The Portsdown Classic is back this Sunday. Our editor, Denny Gray, explains why its history, its course, and its refusal to disappear make it one of the quiet pillars of British domestic road racing.
This Sunday, on a quiet hillside above Portsmouth, our domestic road racing season will begin anew – not with grand fanfare or televised pomp, but with riders bracing themselves against the winter chill and coastal crosswinds. The event is the Portsdown Classic – still affectionately “Perfs” to those of us who’ve followed it for years – and its return means that a tradition dating all the way back to 1964 is alive and well.
It’s hard to overstate the symbolic role this modest Hampshire race plays. For decades, the Perfs Pedal served as the de facto opener for British domestic racing – the first head-to-head test after winter training. Its roll of honour speaks volumes; legends like Sean Yates and Alex Dowsett have kicked off their seasons by winning here. There’s a certain prestige in that history. Every rider who pins on a number at Portsdown knows they’re part of a lineage stretching back generations.
That’s why its continuation this Sunday means so much. Only two winters ago, it looked like this race might vanish for good – the long-serving organiser, Mick Waite, announced he could no longer run it after decades of keeping it alive. But the community wasn’t ready to say goodbye. A former amateur racer, Seb Ottley, immediately stepped up to save the day, determined to keep the tradition going. As he put it at the time, “Looking at the history, the amount of top-quality riders that have raced and won the event over the years, I think that was just enough motivation, really, just to keep it going”. British Cycling lent support to ensure the event didn’t fall off the calendar – they knew that if it missed even one year, there was a chance it would just “peter out” and never return.
Image: Ian Wrightson/The British Continental
In the bigger picture, British domestic racing has been through a rough time over the last few years – rising costs, cancelled races, folded teams – the scene has appeared to be in tatters at times. The calendar has felt like it’s on the back foot. That’s why keeping a race like this, with all its heritage, is more than just clinging to nostalgia – it’s about holding on to the very fabric of our racing community. These historic events remind us why we fell in love with the domestic scene in the first place, and they inspire us to keep it going despite the headwinds.
And what a race this is in its own right. The Portsdown Classic may be short – roughly 72 km – but it wastes no time in making riders hurt. Five laps over Portsdown Hill’s undulating roads, followed by the finale up Crooked Walk Lane (a short yet brutal climb where fortunes are made and lost), ensure it’s a genuine early-season examination. Throw in some classic English February weather (this race has seen everything from snow and ice to howling winds and horizontal rain over the years) and you have an event that offers “a proper test of winter form” with its sharp climbs and relentless exposure. It’s the kind of challenge that reminds riders and fans alike that domestic racing doesn’t wait for spring to get serious.
For the riders, having this race back on the calendar is a blessing. When you’ve been grinding out lonely winter miles, you need that early marker to see where you stand. As former winner Yanto Barker noted, it’s seen as “the first proper hit out of the year” – after slogging through the darkest winter “you just can’t wait to compare yourself” against others. The Portsdown Classic gives them that chance to finally pin on a number and open the throttle. And for us fans, it’s the first glimpse of who’s carrying strong winter form, which teams have hit the ground running, and who might surprise us as the season unfolds.
Personally, I find comfort in the familiarity of it all. The wind-swept circuit around Portsdown Hill, the view over Portsmouth Harbour, that final drag up Crooked Walk Lane – these are like old friends we’ve come to recognise every February. We know how the story usually goes: early breakaways on the climbs, crosswinds testing the bunch, and then the last ascent deciding it all. Yet every year the characters can change. A new name can emerge into the spotlight – just last year we saw DAS Richardson’s Jordan Giles power up that steep finish to win, his early-season form delivering an emphatic victory – and we all get to wonder, who will it be this time?
I’ll be there on Sunday, covering the race in person – because races like this deserve to be seen, written about, and remembered. Not just as results, but as moments in a longer story.
I’m grateful that this race, against the odds, is still here for us to enjoy, and excited to see the narrative of a new season begin on those roads. The Portsdown Classic might not have the glamour of a big international event, but in our corner of the cycling world it represents resilience, community, and the simple joy of bike racing in its purest form. That’s why seeing it continue matters so much. Here’s to another chapter in its long story – and I hope some of you will be sharing the thrill with us from the roadside this weekend.
