Ivan Basso recently told RCUK he would prepare for the biggest climbs at the Grand Tours by doing a recce of the climbs and repeatedly riding them until he felt comfortable.

That same luxury is not readily available for amateur riders without the backing of a professional team, nor do we have climbs that match those of the Continent, so you have to use your imagination, Fleeman says.

“The problem we have here in the UK is that we don’t have the climbs that there are over in Europe,” he explains.

“If you’re training for the Marmotte sportive, for example, you can’t replicate that in terms of the height and distance of the Col du Galibier, so you have to use your imagination a little.”

“What you could do is an endurance ride, maybe three to four hours, and try and accumulate around an hour [of climbing] within that,” Fleeman says.

“You might have to make that up in blocks of four to five-minute climbs, but if you’re out on a hilly circuit then you are still getting the same amount of hours [of climbing] you’d do on the sportive, it’s just not in one block.”

The key, Fleeman says, is designing a route which takes in plenty of climbing, and building hill reps into a longer ride will allow you to (almost, as there will inevitably be periods of recovery) the continuous effort of a longer climb.

If you are out for a long ride in the hills, it’s important to judge your effort to make sure you don’t bonk before the end of the loop. Finally, we asked Fleeman for his advice on the most effective way to pace your climbing.