My Biking Blog: 100 Cols Day 21 Châteauneuf-du-Pape to Malaucene 85km 2000m climbing

Today was all about the mountain. Mont Ventoux is given the name “The Giant of Provence” which has an imposing profile seen for miles around in the vineyards and sunflower fields of Provence. It is a famous climb in the TDF and has been the location of many legendary cycling battles in Le Tour. It is rated as one of the most difficult climbs in the TDF and typically is featured as a mountain top finish. This makes it quite a spectacle as the roads are lined with 1000’s of spectators/tourists as the riders make their way up the steep road to the weather station at the top. Stage road races like the TDF are unique in that they allow the public to come within arms-reach of the pro athletes. Not so many spectators for us today, but we could imagine the experience as we turned the pedals toward the top.
We started early at 730am to avoid the high temperatures of the afternoon. The official climb starts in the town of Bedoin, which meant a 40km ride to get there from our camp. So after early lunch we met in Bedoin for a coffee and to assemble ourselves into handicap groups for a friendly “time-trial” on the 23 km climb. I was starting from about the middle of the group and made good progress up the mountain over the first 10km, overtaking quite a few other riders. There are unforgiving sections with grades over 10% most of the way.
With a combination of steady pedalling in my lowest gear and watching my heart rate I found the climbing progressed well until the gradient dropped at the 12km mark. This allowed me to stand up on the pedals and get some momentum. The view here is very unusual as you leave the forest and enter the “moonscape” of the upper slopes of Ventoux. It is a rocky slope which is almost white (and looks like snow from below on a sunny day) but this section is notoriously windy with wind speeds reaching over 200kph on some days during the year. Le Meteo reports that the wind blows at up to 60kph for over 250 days in the year on average. We were lucky today as the wind factor was zero and the temps were in early 30s and dropped down several degrees at the top (1900m). A helicopter evacuation was underway at the carpark 7km from the summit. A quite steep (14%) section greets you 200m from the summit.
Many bought souvenirs at the shops at the top. Jerseys, shorts, caps, t-shirts, key-rings – you name it you can buy it with Mt Ventoux printed on it! After a coke break and a group photo at the top we headed down to camp in Malaucene for a well-earned rest day tomorrow.
Garmin link here
Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cycling by peterjkemp at Garmin Connect - Details