CYCLISTS face one of the toughest challenges in the Tour of Lancashire when one of Britain's top bike races returns to Bolton.

Competitors will meet hill after hill as they complete the gruelling 75-mile Bolton stage of the event.

It includes a 250ft muscle bursting climb up the side of Holcombe Hill on the outskirts of Ramsbottom, plus a host of other steep climbs on four laps of a circuit north of Bolton that will be perfect for spectators.

"This is going to be a very, very, tough 75 miles," said one of the organisers.

"The top competitors prefer plenty of gruelling hills otherwise it just becomes a fast race over the last couple of hundred yards.

"But this time it will be difficult to keep going and it will really sort out the men from the boys."

Over 100 of the country's top cyclists are expected in Bolton on Saturday, May 2, as they try to impress the Commonwealth Games selection committee.

Organisers and police will use the Lancashire race as a trial run for the Games, which are coming to Manchester in 2002.

Cyclists will be led out of Bolton town centre by police escort to make the first climb of the day from Bradshaw to Turton Heights.

They will then do four circuits of the course from Turton Heights to Holcombe, over the hill to Haslingden Grane, through Edgworth and Turton Bottoms before heading back towards the finishing line.

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