Many riders rose to the challenge of becoming part of Mark Cavendish’s official Sportive and enjoyed the chance to ride alongside the winner of 30 Tour de France stages. Starting and finishing at Cheltenham Racecourse, the course took our participants across the Cotswolds, combining challenging climbs, picturesque villages and breath-taking views of quintessentially English landscapes.

Start: Cheltenham Racecourse
Finish: Cheltenham Racecourse
Promo Village: Cheltenham Racecourse

All three Rise Above routes were designed with the rider’s enjoyment at the heart of them, but also to create testing challenges for all abilities. Rise Above captured the beautiful scenery of the Cotswolds with all routes incorporating the challenging climb of Cleeve Hill in the finale of the ride. Both the Purist and Extremist routes also featured the Snowshill climb, described by Cycling Weekly as being “like the gripping yarn of an Agatha Christie novel, starting off gently before gradually getting serious.”

Take a look at the profiles below to see the three routes designed by Mark.