2023-06-09 03:07:22
His lunar side says almost everything about him. No vegetation here, or very little. Rocks, stones, pebbles and laces of tar also dress his bare skull erected so high that one would think it was already in space. THE Mont Ventoux is nevertheless well anchored on the soil of Provence where it sits majestically and feeds the legend.
What will it be this Wednesday between Sorgues and Malaucène, municipalities of Vaucluse that the peloton will connect by facing this solitary giant twice for the 11th stage of this Grande Boucle 2021? Who will emerge sated or congested from this unprecedented gastronomic menu in the Tour?
Tadej Pogacar, the yellow jersey who climbs as he breathes and crushes all his opponents, seems sheltered from everything. The flying Slovenian can even, if he wishes, find in this end-of-the-world setting the ideal theater for a new feat.
The second knives, they will play big on these arid slopes where they will try to snatch a piece of glory. David Gaudu and Guillaume Martin are the Tricolores best cut for this kind of relief. We are waiting for them. We hope for them. But they know it: the queen stage can only be offered to a grown-up. “It’s the one where there is the most elevation: 4,500 m, explains Thierry Gouvenou, the technical director of the event. It will be the most complicated. »
Three days after the icy shower on the way to Tignes, the survivors will this time be entitled to a proper spin-drying. A fight against gravity, a battle of tightrope walkers too, as the finish will be judged at the bottom of the 22 km descent. An ideal profile for Julian Alaphilippe, one of the best devaluers of the band. “I have never cycled to the summit as I have always stopped at Chalet Reynard (Editor’s note: 6 km below), replies the world champion who sometimes hides his game well. It will be much too hard for me. That’s why I worked for Mark Cavendish’s sprint today (this Tuesday). I reserve myself rather for the stage which arrives in Andorra. Tomorrow (this Wednesday), I’m just going to enjoy it and hope it’s not that bad. »
“It gives chills”
Before this final tumble, it was indeed necessary to absorb the Col de la Liguière, then a first climb on the “easy” side (22 km at 5.1%) and finally, this ascent to fame (15.7 km at 8, 8%). Because the Ventoux is given first to the top names. He attracts them, obsesses them. He also crowns them.
“He forced me to go beyond the suffering but he allowed me to earn my letters of nobility. The words are from Bernard Thévenet, double winner of the Tour, who won there in 1972. He engraved his name on a royal parchment. Louison Bobet (1955), Charly Gaul (1958), Raymond Poulidor (1965), Eddy Merckx (1970), Jean-François Bernard (1987), Marco Pantani (2000), Richard Virenque (2002) and Chris Froome (2013), in particular, were crowned at the top of Bald Mountain. “As soon as you get to its foot, it gives you chills,” says Richard Virenque, seven times best climber on the Grande Boucle.
When Froome finished on foot
There are the victors but there are also the beaten and bruised. During the last foray of the Tour, in 2016, on the slopes of the giant of Provence, the bike of Chris Froome, then yellow jersey, breaks following a fall caused by a motorcycle blocked by the public. The Briton then starts running on the road while waiting for a new machine.
A simple hazard compared to the tragedy that occurred on July 13, 1967. Tom Simpson is not 30 years old and he made the mistake of swallowing too many amphetamines. With the heat and the exhaustion, the alcohol too, the young Englishman staggers. He falls, lies forty minutes in the gravel and dies in the helicopter transporting him to Avignon. Between earth and sky, Mont Ventoux also sometimes turns off the lights.
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