Col D'Èze on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The Col d'Èze is a mountain pass in the Alpes-Maritimes department of
The pass is particularly well known for its frequent inclusion in the Paris–Nice road cycling stage race, where it has often formed the final decisive stage of the race. From 1969 to 1995 the race finished with a time trial up the Col d'Èze, except in 1977 when landslides had blocked the road. The Col d'Èze is a 9 km climb, starting from Nice and climbing to 507 m altitude. It is named after the village of Èze, part of the
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. It is located between Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...
and Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
, near to La Trinité.
Cycling
The pass is particularly well known for its frequent inclusion in the Paris–Nice road cycling stage race, where it has often formed the final decisive stage of the race. From 1969 to 1995 the race finished with a time trial up the Col d'Èze, except in 1977 when landslides had blocked the road. The Col d'Èze is a 9 km climb, starting from Nice and climbing to 507 m altitude. It is named after the village of Èze, part of the municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
of Nice. Sean Kelly won the Col d'Èze time trial five times in his seven-year dominance.
In 1996, the finish was moved back to the Promenade des Anglais because of the low number of spectators on Col d'Eze and to take advantage of funding from the city of Nice. From 1998 to 2011, the final stage was a road race – usually on a hilly terrain with the climbs of the Col d'Èze and La Turbie
La Turbie (; oc, A Torbia; in Italian "Turbia" from ''tropea'', Latin for trophy) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.
History
La Turbie was famous in Roman times for the large monument, the Trophy of Augus ...
- starting and ending in Nice. In recent years the race often returns to a final Col d'Eze time trial stage. Bradley Wiggins
Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins, CBE (born 28 April 1980) is a British former professional road and track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2016. He began his cycling career on the track, but later made the transition to r ...
set a new climbing record in 2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
of 19' 12" on his way to overall victory.
The mountain was also climbed during the 1953 Tour de France
The 1953 Tour de France was the 40th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 3 to 26 July. It consisted of 22 stages over .
The race was won by Louison Bobet, the first of his three consecutive wins. At first, internal struggles in the ...
(ranked as a 2nd category mountain). In the 2020 Tour de France, it was again given category 2 status.
References
Eze
Eze (pronounced ) is an Igbo word which means King. Such words as Igwe and '' Obi'', plus others, are used by Igbo people as titles of respect and homage to the Eze. Igwe is derived from the Igbo word ''Igwekala'' or ''Eluigwekala'', "the sky or ...
{{AlpesMaritimes-geo-stub