Seven early-season sportives to test your winter form

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Seven early-season sportives to test your winter form

Seven form-finding events between now and spring

Finding form

  • Cotswold Spring Classic, pic: Phil O'Connor/www.sportivephoto.com

    If you're going to attack, make sure you're not caught again moments later (Pic: www.sportivephoto.com)

  • The OS January Insanity Sportive takes in a lumpy route through Hampshire

  • You no longer need one bike for racing and one for training/leisure, with the rise of the sportive bike meaning there are quality machines to serve purposes

  • The White Down climb is one of the steepest in Surrey (pic: sarflondondunc, via Flickr Creative Commons)

  • The Delightful Dales 200 takes riders over Park Rash (pic: Tejvan Pettinger, via Flickr Creative Commons)

  • The Wiggle Ashdown Sportive is set against the picturesque backdrop of the Sussex countryside

  • The 65 Roses Spring Classic serves up a slice of Belgium in Yorkshire

  • The Lionheart starts and finishes in the Longleat Estate (pic: Jason Puddephatt, via Flickr Creative Commons)

Finding form

With winter training in full swing, thoughts will soon turn to the spring and summer, and putting to good use the miles you’ve accumulated over the off-season.

And there are plenty of early-season sportives for you to circle in the diary as a source of extra motivation and, crucially, to test your legs.

And while some of the UK’s most popular early-season events – the Kentish Killer, The Puncheur in Brighton and the Wiggle No Excuses sportive to name three – have sold out (mark your calendar for next year instead!), there are plenty more to choose from.

We’ve picked seven of the best before the end if March. So book your place, make a note in your training diary and get your head down for some more winter miles.

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