Cyclists may be bewildered by the profusion of roads to the Col de Turini. The main routes lead from L’Escarène, closest to Nice, and from Sospel and Lantosque. But pass by the Col Saint Roch, or by the dirt roads to Le Moulinet and you can still get to the top. It starts to resemble a real labyrinth. The numerous routes point to some higher purpose for the pass, one that has almost been buried in history… and higher is where you have to go to find it.

Unusually for an Alpine col, Turini is not the highest road around. Travel up above the pass and first you’ll find a small ski resort, and then, even further up, the summits of the Authion Massif.

The ruins now guarding the Massif date from the 19th century, when these Alps became definitively French. Back then, with so many soldiers stationed permanently at altitude, the towns of Piera Cava, La Bollène and Le Moulinet were bustling, thriving places, with markets, bars and entertainments for the massed troops. Now, it is quieter, but the impressive engineering of the roads to the summit remains.

The most easterly ascent has been made famous by the Monte Carlo Rally, and the special night-time stage that for decades lit up the snowbound forests every winter. There has also been some notable night-time cycling. In 2001, a group of five English friends were riding from Geneva to Cannes, raising money for a leukaemia charity after loved ones were stricken with the cancer.