Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat | Southern France – The small peninsula Cap Ferrat between Nice and Monaco is a jewel at the Côte d’Azur. Due to the weather I couldn’t follow the tracks of the Monte-Carlo Rally with the Ducati Multistrada 1260 S as planned, but the chosen alternative Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat definitely wasn´t less attractive…
VERSATILE ALLROUNDER DUCATI MULTISTRADA 1260 S
I was already able to convince myself of the qualities of the Ducati Multistrada 1260 S last year during my trip to WDW 2018 (World Ducati Week) at the invitation of Ducati Austria. Especially the journey home through the Dolomites was an impressive, unforgettable experience with this sporty and comfortable motorbike. On that day I wanted to explore the entrance to one of the most beautiful Alpine crossings, the “Route des Grande Alpes” through the Maritime Alps. A round was planned from Nice to the pass “Col de Turini” at 1,607 meters above sea level, including a ride on the probably most famous special stage of the World Rally Championship, which takes place there every year. In the so-called “Night of the Long Knives”, the famous Monte Carlo Rally was decided at night in earlier years. However, the weather today had something against that.
After I had brought back the Ducati Scrambler Full Throttle from the test the day before (Click here for the report…) to Laurent, the owner of the Groupe Laurent Lachkar and official Ducati dealer in Nice (Ducati Nice), and the Multistrada 1260 S in Ducati Red was prepared for the tour, more and more dark clouds came up in the mountains. Also my weather app reported rain and so I had to change my plans for my photo and film shoots at the last minute. Yesterday the lovely peninsula Cap Ferrat from high above had already aroused my interest. Since the weather at the coast was still good, I used the time to explore it more closely.
The magical attraction of the Grande Corniche and the unique view to Nice let me start there again that day. But before I entered the first part of the forest, I turned right towards Villefranche-sur-Mer. In serpentines I went past noble villas down to the sea. The Multi 1260 S was also very well controllable in the narrow curves, turned in willingly and due to the 330 mm brake discs in front with radially mounted Brembo 4-piston fixed callipers and Bosch curve ABS it could be safely decelerated.
NOBLE COASTAL TOWN SAINT-JEAN-CAP-FERRAT
The Rothschild family already appreciated this wonderful place. At the beginning of the 20th century the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild was built there in the Italian Renaissance style for the art collector Baroness Béatrice Ephrussi Rothschild. With its magnificant gardens and numerous art treasures, the property is now a much-visited museum.
After having had an espresso at the place in front of the harbour “Port de Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat”, I went on a little exploration tour. First to the yacht club and the adjoining public beach “Plage Cros Dei Pin” with a wonderful view to the harbour and the surrounding mountains. This beautiful, quiet place invited me to stay for a while.
Relaxed, I rolled over the peninsula with the Multi on the ring-shaped main street “Boulevard du Général de Gaulle”. The street was lined with high trees in spacious parks with huge villas. Everything seemed extremely stylish to me and the appearance was not deceptive. As I found out in the following researches, according to a study by the real estate company Engel & Völkels, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat is the most exclusive residential location in the world, where the highest prices per square metre for the sale of residential properties are achieved worldwide.
With the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, the southernmost point was soon reached. Back to Nice we went on the busy Corniche Inférieure, the panoramic road from Menton to Nice, which was the closest to the sea. The relaxed cruising along the coast with a view to the sea with many sailboats and yachts did not motivate me at all to exhaust the 158 HP maximum power of the Multistrada 1260 S and the impressive maximum torque of 129,5 Nm.
During short overtaking manoeuvres in dense traffic, the breathtaking performance was a reassuring safety cushion, which was always easy to control even in sport mode. The three available riding modes control the intensity of the electronic intervention on the assistance systems cornering ABS, traction and wheelie control.
ARMIN ON BIKE CONCLUSION
As I noticed last year, the Multistrada 1260 S is the ultimate touring bike that offers an optimal combination of sportiness and comfort. The ergonomically perfect seating position and the adjustable windscreen allow relaxed travelling even over long distances. Together with the large top case and the two side cases, there is also plenty of lockable and easily removable storage space for longer journeys.
The large Multi is therefore also the ideal motorcycle for the “Route des Grande Alpes” alpine crossing mentioned at the beginning. On approximately 700 km 18 alpine passes are to be crossed, also the Col de l’Iseran, which is the highest passable mountain pass of the Alps with a height of 2,763 meters . The highest mountain in the Alps, the Mont Blanc, with a height of 4,810 metres, is also in the immediate vicinity. July and August are the ideal travel times for this dreamlike tour from Menton to Lake Geneva.
Text, photos and video: Armin Hoyer – arminonbike.com
