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A Rose by Any Other Name
Café du Cycliste and Grasse have history. Before the first stitch was sown on the first jersey ever made, the coffee shop that was the original Café du Cycliste was situated just outside the main town, in a suburb called Châteaunuef-de-Grasse.
It was whilst turning pedals on the roads surrounding the famous perfume town that our co-founders bounced their ideas, and the good ones became the seeds of something bigger.
Grasse is, of course, better known as the perfume capital of the world. An industry whose scents come from the flowers grown in the surrounding landscape. One of the most famous for its scent is the rose. And at the top of the rose tree is the centifolia variety. It’s also known as the Provence Rose, no prizes for guessing why. Hermès, Chanel, and Dior, all source their roses here.
To this day in Grasse, the start of the process that ends in those bottles of concentrated fragrance is one of hand-picking in the fields at the end of April and beginning of May. It’s a métier, a tradition and a testament of what the terroir gives as gifts. The same terroir that we cycle across on a weekly basis.
Grasse is situated away from the coast so the flowers are protected from the sea breeze. Like so many of its neighbours the town is perched on what we call a ‘colline’, a small hill. Behind are the higher mountains of the Park National Préalpes d’Azur. Around the town, riders will find many rollers, some longer hills but no hors category climbing. The famous Route Naploeon runs through here and heads north towards Castellane and the Gorges du Verdon. Going north is the best way to get into the more open spaces, after passing through the many elaborate villas that were built following the birth of the perfume industry.
Celebrate the queen of flowers itself and acknowledge this gift from the terroir that is the base of French life and, more particularly for us, French cycling.
The summer Capsule Collection of Floriane jerseys, Capucine bib shorts and Petra gilets does likewise.
