Côte d'Azur

About the Route

Describe the route in your own words from start to finish. (About 1000char). See example
We will start our ride from the Port of Nice at the Café Du Cycliste – a hotspot for local cyclists and visitors alike.

Our first climb begins as we ride through the Mont Boron park - a quiet and picturesque way out of the city. The park road takes us to the Moyenne Corniche and the climb continues as we make our way to the Grande Corniche – the highest of 3 roads that follow the French Riviera coastline out of Nice. This section takes us on the final kilometers of the Col d’Eze – featured in the 2020 Tour de France, and once again in this year’s Tour de France grand finale.

The road after the summit of the col continues to the historic village of La Turbie, home of the ancient Roman monument the Trophée d’Auguste. After a water refill at the popular fountain on the main street, we will ride towards the scenic perched village of Peille on a lovely gentle climb.

At Peille, we will take a winding descent to the valley, where we will cross the bridge and take a very small road and lovely climb up towards Escarene. Escarene is arguably where the ride begins, as we tackle the infamous Col de Braus, also featured in this year’s Tour de France penultimate stage, and famous for its iconic switchbacks. The Braus is 10 km long with an average gradient of 6.4%, topping out at 1002 meters elevation. With distant views of the glistening Mediterranean it’s here where we will stop for light refreshments before retracing our steps 300 meters and picking up the small road to Col de l’Orme, also known as Col de l’Ablé.

This links us to the most picturesque part of the ride as we pick up after a short climb and descent through the trees, the road up to Cabernet, and to the junction where we turn left towards Col St. Roch. Make sure you have plenty of space on your phone for photos here, because it’s sensationally stunning with its postcard perfect switchbacks!

Once at the top, we’ll turn left and start our twisty descent on a beautiful road heading back to Escarene. We’ll take the valley road back towards Nice, where we have an option of taking a final steep climb back to the Grande Corniche, or staying on a flatter and more direct road back to the starting point.