Mont Ventoux from Sault
Mont Ventoux, the "Giant of Provence", stands alone above the plains of the Vaucluse in southern France, rising to 1,910 metres. Its upper slopes are bare white limestone, broken into scree by frost, which makes the summit look snow-capped all year, and winds of more than 300 km/h have been recorded on top. Since 1990 the mountain has been a UNESCO biosphere reserve: its southern face is Mediterranean almost to the summit, while the northern face holds plants of central Europe. Of the three roads to the top, the one from Sault, on the eastern side, is the longest and the gentlest. Sault sits at about 765 metres on the Albion plateau, in the heart of Provence's lavender country: the area lies within the protected zone for Haute-Provence lavender oil, and every 15 August the village holds a lavender festival, complete with a French championship of cutting lavender by sickle.
This ride climbs from Sault through the lavender fields and the forests of the eastern slopes for about 18 km at a gentle 4% to Chalet Reynard, at about 1,420 metres, a small ski station where the road from Bédoin joins. From there the final 6 km are the hardest part, at about 8% across the bare scree, past the granite memorial to Tom Simpson, who collapsed and died about a kilometre below the summit during the 1967 Tour de France. The Tour has climbed the Ventoux nearly 20 times since 1951, with summit finishes won by Charly Gaul, Eddy Merckx, Marco Pantani and Chris Froome among others, and in 2021 it used this side for the first of its two ascents in a single stage. Riding all three roads to the summit in one day, about 140 km and 4,400 metres of climbing, earns membership of the Club des Cinglés du Mont-Ventoux.
Region: Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur
City: Sault