The Giant of Provence

With so few events to report from, it’s time to look back over a spectacular French event and look forward to its hopeful resumption.

- IAN KERR

Increasingly popular in the UK, pedal cycles now are ever-more in evidence on the roads every weekend, with individuals enjoying the great outdoors and keeping fit, as the UK catches up with the rest of Europe, where the sport of cycling has dominated roads every day for years.

National sporting events such as the Giro d’Italia (won incidentally by a Brit, Tao Geoghegan Hart, in 2020, for only the second time ever) and the Tour de France, attract tens of thousands of spectators each year to name just two. In the Tour de France event several particular mountain climbs have become legendary, one being Mont (Mount) Ventoux in Provence,in the South of France.

Often known as the ‘Bald Mountain’ or the ‘Giant of Provence,’ Mont Ventoux is well known in pedal cycle circles as one of the most challenging climbs in the annual Tour de France. Geologically, the mountain is part of the Alps, although it stands alone with its limestone peak looking as if it is covered in snow all year round.

Ventoux actually means windy, somewhat apt as the famous ‘mistral’ wind often manages 200mph on its peak standing just short of 2000 metres (6218ft) high and the wind speed is above 56mph for 240 days of the year. At the summit is a meteorological station built in 1882, which created the need for an access road on the mountain.

Just short of this is a memorial to the British cyclist Tommy Simpson who died there in 1967, from heat exhaustion and dehydration, but even now there is still some speculation as to the exact cause of his death; amphetamines were found in his bloodstream and his race jersey.