Mont Ventoux, France
Mont Ventoux, France
The Giant of Provence comes with a giant reputation. There are three possible ascents but the route from the south via Bedoin is the most famous and most difficult.
Mont Ventoux’s gentle opening kilometres ease riders into a false sense of security before the gradient ramps up to the hamlet of St Estève. The slope relaxes eight kilometres later at Chalet Reynard but it’s here that the mountains vegetation dies out and a bleak, barren mountain is revealed. The sun reflects off the white rock to scorch riders on a hot day and fierce winds whip around the mountainside.
There’s no hiding from the gradient as the road snakes up the mountain, with the summit, marked by an observatory, often tantilisingly in view. Tom Simpson, the first British cyclists to wear the yellow jersey, collapsed and died on the mountain during the 1967 Tour de France and a memorial just over one kilometre from the summit serves as final motivation for beleaguered riders.
Vital statistics
Length: 20km
Average gradient: 8%
Start elevation: 346m
End elevation: 1,885m