The five toughest cycling sportives in the world

There is a breed of cyclist for whom the sport is about pain. These are the riders who seek out challenges that last longer, climb higher, and punish more severely than any other bike race in the season. As one such fundamentalist once told me, cycling never gets easier - it only gets faster.

For those predisposed to this particular definition of cycling, here are Telegraph Men’s top five toughest sportives of the year. Like the best (read: most painful) mountain, they get harder the further you go...

5. The Fred Whitton Challenge

Named for the local club legend who hailed from its Lake District setting, the Fred Whitton Challenge has a distinctly northern feel to its route. At 112 miles it is not the longest on the list, but the ride’s incessant climbs make it one of the UK’s most difficult sportives.

“It’s superb, but mind-bogglingly hard work,” says Tom Vincent, a geotechinical engineer who completed the ride in a little over eight hours last year. “There are six serious climbs which appear in the list of Britain’s 100 greatest climbs.”

“Then there’s Hardknott and Wrynose, which pop up at 100 miles when you have nothing left in the tank. These are the hardest climbs I've done. The profile of the ride looks like a man having a heart attack. It really is perilously difficult. More than a handful don't finish and as many as half walk up those last hills.”

Going into its 15th year, the Fred Whitton starts and finishes in Grasmere and has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for cancer charities and others. The next ride will be held on May 10, 2015 and fills up far in advance.

4. The Dragon Devil

Another British entry, the Wiggle-sponsored Dragon ride is the Fred Whitton of the valleys. For a fee of just over £80, riders are invited to cycle 300km, climbing a total of 3,437 metres through the Welsh countryside.

The achingly-long distance was introduced this year as an evolution of the basic Dragon ride, which has been held annually for more than a decade and traditionally covered just half the distance. The Devil incarnation includes, amongst its climbs, the ominously-titled ‘Devil’s Staircase’ - a 480 metre climb with an average gradient of 15pc.

“Cycling around the Surrey hills is one thing,” Andrew Whillas of Wiggle says. “Cycling in south Wales is a completely different story. The hardest part is swinging onto the six or seven kilometre climbs and seeing riders crawling up the hill ahead of you looking like ants.

“It’s soul-destroying. It took me just over eight hours to do the 150km route. I cramped on the way to the finish line and couldn’t really climb stairs for a few days afterwards.”

3. L’Etape du Tour

For the kind of cycling pain that etches itself so firmly into the face that it leaves permanent wrinkles, the amatuer sportive enthusiast must turn to the home of the Tour de France. Here, a team of sadistic race organisers invite the general public to ride a one-day mountain stage of the world’s most famous race.

The amateur's imitation is as close to the professional peloton as any MAMIL will ever get. It is an experience paid for in lactic acid and tears. The 2014 edition was set in the Pyrenees, where thousands of riders from around the world cycled 148km and climbed the dreaded Col du Tourmalet in terrible conditions.

"It was horrible," explains The Telegraph's Jonny Cooper, who completed the course in just over seven rain-filled hours.

"There wasn't really a single enjoyable moment. Okay, there was one," he admits. "When we turned onto the final mountain, there was a massive bunch of spectators. We cycled through them like professionals on the Tour. Other than that, it was grim; everyone was nervous for days before, it hailed during the climbs and rained on the descents."

Would he do it again? "Probably. Humans are stupid: we forget about pain quickly."

2. Tour de Force

If one stage of the hardest sporting event on the planet doesn’t quite do it for you, the Tour de Force gives riders the opportunity to complete the whole thing seven days ahead of the professionals. A handful of cyclists, dubbed “lifers” by the race organisers, are invited to ride all 21 stages of the Tour de France.

Organised by the William Wates Memorial Trust, for whom the event has raised over £700,000, the ride also offers ‘Tour Tasters’; the option to cherry-pick a handful of flat or mountain stages.

The title doesn't do it justice. In total, the roughly 40 lifers who complete the Tour de Force each year ride 3,500 km, complete 64 categorised climbs totalling 50 km of vertical ascent and spend upto 130 hours in the saddle.

Many who set out to complete the challenge catalogue their misery and elation in a day-by-day blog, which make for harrowing and inspiring reading.

1. Maratona dles Dolomites

The official press release for the Maratona - a punishing 138km ride over seven Dolomite mountains - begins with a bizarre quote.

“Life is made up of moments which are not experienced necessarily in sequence and which do not represent a slice of time," it reads, quoting Michil Coast, president of the ride. “Moments have their own existence and consistency. You may be able to spend here many beautiful moments, important moments, moments of life."

Make of that what you will - it's a fair bet that most of the 9,000 riders who entered the 28th ride this year took little comfort from the ‘consistency’ of the route’s 4,230 metres of climbs.

The ride was described by National Geographic as "one of the biggest, most passionate, and most chaotic bike races on Earth” and it’s easy to see why. The Maratona is preceded by a week of parties in Val Badia, the ride's start location, and includes the G’Iro d’Italia's most iconic climbs.

Not one for the faint hearted.

Bonus: Rapha Manchester to London

Not officially one of the world’s toughest sportives by virtue of it being in its first year, the inaugural Rapha-hosted Manchester to London ride will take place on September 7. The ride is 220 miles and has only one rule: rider’s must arrive at the London finish line before midnight

As though the distance itself isn’t difficult enough, the race organisers have opted to include a trip over the Peak District and a detour through the sharp inclines of the Chilterns. More information is available here.