Routes of les Alpes-Maritimes Quiz
The Côte d’Azur roads are famous for their views, their pro-rider favorite climb status and their unique locations between the sea and higher altitude Alps. Do you know them? (Answers are in the end of the article)
We invite you to join our little quiz with 3 of the more traveled roads:
1. Keep going up! steady climb to endless circuits
You cycle up 920 meters from sea level to reach the top.
You travel through famous villages of the Côte d’Azur to get their from the coast.
When you have passed the top you can continue to 1000 roads of Provence.
If you bring your bathers you can stop and dip in waterfalls.
Yet, if you ever participated in a popular big sportive competition in Nice, which is normally held every June/July, you would have already had your daily swim when you pass the falls!
On your way up, you pass a village that you can only enter from one side called Gourdon:
You follow roads that lead you to medieval villages and Roman ruins.
From November-May you can see snowy tops of the Alps from the top of the pass.
In 2020 the mountain will be a part of the Tour de France for the 3rd time. (1953 and 2009)
The mountain connects Nice, Monaco and Menton.
This is the final climb of the Paris-Nice before the finish of the race in Nice.
The official climb from Nice to the top at 507 meters height via Grande Corniche is 10 km long and has an average climb of 4,9%.
3. The classic
When you begin to climb you are only a few kilometers to an original Italian espresso.
It is a road often frequented by top riders of the World and you will often get surpassed by a pro-rider or two.
It was made famous by Lance Amstrong, who used it on a regular basis to test his shape before races.
Today Richie Porte is the record holder as the quickest climber to the top at 911m. (24 minutes and 23 seconds).
Richie Porte also completed a so-called Everesting Challenge together with Cameron Wurf as a birthday celebration for Cameron on 3. August 2019. (In a single ride, participants need to repeat a climb until they reach at least the equivalent height of Mount Everest in a day (8.848m total climb). To complete the challenge they cycled up and down this climb 10,5 times.
Feel free to beat that! J
Answers
1 Col d’Ecre
2 Col d’Eze
3 Col de la Madone
Happy Cycling!
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