Europe's largest mountain bike race (Roc d'Azur) in progress

Since 1984, Fréjus has played host every October to the Roc d'Azur, the largest European mountain biking event. As such thousands of enthusiasts flock to this large sports gathering each year. Here we present this extraordinary event, which in the space of a little over 20 years, has become the star event of mountain biking.

1984. At a time when nobody yet alluded to mountain biking, seven racers led by Stéphane Hauvrette, the future president of the National Mountain Bike Commission at the FFC, decided to challenge each other on mountain bikes. Nobody suspected that this was the beginning of one of the finest ever mountain bike events.

Twenty years later, in 2005, there were 14,000 participants, amateurs and professionals alike, of all ages, taking the start of the various races on offer. The success of the Roc d’Azur, which by then was attracting over 130,000 spectators essentially lies in the choice and variety of the event routes. The varied and fabulous courses make this annual meeting the finest mountain bike event ever, gathering together the world’s top specialists in the discipline as well as fans of the countryside and mountain biking.