Mont Ventoux

The northern face of Mont Ventoux — 21 kilometres from Malaucène to 1,909 metres. More technical than Bédoin, less crowded, open earlier in spring. The version of Ventoux that most cyclists never ride.

The lavender road

There is no climb in cycling quite like Ventoux. Not because it is the hardest — there are longer climbs, steeper climbs, climbs with more brutal gradients. But no other mountain concentrates so much cycling mythology into a single road. Coppi rode here. Simpson died here. Pantani and Armstrong had their reckoning here. Every serious cyclist who comes to Provence eventually stands at the bottom of the Bédoin road, looks up at the white summit visible from thirty kilometres away, and begins.