By Gruffudd ab Owain
January
It’s a Saturday afternoon, and as I have come to expect, the weather is, to a Welshman, perfect. It’s cliché to say that people from Britain always talk about the weather, but it’s true; its changeable nature lends itself to an easy topic of conversation. I notice that often, since moving to Menton, comments about the weather still seem to slip off my tongue with surprising ease. However, I have noticed also, that since moving to Menton, I am very much a creature of habit.
As it’s a Saturday afternoon, and as I am a creature of habit, I almost automatically bundle my bike out of my apartment. I hoist it onto my back on the way down the stairs to the Basilica, cautiously treading each step in my cleated shoes, which make my walking akin to that of a duck. As I hoist my leg over the top tube and gladly feel the padding of my shorts make contact with the saddle, I notice how perfect the weather is. The sun is so therapeutic, so warm on my back. Then, I remember that it’s like this every day, and that I don’t need to think and talk about the weather all the time. The skies are a deep shade of blue; the colour of freedom.
With freedom comes discovery and adventure. Today, I have decided to follow my nose across the border and venture into Italy for the first time. I have a destination in mind, around 35 kilometers along the coast in Sanremo. Sanremo holds significance in the world of professional cycling, hosting the reliably dramatic finale to the notoriously long Milano-Sanremo one-day race in March. The climb up to the quintessential little village of Poggio di Sanremo can often be the deciding factor for the victorious rider; today, it will offer me a turnaround point, and a slight challenge on an otherwise flat percorso.
That remains a distant thought, as the cycle path comes to an unexpectedly early end close to the border, awakening me from my rather dreamy state. At this point, a couple of fast-looking cyclists with enviable physiques pass me going in the opposite direction, and we exchange a wave and a Ciao! One of them was clad top to toe in the kit of the UAE Emirates team, who boast one of the most extortionate budgets in the pro cycling peloton*, and some of the biggest names of the present generation, including two-time Tour de France winner, Tadej Pogačar. Later on in the day, in my hours of post-ride procrastination, I discover on sports social media platform Strava that this cyclist was none other than pro Davide Formolo; stage-hunter extraordinaire, with stage wins at the Giro d’Italia and the Critérium du Dauphiné to his name, fresh from a mid-October win in the one-day Veneto Classic.
It’s not uncommon at all to see professional cyclists when out and about on the Côte d’Azur, especially northwards into the Alpes-Maritimes. After all, many of them, some of them Tour de France winners and legendary names, choose to reside in Monaco, particularly in winter. It turns out that it isn’t only me who values the blue skies and the favourable weather conditions, although admittedly one of them, 2018 Tour winner Geraint Thomas, does happen to be Welsh too (and incidentally, one of his jerseys hangs proudly in the bike shop in Garavan).
Reliable year-round weather and lenient tax obligations for non-French nationals help in attracting cyclists to choose Monaco; the former has proven attractive for centuries, and the story behind naming Promenade des Anglais after 18th and 19th century English aristocrats is a well-documented example. Another key attraction, for the pro cyclists and indeed myself, are the fabulous roads which meander into the mountains in a snake-like manner, offering a challenge on the way up, and a thrill on the way down. The Col de Braus is a perfect example, with its series of switchbacks like a shoelace untidily thrown on the hillside.
A climb which starts in Menton is the Col de la Madone, which has long been considered iconic in cycling realms. It is said that it was the road on which Lance Armstrong, infamously stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for doping, frequented to train during the winter, starting his stopwatch at Intermarché, and trying to beat his record each time. Combined with the Col d’Èze, this route is nowadays the most popular amongst cyclo-tourists; cyclo-tourism is an industry estimated to have contributed 27 million euros to the region’s economy in 2021, and predicted to reach 84 million euros annually by 2025.
The bike, however, is about to bring another substantial boost to the region’s economy in 2024.
For the first time since 1905, this year’s Tour de France, the iconic three-week bike race that is the world’s largest annual sports competition, will not finish in Paris. In a similar way to many of France’s nation-building efforts, the race pledges to visit each département at least every four years and at least try to ensure that the benefits, particularly economic, of hosting the race are relatively evenly distributed across the country. But for over a hundred years, it hasn’t budged from its annual grand finale on the Champs Élysées in the capital.
In 2024, however, out of necessity, the Paris Olympics have pushed the Tour to the sidelines. Instead, Nice will host the closing weekend of the race, with a final-day time-trial from Monaco over Col d’Èze into Nice, which could prove decisive if the lead still hangs in the balance.
Ironically, the last time the race visited Nice and its surroundings was in 2020 on an opening weekend remembered primarily for torrential rain. The economic prospects of hosting the final stages of the race are very favourable indeed, no doubt somewhat contingent on favourable weather, with each euro spent forecast to inject eight euros into the economy, totalling around 50 to 60 million euros.
The region will undoubtedly see this as an opportunity to promote itself for its cultural and natural wealth, attract long-term investments and promote cycling and sport in general.
And after all, maybe the fine weather and fabulous roads that attracted an unimportant Welshman to the Côte d’Azur will make 2024 the year that the Tour’s organisers see an opportunity to break its habit of finishing in Paris.