The last words of Englishman Tom Simpson before he died on the ascent of Mount Ventoux, July 14 1967.
Mount Vetoux sends a shiver down my spine. I have been waiting for this since they announced the route. I love this climb and ever since it captured my imagination in the 2000 & 2002 editions of the tour i have been waiting.
Some of the Tour's most legendary chapters, both glorious and tragic, have been written on the slopes of the dreaded 'bald mountain' - the Mont Ventoux (pronounced mon von too). This year, the giant of Provence has been strategically placed just 24 hours prior to the final coronation on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, it could have been the ultimate cycling spectacle. We can only wish that Contador was not so far ahead, but even with his 4.11 lead - it is going to be war.
Contador and Astana will have to defend the yellow jersey as they will be constantly attacked by his closest challengers - the brothers Schleck. The climb is 21.2km and averages 7.6 % gradient, the perfect setting for an epic. As far as Contador is ahead - make no mistakes, he can still lose the 2009 Tour de France today. In the midst of the rocky white moon like scenery of the Ventoux, strengths and weaknesses are laid bare. Riders can crack on climbs like this - but when they crack on the ventoux it is not one or two minutes that they lose, it is 5 or 10.
Ventoux is often ascended, but rarely this late in the race. It will add a whole new dynamic of fatigue. Riders are tired, they have been on their bikes for nearly 3 weeks. As the name might suggest (venteux means windy in French), it can get windy at the summit, especially when the mistral blows - the french northerly - wind speeds as high as 320 km/h have been recorded. The wind blows at 90+ km/h 240 days a year. The road over the mountain is often closed due to high winds. The top of the mountain is bare limestone without vegetation or trees. The white limestone on the mountain's barren peak means it appears from a distance to be snow-capped all year round (its snow cover actually lasts from December to April). Its isolated position overlooking the valley of the Rhône ensures that it dominates the entire region and can be seen from many miles away on a clear day.
After the tour first came here in 1951 journalist Antoine Blondin wrote "We have seen riders descend into madness due to heat and stimulants, some going down the hairpins when they think they are going up. There are few happy memories attached to this witches' cauldron, climbed with a heavy heart." After the 1955 visit Roland Barthes wrote, "No other ascent seems to have a personality, A god of evil, a despot of cyclists," he called it. Barthes's point was this: most of the Tour's great ascents are passes, between two mountains. The Ventoux is unique because the cyclists have to go up a whole mountain, 5,000 feet from its vineyards at its base at Bédoin to its wind-blasted summit with the famous observatory. There is nothing else higher for many miles around. Ventoux stands alone, visible from 65 miles away. If the weather is clear, at some point today the peleton will come up a rise after leaving Montélimar, and they will see it, even if it is several hours of pedalling away. That plays on the mind, as does the steepness of the road, particularly the early kilometres, which go straight up the side of the mountain through a rock cutting and between stunted oak trees, without a single hairpin to give even a few seconds respite.
The road to the summit has an average gradient of 7.6%. Until Saint-Estève, the climb is easy: 3.9% over 5,8 km, but the 16 remaining kilometres have an average gradient of 8.9%. The last kilometres may have strong, violent winds. The ride takes over an hour even for the pros. 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 1:02.9.
Mont Ventoux is legendary as one of the most gruelling climbs in the Tour de France - its not the longest, it is not the steepest, but the combination of length and gradient which are both near the top of each category, combined with the wind, heat and altitude make this the mountain generally regarded as the toughest. The tour has ascended the mountain thirteen times since 1951. The followed trail mostly passes through Bédoin, only once has the tour been up the giant from another starting point.
The mountain achieved worldwide notoriety when it claimed the life of British cyclist Tom Simpson during the 1967 tour from heat exhaustion caused by a combination of factors including dehydration (caused by lack of fluid intake and diarrhoea), amphetamines, and alcohol; although there is still speculation as to the exact cause of his death. 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. Lance was second.
But the 1965 world champion is not the only life claimed by the Giant of Provence. There is a host of crosses on the slopes to pilgrims who failed to make it to the chapel just below the summit. More recently, a cycling fan was struck by lightning on the day the 1994 race went over, soldiers from the observatory were frozen to death in blizzards, at least one driver died in the motor races that use the mountain, while most surreal of all, a woman tourist was killed in the 1970s by stones picked up by a particularly vicious wind on the summit.
This place is hell.
There has been finishes on the summit of Mont Ventoux seven times.
The winners were
1958 (ITT) Charly Gaul
1965 Raymond Poulidor
1970 Eddy Merckx
1972 Bernard Thévenet
1987 (ITT) Jean-François Bernard
2000 Marco Pantani
2002 Richard Virenque
5 of those men won tours.
The 2000 battle between Armstrong and Pantani was a cracker, Lance rode off on his closest rivals Ullrich and Beloki and claimed Pantani before later giving him the win - which Pantani later denied, reckons he won it fair and square. He also was banned for using EPO and dies of a cocaine overdose, so i know who i believe. You watch and decide - Armstrong v Pantani.
Climbs.
Km 14.0 - Côte de Citelle - 5.2 km climb to 3.9 % - Category 3
Km 65.5 - Col d'Ey - 6.7 km climb to 4.8 % - Category 3
Km 87.0 - Col de Fontaube (D.72-D.41) - 4.7 km climb to 4.2 % - Category 4
Km 121.5 - Col des Abeilles - 7.7 km climb to 4 % - Category 3
Km 167.0 - MONT VENTOUX - 21.1 km climb to 7.6 % - Category H
Contador can still lose, i doubt it will happen, but it will be awesome to watch them try and crack him. This may be the greatest stage ever. But only if they crack the Spaniard.
If you only watch one stage of the tour, make it this one.
Wow!!
ReplyDeleteand 400,00-500,000 people on the summit!!
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