Editing Mont Ventoux (section)

==Road cycling==
[[File:MontVentouxDawn.jpg|thumb|The view from the summit of Mont Ventoux at dawn]]
In [[road bicycle racing]], the mountain can be climbed by three routes.

* From the South: climb starts in [[Bédoin]]: {{cvt|1617|m|ft}} over {{cvt|21.8|km}}. This is regarded as the most difficult ascent, and is ranked by PJAMM Cycling as the 3rd most difficult bike climb in France.<ref>{{cite web |title=France - Top Bike Climbs |url=https://pjammcycling.com/zone/61.France |website=pjammcycling.com |publisher=PJAMM Cycling Inc |access-date=22 December 2022}}</ref> The road to the summit has an average gradient of 7.43%. Until [[Saint-Estève]], the climb is 3.9% over {{cvt|5.8|km}}, but the remaining {{cvt|16|km}} has an average gradient of 8.9%.  To serve as a comparison the climb of [[Alpe d'Huez]] is about {{cvt|13.8|km}} at an average gradient of 7.9%. The last kilometres may have strong, violent winds. The ride takes {{frac|1|1|2}} to {{frac|2|1|2}} hours for trained amateur riders. Professional riders take 60 to 75 minutes. The fastest time so far recorded has been that of [[Iban Mayo]] in the individual climbing time trial of the 2004 [[Dauphiné Libéré]]: 55&nbsp;min 51&nbsp;s. The time was measured from Bédoin for the first time in the [[1958 Tour de France]], in which [[Charly Gaul]] was the fastest at 62&nbsp;min 9&nbsp;s.
* From the Northwest: climb starts in [[Malaucène]]: {{cvt|1570|m}} over {{cvt|21.5|km}}. About equal in difficulty as the Bédoin ascent, but better sheltered against the wind.
* From the East: climb starts in [[Sault, Vaucluse|Sault]]: {{cvt|1210|m}} over {{cvt|26|km}}. The easiest route. After [[Chalet Reynard]] (where the "lunar landscape" of the summit starts), the climb is the same as the Bédoin ascent. Average gradient of 4.4%.

Every year there are amateur races to climb the mountain as quickly and often as possible in 24 hours, the Ventoux Masterseries and "Les Cinglés du Mont Ventoux".<ref>[http://www.clubcinglesventoux.org/en/ Club des Cinglés du Mont-Ventoux]</ref> On 16 May 2006, [[Jean-Pascal Roux]] from Bédoin broke the record of climbs in 24 hours, with eleven climbs, all of them from Bédoin.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.velo101.com/actualite/default.asp?Id=10444&Section=Cyclosport |title=Record de la montée du Ventoux en 24 heures : le live |publisher=Velo101.com |date=16 May 2006 |access-date=15 July 2013}}</ref>

===Tour de France===
[[File:Tom Simpson memorial, Mont Ventoux, 2 May 2009.jpg|thumb|Memorial of [[Tom Simpson]], who died near the summit during the [[1967 Tour de France]], aged 29.]]
Mont Ventoux is the scene of one of the most grueling climbs in the [[Tour de France]] bicycle race, which has ascended the mountain eighteen times since 1951.<ref name="CN">{{cite web|url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tour-de-france-gallery-mont-ventoux |title=Tour de France Gallery: Mont Ventoux|author=Peter Hymas |date= 13 July 2011 |work=Cycling News|publisher=Future Publishing Limited|access-date=13 July 2013}} See also [[Julian Barnes]]'s "Tour de France 2000", (pages 71-89), in his book of essays, ''Something to Declare'' (2002).</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/chris-froome-returns-to-mont-ventoux-riding-a-different-kind-of-tour-de-france/ |title=Chris Froome returns to Mont Ventoux riding a different kind of Tour de France|author=Barry Ryan |date= 6 July 2021 |work=Cycling News|publisher=Future Publishing Limited|access-date=12 July 2021}}</ref> The followed trail mostly passes through Bédoin. Its fame as a scene of great Tour dramas has made it a magnet for cyclists around the world.

British cyclist [[Tom Simpson]] died on the mountain on 13 July 1967 from [[hyperthermia|heat exhaustion]] caused by a combination of factors, including [[dehydration]] (caused by lack of fluid intake and [[diarrhea]]), use of [[amphetamine]]s, and [[alcoholic beverage|alcohol]], although there is still speculation as to the exact cause of his death.<ref name="CN"/> He began to wildly weave across the road before he fell down.<ref name="CN"/> He was delirious and asked spectators to put him back on the bike, which he rode to within a kilometre of the summit before collapsing dead, still clipped into his pedals. Amphetamines were found in his jersey and bloodstream. There is a memorial to Simpson near the summit, which has become a shrine to fans of cycling, who often leave small tokens of remembrance there.<ref name="CN"/> In 1970, [[Eddy Merckx]] rode himself to the brink of collapse while winning the stage. He received oxygen, recovered, and won the Tour.<ref name="CN"/> In 1994, [[Eros Poli]], not known for his climbing ability, stole away at the beginning of the day's stage, built up a substantial time gap from the peloton, and was first over the Ventoux and eventual stage winner despite losing a minute of his lead per kilometre of the ascent.

