agrarian hamlets on roughly paved routes carved from the hills more than a century ago, the spring classics embody the soul of the sport of cycling.

races such as Italy’s season-opening Milan–San Remo, which winds south toward the lumpy Ligurian coast on its way to a furious finish; Ghent-Wevelgem, Belgium’s test for sprinters, always won with a burst of lightning; the tooth-rattling Tour of Flanders, with its interminable stretches of treacherous cobblestones; and, of course, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, a monster created in 1892 whose tempestuous weather and sawtooth profile made it the dark prototype for every tough race that has followed.

The Spring Classics book celebrates these races and many more, where heroes are born and legends made, with fabulous photography and insightful passages of prose. It’s one of the most stunning and beautiful books that portrays the most exciting period of cycle racing, making it a must buy for all avid cyclists.

Each photograph leaves a lasting impression, emotions, anger, desperation, victory all wrapped up in one iconic photo after another, each supported with introductions from writers who convey the sheer emotion and beauty of the spring classics. A must read.

Available now costing £29.95 available at good bookshops or direct from www.cordee.co.uk.