Ten and a half kilometres in Tipperary, and it saves everything for the end.

The route leaves Bansha on the valley floor and spends five easy kilometres pretending to be a gentle spin — two or three percent, the Galtee Mountains growing steadily in front of you. It is a very effective disguise.

From km 7 the road turns up into the glen in earnest: 121 metres of climbing in two and a half kilometres at nearly 5% average, stiffening to a kilometre at 7.5%, half a kilometre at 9%, and one brutal hundred-metre ramp at 16.5% just before the top. Whatever gear you thought you'd need, bring one lower.

The reward is immediate and unusually generous — the high point at km 9.6 opens onto the Glen of Aherlow, then the road falls away at over 11% to the finish. You'll be descending faster than you climbed, and you'll have earned every metre of it.