====Tour de France stage finishes====
[[File:Ventoux - Froome & Quintana.JPG|thumb|[[Chris Froome]] and [[Nairo Quintana]] climbing Mont Ventoux at the [[2013 Tour de France]]]]
The race has finished at the summit of Mont Ventoux ten times. The finish line is at {{cvt|1910|m}}, although in 1965, 1967, 1972 and 1974 the finish was lower, at {{cvt|1895|m}}.
[[File:MontVentoux Summit.jpg|thumb|Summit of Mont Ventoux]] Three riders have won on top of the mountain, and gone on to win the Tour; [[Charly Gaul]] in 1958, [[Eddy Merckx]] in 1970 and [[Chris Froome]] in 2013. Both Merckx and Froome won while wearing the yellow jersey, maintaining the overall lead until Paris. Gaul was not in yellow when he won on the Ventoux, nor did he immediately gain the maillot jaune following the victory, Gaul only taking the overall lead of the tour several stages later.

In September 2008, it was announced by Claude Haut, the president of the Vaucluse province, that in 2009 the Tour de France would visit Mont Ventoux after a seven-year absence. Unusually, the riders climbed the mountain on the second-to-last day of the race, on 25 July 2009, prior to transferring to Paris for the [[Champs-Élysées stage in the Tour de France|traditional parade]] on the [[Champs-Élysées]]. It was next featured in the [[2013 Tour de France|100th Tour de France in 2013]] on Stage 15.

In [[2016 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 21#Stage 12|2016]], the stage to Mont Ventoux was shortened by {{convert|6|km|mi|abbr=on}} the day before, after a weather forecast of high winds at the summit. The stage then finished at Chalet Reynard at {{cvt|1435|m|ft}}, with approximately {{cvt|10|km|0}} of ascent up the mountain.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-de-france-ventoux-stage-shortened-due-to-risk-of-100km-h-winds/|title=Tour de France: Ventoux stage shortened due to risk of 100km/h winds|work=Cycling News|first=Barry|last=Ryan|date=13 July 2016|access-date=13 July 2016}}</ref> This stage also featured a motorcycle-induced crash which damaged [[Chris Froome]]'s bike, prompting him to jog some 100&nbsp;metres up the mountain until he was able to get a neutral service bike (as his team car was too far back at the time), which did not fit him properly.

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+Tour de France stages with summit finishes on Mont Ventoux<ref name="CN"/>
|-
!Year
!Stage
!Start of stage
!Distance (km)
!Category
!Stage winner
![[General classification in the Tour de France|General classification]] leader
!Tour de France winner
|-
| [[1958 Tour de France|1958]]
| 18
| [[Bédoin]]
| 21.5 ([[Individual time trial|ITT]])
| 1
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Charly Gaul]] |LUX}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Raphaël Géminiani]]|FRA}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Charly Gaul]]|LUX}}
|-
| [[1965 Tour de France|1965]]
| 14
| [[Montpellier]]
| 173
| 1
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Raymond Poulidor]]| FRA}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete  | [[Felice Gimondi]]|ITA}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Felice Gimondi]]|ITA}}
|-
| [[1970 Tour de France|1970]]
| 14
| [[Gap, Hautes-Alpes|Gap]]
| 170
| 1
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Eddy Merckx]]| BEL}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete  | [[Eddy Merckx]]|BEL}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Eddy Merckx]]|BEL}}
|-
| [[1972 Tour de France|1972]]
| 11
| [[Carnon-Plage]]
| 207
| 1
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Bernard Thévenet]]| FRA}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete  | [[Eddy Merckx]]|BEL}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Eddy Merckx]]|BEL}}
|-
| [[1987 Tour de France|1987]]
| 18
| [[Carpentras]]
| 36.5 ([[Individual time trial|ITT]])
| [[Hors catégorie|HC]]
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Jean-François Bernard]]| FRA}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete  | [[Jean-François Bernard]]|FRA}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Stephen Roche]]|IRL}}
|-
| [[2000 Tour de France|2000]]
| 12
| [[Carpentras]]
| 149
| [[Hors catégorie|HC]]
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Marco Pantani]]| ITA}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Lance Armstrong]]| USA}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | <s>[[Lance Armstrong]]</s>| USA}}
|-
| [[2002 Tour de France|2002]]
| 14
| [[Lodève]]
| 221
| [[Hors catégorie|HC]]
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Richard Virenque]]| FRA}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Lance Armstrong]]| USA}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | <s>[[Lance Armstrong]]</s>| USA}}
|-
| [[2009 Tour de France|2009]]
| 20
| [[Montélimar]]
| 167
| [[Hors catégorie|HC]]
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Juan Manuel Gárate]]|ESP}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Alberto Contador]]|ESP}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Alberto Contador]]|ESP}}
|-
| [[2013 Tour de France|2013]]
| 15
| [[Givors]]
| 242.5
| [[Hors catégorie|HC]]
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Chris Froome]]|GBR}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Chris Froome]]|GBR}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Chris Froome]]|GBR}}
|-
| [[2016 Tour de France|2016]]
| 12
| [[Montpellier]]
| 178
| [[Hors catégorie|HC]]
|align=left|{{Flagathlete|[[Thomas De Gendt]]|BEL}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Chris Froome]]|GBR}}
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Chris Froome]]|GBR}}
|-
| [[2025 Tour de France|2025]]
| 16
| [[Montpellier]]
| 172
| TBD
|
|
|
|}
::<small>Note: As a result of an investigation into doping in 2012 Lance Armstrong was stripped of his Tour de France titles between 1999 and 2005 by the UCI. As such the tours for those years have no winner.</small>

