The 2018 Cyclefest, presented by Isle of Man Bank, was officially launched at Noa Bakehouse in Douglas last week.

The event is to return to the majestic Milntown Estate on the outskirts of Ramsey for its third edition with a new Spring date and its biggest programme of award-winning music, mouth-watering produce and family entertainment to date.

Boasting some of the best cycling in the British Isles, next year’s Cyclefest will take place across the weekend of April 21 and 22, brought forward three weeks in the calendar to avoid clashes elsewhere.

The social element of the festival was featured in last Thursday’s edition of the Manx Independent. The 2018 festival will see three live music stages and new under-cover venues including a purpose built children’s activity Ti-Pi.

There will be a gigantic Cyclefest HQ, complete with rider helpdesk, festival bar and the festival’s very own bakery.

Away from all the family fun, the three-event Cyclefest Championship remains the ultimate multi-discipline cycling test.

The championship is decided by the combined results from Saturday’s Storm the Tower hill climb, powered by Isle of Man Creamery, and Battle of Sky Hill mountain bike race presented by Friends Provident International. The latter will be on a slightly different course to the past two years.

The highlight of the two-wheel action will be Sunday’s gruelling 82-mile Gran Fondo, much of which will be on closed roads.

As well as individual race honours, competitors will be competing for the coveted Cyclefest leaders jerseys taking in all three events, but competitors and participants can choose to enter the complete championship or any of the three events that make it up.

There are also two non-competitive Cyclefest Fondos - the family friendly Piccolo Fondo and the mid-distance Medio Fondo which will feature significantly more closed roads miles for 2018.

Entries are now open at www.iomcyclefest.com