With beautiful roads and a Mediterranean climate, winter training on the Côte d’Azur is more pleasant than in many places. Nevertheless, some of our favourite cols host ski resorts in the winter months, and so ride options are more limited than in other seasons. While we’re dreaming of high mountains and backcountry escapes, we have to keep the legs moving on smaller targets.

The village of Gilette is at the top of the Var valley where the Estéron and Var rivers meet. As a so-called village perché, it’s 7 kilometres up from the valley floor, up a smooth, regular climb that’s a pleasure to spin up while talking with friends.

As you rise, the houses along the road have ever-more impressive views, and the quiet is only broken by the occasional car and the sound of a chainsaw being used somewhere far in the distance.

Skies are heavy, and the cold nips at the extremities, but the climb keeps the furnace working, and the kilometres tick past.

Featured Products.

The village is caught in the cleft of two rocks, and its main square commands an impressive vista out across the valley to the sea. This is where you find the Bar-Restaurant des Chasseurs, a rough-and-tumble place where there’s always a warm welcome and a warming drink too, whether you’re a hunter coming down from the hills looking for whiskey or a cyclist in search of coffee or hot chocolate. It’s a real locals’ bar that also looks out for travellers. It serves food at lunchtime, but there’s a boulangerie on the square too, if something light and sweet is the order of the day.

The loop to Gilette takes in the Var cycle path, one of the only level stretches of Tarmac in the region – a little bit of flat riding is good for you sometimes! It’s nice to pedal out through the valley and then, once fortified, head back through the hills to the seafront, and an easy pedal home.

Looking for more winter rides? Check out the Col de Vescavo!

Bar Restaurant des Chasseurs, 2 Place Dr René Morani, 06830 Gilette