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From the bar of his family’s hotel, La Regence, in Villefranche-sur-Mer, Alexis Gigant keeps one eye on the reception of the hotel and one on the road outside. Situated just around the headland from Nice on the Basse Corniche, the low coastal road that connects the southern French city to Monaco, Gigant has a bird’s eye view of everything that happens in his neighbourhood. But it’s not the fast cars zipping past that catch his eye.
Instead, he is much more interested in the people riding their state-of-the-art bikes. “Look, there’s Tadej Pogačar,” Gigant said during a conversation we had last year, as he pointed to a figure paused at the traffic lights outside who, despite the helmet and shades, he instantly recognised as the Slovenian rider who today swept down the Promenade des Anglais in Nice to win the Tour de France for the third time.
Since La Regence is my local, where I stop for a morning coffee after the school drop-off (inevitably alongside someone in tight lycra), I’m often the one asking him: “who?” But, after more than a decade of living in this corner of the world, the names are becoming a little more familiar. It’s not just because many pros choose to live down the road in Monaco; thanks to the region’s mountains-meets-sea terrain, the Côte d’Azur is a cycling paradise. Even if road biking isn’t your thing, it seeps in almost by osmosis.
That’s definitely the case for me with Gigant and his large cycling crew who rattle off the names of legendary mountain passes and coastal routes they are fortunate to have on their doorstep: Col de Turini, Col de Nice, Col de Braus and the most mythical of them all, Col de la Madone.
That’s why it’s no surprise to anyone living here that, with Paris otherwise occupied this July with the Olympic Games, Nice was chosen as the finishing line for this year’s Tour de France. It’s the first time in the history of the event that the final day took place somewhere other than the French capital.
Read more on cycling holidays:
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“This region is made for cycling,” says Gigant’s cycling buddy and six-time Tour de France rider Christophe Le Mével, who is now an agent to today’s crop of cycling stars. “There’s the climate, then there is the topography. The hinterland of Nice is magnificent. And, as soon as you leave the coast, there are no more cars on the road.”
The Promenade des Anglais, the city’s emblematic waterfront boulevard that sweeps from Nice Côte d’Azur airport to Vieux Nice, has been waiting for this moment for months. Just at the end of it, the popular #ILOVENICE selfie spot, updated in yellow-jersey tones, featured a digital timer counting down until the moment Pogačar completed the gruelling 35km time trial today to take the fabled yellow jersey.
It’s a fitting way to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the famous beach strip, which was named for those early English tourists who made Nice their favourite winter escape.
Buzzing with life is the Café du Cycliste, a bright and very trendy café-vélo on Nice Port. Beloved by cyclists for its made-in-Nice clothing label, it’s the spot for those new to town to rent bikes and sign up for rides.
Another, smaller café-véloService Course, is tucked away in Vieux Nice’s pastel-shaded pedestrian alleys. Co-founded in Girona by ex-professional cyclist, Christian Meier, and his wife Amber, the Nice outpost is a similar magnet for the city’s cycling crowd with own-label clothes, bike hire and a calendar of rides to sign up for.
You don’t have to be a pro to appreciate the atmosphere of these café-vélos as they also happen to serve up some of the best coffee and breakfast in town. Similarly, an influx of electric bike rental agencies (such as E-bike the French Riviera) makes easy work of some of the classic mountain rides for leisure cyclists, explains Le Mével. “You do need a certain level of fitness to really enjoy road biking in the region,” he says. “But an electric bike makes the roads and the sights, such as the bay of Villefranche and St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, accessible for everyone.”
There’s also the city’s 125km of cycling lanes that can be enjoyed for small change by registering for the city’s public e-bike sharing schemes, Lime and Pony (download the apps in advance). Among them, the flat, 22km coastal route that connects Nice to neighbouring Antibes is a gentler introduction to cycling in Nice than what awaited the Tour riders yesterday when they set off for the penultimate 133km stage from the coast into the mountains.
So, whether you’re a Tour de France athlete or amateur cyclist, Nice is the perfect place to get on your bike.
