Ronde van Calderdale, Yorkshire – Sunday April 2

The cobbled Classics are a staple of the cycling season and the Ronde van Calderdale is Yorkshire’s answer to the Tour of Flanders.

Now in its sixth year, the sportive offers well-signed routes and a blend of cobbled climbs and tarmac road sections.

Where Flanders has the Koppenberg and the Muur, Calderdale has Shibden Wall – 800m of cobbles with an average gradient of 15.3 per cent.

It’s one of 13 cobbled climbs in all on the 74-mile route, while a shorter 50-mile route – which misses out Jowler Bank – has also been introduced.

Routes: 72 miles, 50 miles
Entry fee: £25
Website: Kirklees Cycling Academy (entry via British Cycling)

Etape du Dales – Sunday May 14

The sportive of the Dave Rayner Fund has been taking riders through the Yorkshire Dales since long before the Tour de France visited.

– RCUK’s Best of British: Yorkshire Dales –

The Etape du Dales is another sportive characterised by relentless climbing and steep slopes, with Fleet Moss, Buttertubs, Tan Hill and Garsdale Head all featuring on the 110-mile route.

Wide-open roads, not least on the isolated Tan Hill, make for spectacular scenery but if the wind’s a-blowing you’ll know about it.

Alongside being a tough but beautiful challenge, entering the Etape du Dales means you’re helping to raise money for the Dave Rayner Fund and, in the process, help to fund the fledgling careers of young British riders.

Route: 110 miles
Entry fee: £49
Website: Dave Rayner Fund

Tour of Wessex – Saturday May 27 to Monday May 29

And now for something a little different… three days of challenging riding on the biggest multi-stage sportive in Britain.

Packing in quintessentially English countryside in the quiet lanes and byways of the south west, the Tour of Wessex gives you the choice of completing 322 miles, 224 miles or just an individual stage.

Though every stage starts and finishes in Somerton, each day packs in new and iconic challenges like the climb of Cheddar Gorge or up to King Alfred’s Tower.

The third and final day also includes the Alpine-like Porlock Toll Road – taking riders from sea level to the highest point in Exmoor.

Routes: 332 miles, 224 miles
Entry fee: £135, £120
Website: Pendragon Sports

Etape Eryri – Sunday June 11

While Dragon Slayers take on the Brecon Beacons on Sunday June 11, another of Wales’ toughest sportives will be taking riders up some of Snowdonia’s toughest climbs at the other end of the country.

The Etape Eryri has earned rave reviews from Team Sky supremo Sir Dave Brailsford and offers three routes – Bach, Canol and the 102-mile Mawr.

Oh, and then there’s also the small matter of Europe’s longest ultra-sportive, the Etape Xtrem, which tackles all three routes for a mammoth 222 miles (with 3,878m of climbing).

Climbs include Drws y Coed, The Wall, Crimea Pass and Llanberis Pass, offering some of the toughest but most picturesque climbing around.

Routes: 47 miles, 76 miles, 103 miles, 226 miles
Entry fee: £35.99, £37.99, £39.99, £95
Website: Etape Eryri

Chiltern 100 – Sunday July 16

The south east may the lack the severity of climbs found in the Yorkshire Dales, the North Pennines, Brecon Beacons or Snowdonia, but the Chiltern 100 should not be underestimated.

This year, the Chiltern 100 has joined forces with the Chiltern Cycling Festival, to form the, erm, Chiltern 100 Cycling Festival. That means, as well as the sportive, there will be Cycletta women-only ride and a vintage ride, the Amersham Classic, both covering 32 miles.

The sportive, meanwhile, offers three routes: 32 miles, 68 miles and 107 miles, with the latter packing in 2,400m of climbing over the short, steep climbs typical in the Chiltern Hills.

All riders will have a chance to compete for the title of King or Queen of the Chilterns on the final, timed climb, before receiving a celebratory glass of champagne, a finisher’s medal and a musette on their return to the event HQ at Penn House, Buckinghamshire.

Routes: 32 miles, 68 miles, 107 miles
Entry fee: £24.95, £37.95, £37.95
Website: Human Race

Great Dun Fell Cycle Sportive – Sunday July 30

No prizes for guessing which climb takes centre stage here – the Great Dun Fell Cycle Sportive offers the chance to ride the UK’s highest road, which also happens to be one of the country’s finest climbs. In fact, Great Dun Fell also starred in our Best of British ride in the stunning North Pennines.

– RCUK’s Best of British: North Pennines –

Peaking at 835m above sea level, the private access road (but open to cyclists) to the radar station in the North Pennines has been dubbed England’s Ventoux – and for good reason. The climb measures 4.5 miles in length, with an average gradient of nine per cent and a maximum pitch of 20 per cent – there’s nothing else quite like it in England.

Great Dun Fell, which concludes the route, is, of course, the highlight, but the undulating route from Appleby and through the Eden Valley showcases some of the North Pennines’ best riding.

Skirting the edge of the Lake District, the long course is 64 miles in total, all building up to the iconic final ascent. This may not be the longest sportive out there, but Great Dun Fell will still provide a very stern test.

Routes: 64 miles, short course TBC
Entry fee: £25, £22
Website: Sport in Action

Exmoor Beast – date tbc

The Exmoor Beast is named after the mythical creature said to prowl the Exmoor National Park, but it’s a fitting name for what is a super-tough sportive.

The shark’s tooth profile of the route gets the blood pumping from the start, but it’s the climb of Dunkery Beacon that has earned the Exmoor Beast it’s fearsome reputation.

Kicking up to a 1:6 gradient almost immediately, the climb will test every rider who takes on the Beast and, after a brief respite halfway up, the wide-open moor ramps up to 17 per cent once again.

With an average gradient of ten per cent, across three kilometres, you’ll have earned the comparatively relaxing return ride to Tiverton.

Route: tbc
Entry fee: tbc
Website: Exmoor Beast