The beauty of cycling as a professional sport is that its greatest arena is the open road.
The climbs of the Tour de France are cycling’s equivalent of Wembley Stadium or the Maracana – strips of tarmac transformed for one day a year but otherwise open to any rider willing to pit themselves against the same challenges as those faced by the world’s best cyclists.
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The 2014 Tour de France includes six mountain stages (through three ranges: the Vosges, Alps and Pyrenees), with five summit finishes on a route which covers 3,664km.
We’ve selected six climbs from this year’s edition of cycling’s greatest race for you to add to your must-ride list. Have you ridden any? Share your story on the RoadCyclingUK forum.