Cycle Cote d'Azur day tour

Spent Saturday with this Nice based tour company doing their "challenge" day ride.

7 of us plus 2 guides threaded our way out of the French resort and up the first climb - Col d'Eze.
This hill starts inside the city and takes you up and out on a high coast road for great views. Initial slopes are 9% and then it eases for a good length before another 10% stretch. 10km and 500m gained meant our group was scattered all over it.

A quick regroup and descent led to a cafe stop in La Turbie then more descending down good coast roads with views of Monaco below.

That got us to Menton and the big challenge of the day - Col de la Madone. 14km and 960m to be gained through hairpins winding out of the town. Pretty soon you are up high and on this Saturday it was brutally hot. Luckily a water fountain at St Agnes helped cool and resupply water bottles.
More high climbing through a rocky landscape with a bit more shade got us to the top. Then a long descent interrupted by a food stop back in La Turbie before taking a lower and wider coast road back into Nice.
75km and 1500m. In Nice we were joined briefly by Geraint Thomas and Ben Swift though I was too far ahead to know - an illustration of the calibre of local riders you can encounter.
Anyway, a great morning out and a rare chance to ride in a group whilst on holiday. Our guides, Anton and Marco, took good care of us and it was nice to be able to leave the route and pace-setting to someone else for a change.
Cycle Cote d'Azur