Denny Gray Founder & Editor, The British Continental
This Sunday, on a quiet hillside above Portsmouth, our domestic road racing season will begin anew – not with grand fanfare or televised pomp, but with riders bracing themselves against the winter chill and coastal crosswinds. The event is the Portsdown Classic – still affectionately “Perfs” to those of us who’ve followed it for years – and its return means that a tradition dating all the way back to 1964 is alive and well.
It’s hard to overstate the symbolic role this modest Hampshire race plays. For decades, the Perfs Pedal served as the de facto opener for British domestic racing – the first head-to-head test after winter training. Its roll of honour speaks volumes; legends like Sean Yates and Alex Dowsett have kicked off their seasons by winning here. There’s a certain prestige in that history. Every rider who pins on a number at Portsdown knows they’re part of a lineage stretching back generations.
That’s why its continuation this Sunday means so much. Only two winters ago, it looked like this race might vanish for good – the long-serving organiser, Mick Waite, announced he could no longer run it after decades of keeping it alive. But the community wasn’t ready to say goodbye. A former amateur racer, Seb Ottley, immediately stepped up to save the day, determined to keep the tradition going. As he put it at the time, “Looking at the history, the amount of top-quality riders that have raced and won the event over the years, I think that was just enough motivation, really, just to keep it going”. British Cycling lent support to ensure the event didn’t fall off the calendar – they knew that if it missed even one year, there was a chance it would just “peter out” and never return.
In the bigger picture, British domestic racing has been through a rough time over the last few years – rising costs, cancelled races, folded teams – the scene has appeared to be in tatters at times. The calendar has felt like it’s on the back foot. That’s why keeping a race like this, with all its heritage, is more than just clinging to nostalgia – it’s about holding on to the very fabric of our racing community. These historic events remind us why we fell in love with the domestic scene in the first place, and they inspire us to keep it going despite the headwinds.
And what a race this is in its own right. The Portsdown Classic may be short – roughly 72 km – but it wastes no time in making riders hurt. Five laps over Portsdown Hill’s undulating roads, followed by the finale up Crooked Walk Lane (a short yet brutal climb where fortunes are made and lost), ensure it’s a genuine early-season examination. Throw in some classic English February weather (this race has seen everything from snow and ice to howling winds and horizontal rain over the years) and you have an event that offers “a proper test of winter form” with its sharp climbs and relentless exposure. It’s the kind of challenge that reminds riders and fans alike that domestic racing doesn’t wait for spring to get serious.
For the riders, having this race back on the calendar is a blessing. When you’ve been grinding out lonely winter miles, you need that early marker to see where you stand. As former winner Yanto Barker noted, it’s seen as “the first proper hit out of the year” – after slogging through the darkest winter “you just can’t wait to compare yourself” against others. The Portsdown Classic gives them that chance to finally pin on a number and open the throttle. And for us fans, it’s the first glimpse of who’s carrying strong winter form, which teams have hit the ground running, and who might surprise us as the season unfolds.
Personally, I find comfort in the familiarity of it all. The wind-swept circuit around Portsdown Hill, the view over Portsmouth Harbour, that final drag up Crooked Walk Lane – these are like old friends we’ve come to recognise every February. We know how the story usually goes: early breakaways on the climbs, crosswinds testing the bunch, and then the last ascent deciding it all. Yet every year the characters can change. A new name can emerge into the spotlight – just last year we saw DAS Richardson’s Jordan Giles power up that steep finish to win, his early-season form delivering an emphatic victory – and we all get to wonder, who will it be this time?
I’ll be there on Sunday, covering the race in person – because races like this deserve to be seen, written about, and remembered. Not just as results, but as moments in a longer story.
I’m grateful that this race, against the odds, is still here for us to enjoy, and excited to see the narrative of a new season begin on those roads. The Portsdown Classic might not have the glamour of a big international event, but in our corner of the cycling world it represents resilience, community, and the simple joy of bike racing in its purest form. That’s why seeing it continue matters so much. Here’s to another chapter in its long story – and I hope some of you will be sharing the thrill with us from the roadside this weekend.
Denny Gray
Founder & Editor, The British Continental
Read our Portsdown Classic race preview here.
Featured image: Ian Wrightson/The British Continental
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