Alfie Earl has climbed Mont Ventoux, the Tourmalet and Passo dello Stelvio, and completed London to Paris - all before his 10th birthday

At the end of May, nine-yearold Alfie, his 12-year-old sister Saskia, plus dad Steve and mum Sarra, covered the 270 miles between the English and French capitals in an impressive four days. “Some people think someone as young as me shouldn’t even try a ride like this,” says Alfie. “But I did it because I wanted to, and I feel proud to have finished.”

It was the latest in an astonishing list of rides he’s added to his palmarès before his 10th birthday. Last June, aged eight, he scaled the Col du Tourmalet. “I tried to climb it on holiday but failed, so I did a lot of training up and down hills in north London and I practiced near my grandparents’ house in the Cotswolds on some 200m ascents averaging 10 per cent. I learned how to keep up a good pace and never give up.” He returned to try again, reaching the 2115m summit in three and a half hours. “I knew if I did it I would be the best, and anything else would not be the best!” Following the Tourmalet, Alfie then vowed to conquer Mont Ventoux and the Passo dello Stelvio. He did just that last October, and less than 48 hours apart! Ventoux came first. “I trained on some mountains in Corsica on holiday and practiced longer and harder climbs to make me stronger,” explains Alfie. “And Dad and I looked at maps so we could see the hard kilometres through the forest and then the ‘moon’ near the top.” After starting in Bedoin, Alfie reached the top 21.5km later — conquering an average gradient of 7.5 per cent and sections above 10 per cent — in just over four hours. Two days later Alfie was in Prato, ready to take on the 48 hairpins, 25.8km and 7.4 per cent average gradient of the mighty Stelvio. “This was a beast, it was so long and so tiring,” he admits. “Above 2000m we were above the snow line and the weather was horrible. I ate sweets and just kept going. The bends went on and on but I just kept attacking around them. I knew that the Stelvio is legendary and I wanted to become part of the history!”

I ate sweets and just kept going. The bends went on and on but I just kept attacking