Mont Ventoux

Why is the Ventoux infamous ?

The mountain achieved worldwide notoriety when it claimed the life of the great English cyclist Tom Simpson, who died here on July 13th 1967 from a combination of amphetamines, alchohol and heat exhaustion. He began to wildly weave across the road before he fell down. He was delirious, then in those imortal words, asked spectators to "put me back on my bike!". He then rode to within a half mile of the summit before collapsing dead, still clipped into his pedals. Amphetamines were found in his jersey and bloodstream. There is a memorial to Simpson near the summit which has become a shrine to fans of cycling, who often leave small tokens of remembrance there. In 1970 Eddy Merckx rode himself to the brink of collapse while winning the stage. He received oxygen, recovered, and won the Tour de France.

The current record for ascending Mont Ventoux is held by Spanish cyclist Iban Mayo. In the 2004 edition of the Dauphineé Libéré race a mountain time trial was held from Bedoin to the summit and Mayo climbed the mountain in an unbelievable 55' 51".

"Nineteen hundred meters up there, is completely different from 1,900 metres any place else. There's no air, there's no oxygen. There's no vegetation, there's no life, Just Rocks. Any other climb there's vegetation, grass and trees. Not there on the Ventoux. It's more like the moon than a mountain."
Lance Armstrong

"Physically, the Ventoux is dreadful. Bald, it's the spirit of Dry: Its climate (it is much more an essence of climate than a geographic place) makes it a damned terrain, a testing place for heroes, something like a higher hell."
Roland Barthes, French philosopher and bicycle racing fan,

"The Ventoux is a god of Evil, to which sacrifices must be made. It never forgives weakness and extracts an unfair tribute of suffering."
Roland Barthes, French philosopher and bicycle racing fan.

The Mont Ventoux on the day before the Champs-Élysées

Never in the history of the event has a mountain been on the programme the day before the finish in Paris. This will be the case this year with the Ventoux mountain finish on the 20th stage.

Mont Ventoux has become legendary as the scene of one of the most gruelling climbs in the Tour de France. The race has ascended the mountain thirteen times since 1951 and its fame as a scene of great Tour dramas has made it a magnet for cyclists around the world.

Winners of the Mont Ventoux stage at the Tour de France
 

2002: Richard Virenque ( France)
2000: Marco Pantani ( Italy)
1994: Eros Poli ( Italy)
1987: Jean-Francois Bernard ( France)
1972: Bernard Thévenet ( France)
1971: Gonzalo Aja ( Spain)
1970: Eddy Merckx ( Belgium)
1967: Julio Jimenez ( Spain)
1965: Raymond Poulidor ( France)
1958: Charly Gaul ( Luxembourg)
1955: Louison Bobet ( France)
1952: Jean Robic ( France)
1951: Lucien Lazarides ( France)

The most impressive ascent of the mountain during the Tour must go to Charly Gaul, the climber from Luxembourg who sadly died recently. In 1958 he won the stage up the Ventoux in an incredible time of 1h 2' 9". If you consider the road surface and the weight of the bike he would give any modern rider a hard day !!!

Eros Poli also deserves a mention. A hefty chap at over 85 kilos he was Mario Cippolinis lead out man for many years. The 1994 Tour featured an ascent of Mont Ventoux. Poli broke away from the peloton early on in the stage and built a lead of over 20 minutes as they neared the Ventoux. The chase pack started the climb with a faster rhythm and a 22 minute deficit. When Poli arrived at the final 300 meters his lead had dwindled to 4 minutes but it had survived. Poli hammered the descent and rode into Carpentras with tears of joy in his eyes for a spectacular 3'39” stage win.