L'Escarène sits in the Paillon valley behind Nice, at the foot of the most popular approach to the Col de Braus — ten kilometres at an average of 6.4%, its middle section built from tightly stacked hairpins that have made the climb a postcard image of the Alpes-Maritimes hinterland.
The Tour de France has crossed the Braus 27 times, but the climb's real identity belongs to René Vietto, a Cannes-born rider who trained obsessively on these roads through the 1930s. His ashes are held at the summit, alongside a monument marking his most famous act of sacrifice.
In the 1934 Tour de France, Vietto — then a young climber leading the race on the road — learned that his team captain had crashed and broken his forks. He turned around mid-descent, rode back up against the flow of the race, and handed over his own wheel, then his bike. He still finished fifth overall that year, but the gesture, more than any result, is what the Col de Braus now commemorates.
From L'Escarène, the classic route continues over the Braus to Sospel, with the Col de Turini waiting beyond for riders wanting to extend the day — a route still ridden today largely because of the rider whose memory it carries.
