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". To see the full results of the Individual Time Trial in the 2004 Dauphiné click here.
"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,
"I fought battles here in a past life."
Dai Parry, (Cwn Carn Paragon) 2km below Chalet Reynard