CONQUER THOSE CLIMBS!

Looking to ascend like Vingegaard or Vollering? It's all about perfect pacing, low-fibre fuelling, shifting from sitting to standing, and more...

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Whether you want to power up your local hills or tame the snaking bends of Alpe d'Huez, improving your climbing is one of the most rewarding parts of cycling. Of course, cycling uphill can also be demoralising. Grinding to a halt on a climb – however long – or seeing other riders cruise past you is never enjoyable.

But there is good news - you don't need to tick off brutal seven-hour training sessions to improve your performance. Simply refining your ascending skillset - from climbing technique to kit choices - will deliver impressive results.

And don't worry if you're not dwarfed by mountains where you live. “Even if you only have a few small hills at your disposal, you can be creative,” insists Phil Paterson, an endurance coach at PowerWatts. “You can ride hills multiple times, work on your technique and boost your strength. Whatever you do will give you useful information on your speed, heart rate and power when climbing, which you can use to pace and improve future rides.”

Read on for our top 10 tips to give you a helping hand up the hills. Schedule in the structured training sessions, and soon you'll be looking down on the competition!

1 THINK GEAR RATIOS

To glide up climbs, you first need the right gear ratios. Ensuring your bike has the appropriate gearing or the terrain you're tackling and your fitness level is key.

The advent of 12-speed road groupsets means even the pros are using cassettes with at least a 30-tooth biggest sprocket, so don't be shy about going large.

This is a particularly good idea if you're travelling to somewhere with longer or steeper climbs than you're used to.

A standard 2x crankset has a small ring with 39 teeth, while a compact has 34 teeth on the inner ring, and a semi-compact has 36, making it much easier to spin the pedals and keep your cadence up when you're tackling steep climbs.

2 IMPROVE YOUR FTP