Croix de Fer | Fine Bone China Espresso Cup & Saucer

Croix de Fer | Fine Bone China Espresso Cup & SaucerThe Routes: The great roads and rides of cycling. Iconic mountains, stunning scenery, the greatest challenges of the sport. The essence of some of the most iconic theatres in cycling, the roads on which the greats fought and reputations were forged. The Col de la Croix de Fer one of the Alps longest, highest and toughest climbs, snaking its way ever upwards to the Croix de Fer (Iron Cross), with its precipitous view down on the world below.

Winding through the Tuscan hills

dropping the remnants of the peloton over 40 kilometers from the Roubaix velodrome and soloing to an improbable

To hit or to miss

Crossing the Bergs of Flanders - brutally steep cobbled climbs that sap the will of the bravest of riders

Sometimes you've just got to take a day off the bike

in 1998 he crashed riding through Roubaix’s feared Arenberg Forest

Nowhere to hide

the route took participants on an epic journey through challenging terrain and awe-inspiring climbs

Winning for the hell of it

most attacking riders of his generation

rises rises through some of the most stunning landscape in all France

But things were not always easy