Tour de France Gallery: Mont Ventoux

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The Mont Ventoux summit(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)

What better way for cycling-mad Tour de France fans to spend Bastille Day than lining the 20.8km ascent to the storied moonscape of the Mont Ventoux summit.

The "Giant of Provence" makes its 15th appearance in the Tour de France this Sunday, the ninth instance of it being a summit finish, and the first time in Tour history that the climb takes place on the national holiday of Bastille Day. And while a journey up to Mont Ventoux undoubtedly meant tired legs and weary bodies no matter the year, this year's stage, at 242.5km, is both the longest of the 2013 Tour de France as well as the lengthiest day of racing in Tour history that ever included the climb.

Prior to 2013 the most recent instance of Mont Ventoux's inclusion in the Tour de France took place in 2009 when its summit served as the finish to the Tour's penultimate stage, the stage seemingly set for a final GC throwdown prior to the following day's ceremonial procession into Paris. However Alberto Contador enjoyed a more than four-minute lead over closest rival Andy Schleck and the two rode to a stalemate, with Schleck edging Contador for third place, both 38 seconds down on stage winner Juan Manuel Garate. The Spaniard was part of a 16-man break which escaped virtually from the gun, and the Spaniard survived to claim the biggest victory of his career. Does anyone remember who Garate outkicked for the stage win? That would be current time trial world champion Tony Martin, a fellow early escapee that day.

One of the most memorable ascents of Mont Ventoux in Tour de France history occurred in 1994, the year Italian gentle giant Eros Poli broke away early in the 231-kilometre fifteenth stage from Montpellier to Carpentras. Poli arrived at the base of Mont Ventoux with nearly a 25-minute lead over a complacent peloton and needed virtually all of those minutes to drag his 6'4" frame up the 20.8-kilomtre ascent in the race lead. Poli, a gold medalist in the team time trial at the 1984 Olympics and a force in Mario Cipollini's lead-out train, had a physique totally at odds with rapid climbing, but still maintained a couple of minutes at the Ventoux summit. Poli plummeted off Mont Ventoux to achieve a most epic solo victory in Carpentras, 3:39 ahead of the day's second-place finisher.

Charly Gaul's time of 1:02:09 for the 21.5-kilometre ascent of Mont Ventoux in 1958 would stand as the record for nearly 41 years until Jonathan Vaughters set a new best time in winning the third stage of the 1999 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, a time trial along the same course from Bédoin to the Mont Ventoux summit, in 56:50.9. Iban Mayo, the Basque Euskaltel-Euskadi climber, set the current record in the 2004 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré's stage five time trial, ascending the Giant of Provence in 55:51.49.

No discussion of Mont Ventoux can be complete with mention of the tragedy which took place on July 13, 1967, when Tom Simpson died after collapsing on its slopes three kilometres from the summit. The race doctor tried for 40 minutes to revive Simpson on the roadside and the Briton was taken by helicopter to hospital in Avignon, but could not be saved. A memorial to Simpson stands approximately two kilometres from the summit of Mont Ventoux.

During Mont Ventoux's next inclusion, in 1970, maillot jaune Eddy Merckx tipped his hat while passing the memorial to Simpson just as Tour de France race director Jacques Goddet was leaving a bouquet of flowers at the memorial. Merckx was a teammate of Simpson in 1967 on the Peugeot-BP-Michelin team (although not a competitor at the 1967 Tour) and was the most notable professional cyclist to attend Simpson's funeral.

Based in the southeastern United States, Peter produces race coverage for all disciplines, edits news and writes features. The New Jersey native has 30 years of road racing and cyclo-cross experience, starting in the early 1980s as a Junior in the days of toe clips and leather hairnets. Over the years he's had the good fortune to race throughout the United States and has competed in national championships for both road and 'cross in the Junior and Masters categories. The passion for cycling started young, as before he switched to the road Peter's mission in life was catching big air on his BMX bike.