I rode up Mont Ventoux today

Published by Matt Polaine | Filed under Cycling, Holidays

Matt at the top in 2hrs 38mins in 35C.

If you are a keen cyclist you will know what this means. If not. Read on….

Mont Ventoux has become legendary as the regular scene of one of the most gruelling climbs in the Tour de France bicycle race, which has ascended the mountain thirteen times since 1951. The followed trail mostly passes through Bédoin. Its fame as a scene of great Tour dramas has made it a magnet for cyclists around the world.

I took the Bédoin route, and cycled non-stop up it in 35C, managing a time of 2hrs 38mins. As this was my first attempt, and on a mountain bike, and in 35C, 22 km over 1610 m in this time is pretty decent.  I’m aiming for sub 2hrs next time. To give you an idea of the gradients, it took me 24mins to decend. I overtook 6 cars, which are not able to decend as fast as a cyclist!

How tough is this climb? The Bédoin route I took is the most famous and difficult ascent. The road to the summit has an average gradient of 7.6%. Until Saint-Estève, the climb is easy, but the 16 remaining kilometres have an average gradient of 10%. The last kilometres have strong, violent winds. The ride takes 2-3 hours for trained amateur individuals, and professionals can ride it in 1-1.5 hours. The fastest time so far recorded has been that of Iban Mayo in the individual climbing time trial of the 2004 Dauphiné Libéré: 55′ 51″. The time was measured from Bédoin for the first time in the 1958 Tour de France, in which Charly Gaul was the fastest at 1h 2′ 9″.

Why ride it? If you ask a mountain climber why they risk climbing the great peaks of the world they will say ‘because it is there’. Really it is a test of one’s abilities. True you need to be fit and have certain strengths, but 75% of a bike climb like this comes from the spirit. So to ask is not to understand, so one needs to understand ‘why’, not ‘why Ventoux’.

The mountain achieved worldwide notoriety when it claimed the life of English cyclist Tom Simpson, who died here on July 13, 1967 from a combination of amphetamines, alcohol and heat exhaustion. He began to wildly weave across the road before he fell down. He was delirious and asked spectators to put him back on the bike, which he 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. In 1994, Eros Poli, not known for his climbing ability, stole away at the beginning of the day’s stage, built up a substantial time gap from the peloton, and was first over the Ventoux and eventual stage winner despite losing a minute of his lead per kilometre of the ascent. The last winner on the Ventoux was the French climber Richard Virenque.