When I graduated from university I spent 3 months biking/camping solo in France and Italy. I gotta say, best time of my life.

I just noticed you're not into camping. Nonetheless, Lonely Planet has a biking France book that I found very useful. France has rapidly changing geography which allows for very varied surroundings within 60-100 km rides and the cuisine you'll have a chance to taste will vary just as much and will be oh so delicious. Patisseries, charcuteries, cuisine du terroir... You'll want to pedal faster and longer just so you'll be starving by the time you stop so you can gorge yourself on the great food.

Sorry I can't recommend any touring companies though.

I've taken 10 tours with ExperiencePlus (www.experienceplus.com). They have tours for cyclists of varying abilities - look for trips labeled 301 or 401 for the more difficult, longer daily mileage tours. Participants range in age from late 20's to 60's, but the older crowd are really very young! This company always has experienced, knowledgeable leaders; the hotels are always clean and comfortable, but not the most expensive; the meals are always terrific (and include wine). The daily mileage may look short to you, but sometimes the routes include alot of climbing. Also, there are usually optional extensions or afternoon loop rides if you want more mileage.

I highly recommend the following tours: Sardinia, the Camino de Santiago, Provence, and the Greek Peloponese. All these include challenging cycling, beautiful scenery and interesting culture and/or art.

"Hi there,
My fiance and I just did a Tuscany bike tour in July with REI Adventures: http://www.rei.com/adventures/index.html

It wasn't cheap but we certainly felt totally taken care of, and our guide, Claire Duiker, was incredibly cool and knowledgeable (she's an American with a double PhD in comparative literature and lives in Florence)! The sag-wagon always transported our stuff, and it was there to climb into in case of fatigue or a technical problem.

The Tuscany trip is rated 3-4 on a difficulty range from 1-5, and I would rate it as moderate (I am an ""A19"" rider). The group's speed-level was varied (mostly slower than A19) but we all went our own pace and regrouped at lunch and break points. The terrain was very hilly so you certainly get a work out, even though we only did 30-50 miles per day. But, we all rode heavy hybrids bikes provided by REI so there was an element of weight training as well!

We stayed in very cute little Inns in small hill towns and ate at little local restaurants and even had a Tuscan cooking class at the ""Villa Cennina,"" a very cute Inn in the middle of the country-side that we would never have known about otherwise!! I definitely recommend it! We ended up getting engaged during the trip in Montepulciano, and I felt like we already did our honey-moon (except it was with 6 other cyclists)!! Great for food and wine lovers, too!"