For us, like many cyclists, food is both fuel and reward. And good coffee makes our heart sing and our legs pump. Sharing these pleasures with friends is part of what makes cycling special, so we’re sharing with you our favourite places for fuelling up near the best climbs in our region. First up: Ma Première Boulangerie in La Turbie, our regular stop-off when riding the Col d’Èze.

The Col d’Èze starts a stones throw from our HQ in Nice. It rises out of the centre of town to climb around 500 metres in 10 kilometres, taking you steeply away from the traffic before flattening out near the end for fantastic vistas over the Mediterranean.

La Turbie, which is located just past the col, was once a Roman outpost, but is now a typical bustling Côte d’Azur village. There’s a fountain at which to refill your bidon, and cafés and restaurants galore along the main street, full of people chatting and passing the time of day. Our favourite pitstop, however, is located towards the entry to the town.

Pains au chocolat are a speciality, for sure, but you can also get croissants filled with Nutella and petits pêchés (pastry swirls with almonds, roasted hazelnuts and brown sugar), not to mention chouquettes – small puffs of choux pastry sprinkled with sugar, which are just right for wrapping in a paper bag and putting in your jersey pocket or bar bag for later. It also has savoury snacks, but it’s speciality bread, la meule, is a large, heavy loaf of stoneground mixed-grain flour that you’ll need a rucksack to take away with you!

Col d’Èze is one of our traditional office lunch rides, but it’s a col for all occasions, and there are many different ways to the top, including back roads from the seafront and gravel tracks that wind around the north side to the old forts watching over the coast.

If you’re doing interval efforts, a quick coffee is your just dessert at Ma Première Boulangerie. If you’re riding long – perhaps on your way to the Col de la Madone – overcoming the the first difficulty of the day deserves a reward. Or, if you’re on a mellow evening spin, it’s an opportunity for a treat in the last rays of the setting sun.