THE UK’S biggest professional cycle race, The Tour of Britain, will be taking place on Gwent roads today.

The Tour of Britain takes world class riders around the country in an eight stage race, culminating in a time trial and circuit race through the streets of London.

Monmouthshire will host a dramatic climax to stage three of the race that will challenge riders to climb the Tumble, starting from Govilon near Abergavenny, through Usk and Monmouth, and ending at the summit of the Blorenge mountain overlooking the Vale of Usk and the Black Mountains.

Cycling stars such as Sir Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish, and Newport cyclist Jon Mould are due to take part in the race which attracted more than 1.5 million spectators last year.

Classed as a Category One climb to reflect its difficulty, The Tumble, is well-known in the cycling world as one of the toughest ascents in the UK and is expected to be one of the major highlights of the entire race.

Rising 512 metres above sea-level, the Tumble will test riders on a 6km climb over a steady gradient of 10 per cent.

Monmouthshire councillor Bob Greenland, cabinet member with responsibility for leisure and tourism, said: “Bringing The Tour of Britain to Monmouthshire is a major coup for the county.

"Not only will it bring an influx of cycling fans and other visitors through our doors, it will also open us up to the rest of the world. The race will be broadcast live on TV and global reach last year hit more than 280 million homes.

"Having the opportunity to showcase our beautiful county on that sort of scale is unheard of.”

Road closures will begin at around 1.50pm at Llanwenarth on the A40 and the route will continue along the A140 to Monmouth.

The route will then take cyclists to the Tumble climb on the B4246.

The rolling road closure will see the traffic officer’s vehicles gradually slow down following motorists and then stop them temporarily to allow enough time for the riders to clear the safely.

The B4246 from the foot of the Tumble to the Riflemen’s pub in Blaenavon will be closed from 4.00am to 8.30pm.

A clearway - no stopping for traffic - will be in place in Abergavenny on the A40 Brecon Road on both sides from its junction with Belgrave Road to its junction with the A4143 between midday and 3pm.

For more information visit http://www.tourofbritain.co.uk.

l Your Argus will be tweeting live from the event today using #tob2014 - and we'll have reporters and photographers covering the event.

For the latest news today go to southwalesargus.co.uk