Mont Ventoux: Why the 'Giant of Provence' is a Tour de France icon
By Matt Westby
Last Updated: 14/07/16 1:46pm
When Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana and the 191 other members of the Tour de France peloton reach the foot of Mont Ventoux shortly after 3pm on Thursday, they will start ascending something far more than just a cycle climb.
From Wembley to Wimbledon and Augusta to Lord's, every sport has its hallowed ground and cycling's is without question the 'Giant of Provence'.
There are other iconic roads, of course. Alpe d'Huez, the Col du Tourmalet, the Champs-Elysees and the Trouee d'Arenberg are all steeped in as much as 100 years of history and legend, but none of them quite matches the allure of Mont Ventoux.
Part of the draw is that it has only been used as a summit finish in the Tour on nine previous occasions, the first in 1958 and the most recent just three years ago.
The first man to the top therefore gains not just a stage win but also access to one of the most elite clubs in cycling, the existing members of which include great names such as Charly Gaul, Raymond Poulidor, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Thevenet, Marco Pantani and Froome himself.
But there is more to Mont Ventoux than just prestige, because it is also one of the most feared climbs in professional cycling.
Much of that reputation is built on the tragic death of Britain's Tom Simpson there on stage 13 of the 1967 Tour, when in temperatures touching 50C and with amphetamines and alcohol in his system, he collapsed 1km from the summit and never regained consciousness.
The bulk of its notoriety, however, lies in the raw difficulty of the ascent.
The Tour lists it as 15.7km long, with an altitude gain of 1,376m, but those are generous measurements. In reality, the road starts rearing up much earlier and common consensus puts the climb at 21.4km long, with an altitude gain of 1,571m and an average gradient of 7.4 per cent.
There are also unquantifiable aspects of Mont Ventoux that make it tough, not least the landscape and weather, both of which can be as remorseless as the gradients if you catch it on a bad day.
The first 15km of the climb are under cover, but the road then emerges out of the treeline 6km from the summit and riders are suddenly confronted with a blinding, lunar landscape of naked limestone rock.
On hot days, temperatures can reach desert-like levels and the rays of the sun hit you from almost every angle, flooding down from above and then bouncing back up after rebounding off the bright-white mountainsides.
Professional cyclists regularly have to ride in stifling heat, but nowhere else in Europe compares to the cooker that is Mont Ventoux.
Wind can also be a major challenge. The mountain towers over the surrounding landscape for dozens of miles in every direction and consequently has no protection from southern France's mistral winds.
On those exposed final 6km, almost 2,000m above sea level, it's therefore common for vicious gusts to hurtle down the road from the summit and grind cyclists to a near standstill.
That is what is forecasted to happen on Thursday, so race organisers have responded by moving the finish to the top of the treeline at Chalet Reynard, no doubt to the delight of the majority of the peloton.
The final challenge posed by Mont Ventoux is mental. While Alpe d'Huez, the Tourmalet and almost all of cycling's other hardest climbs can't be seen until you're on them, Mont Ventoux appears long before you get anywhere near its base and is so big that it's almost impossible not to be intimidated.
All cycle climbs are essentially just roads heading uphill, but Mont Ventoux is a different, unique proposition. There's nothing quite like it.
Follow stage 12 to Mont Ventoux with our live blog from 11am BST on Thursday.
