The rider’s ride

Trek Émonda SLR 7 Disc, £5,950, trekbikes.com

The Émonda SLR 7 Disc was created for exactly this kind of mountainous ride. Trek’s lightest ever road disc frame paired with a Sram etap AXS HRD groupset and Zipp 202 Firecrest wheels helps to bring the whole build in at just 7.11kg – pretty impressive for a disc brake bike. Those tubes may look skinny but they are unrelentingly stiff to ensure minimal wasted energy, and this pays noticeable dividends on the climbs, yet the Émonda never felt too flighty or unstable on the fast and sinuous descents.

It’s not just a climber’s bike, it’s a superb all-rounder with ample comfort afforded by the highly flexible seatmast that takes the sting out of the road buzz – so you don’t need to be a pro with a butt of steel to ride one. You’ll want for nothing, except to go and ride another climb (unless it’s 40°C, in which case go for an ice cream).