====Other appearances in the Tour====
The race has also crossed the summit eight times.

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!Year
!Stage
!Category
!Start
!Finish
!Leader at the summit
|-
| [[1951 Tour de France|1951]]
| 18
| 1
| [[Montpellier]]
| [[Avignon]]
|align=left|{{Flagathlete  | [[Lucien Lazaridès]]| FRA}}
|-
| [[1952 Tour de France|1952]]
| 14
| 1
| [[Aix-en-Provence]]
| [[Avignon]]
|align=left|{{Flagathlete  | [[Jean Robic]] | FRA}}
|-
| [[1955 Tour de France|1955]]
| 11
| 1
| [[Marseille]]
| [[Avignon]]
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Louison Bobet]] | FRA}}
|-
| [[1967 Tour de France|1967]]
| 13
| 1
| [[Marseille]]
| [[Carpentras]]
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Julio Jiménez (cyclist)|Julio Jiménez]]| ESP}}
|-
| [[1974 Tour de France|1974]]
| 12
| 1
| [[Savines-le-Lac]]
| [[Orange, Vaucluse|Orange]]
|align=left|{{Flagathlete  | [[Gonzalo Aja]] | ESP}}
|-
| [[1994 Tour de France|1994]]
| 15
| [[Hors Catégorie|HC]]
| [[Montpellier]]
| [[Carpentras]]
|align=left|{{Flagathlete  | [[Eros Poli]] | ITA}}
|-
|rowspan="2"| [[2021 Tour de France|2021]]
|rowspan="2"|11
| 1
|rowspan="2"| [[Sorgues]]
|rowspan="2"| [[Malaucène]]
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Julian Alaphilippe]] | FRA}}
|-
| HC
|align=left|{{Flagathlete | [[Wout Van Aert]] | BEL}}
|}
In 1951, the approach to the summit was from [[Malaucène]]. In 2021, the first ascent was from [[Sault, Vaucluse|Sault]], whilst the second was from [[Bédoin]]. In all other years, the approach has been from [[Bédoin]].

===Climb from Bédoin===
The climb by bike from [[Bédoin]] to Mont Ventoux is one of the toughest in professional cycling. The figure for the average gradients per kilometre can be found in many books and websites on cycling. The average gradient of the total climb and also the average gradients per kilometre differ slightly, depending on the source of the information. Accurate measurements result in an average gradient for the total climb of 7.43%, based on a horizontal distance of {{cvt|21.765|km}} and an ascent of {{cvt|1617|m}}. The actual distance ridden is {{cvt|21.825|km}}.

The average gradients in each kilometre are as follows:

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!Kilometre
!Average gradient
!Kilometre
!Average gradient
|-
|  1 || 1.9% || 12 || 10.1%
|-
|  2 || 2.8% || 13 || 9.2%
|-
|  3 || 3.8% || 14 || 9.4%
|-
|  4 || 5.8% || 15 || 8.8%
|-
|  5 || 5.6% || 16 || 6.9%
|-
|  6 || 3.1% || 17 || 6.6%
|-
|  7 || 8.6% || 18 || 6.8%
|-
|  8 || 9.4% || 19 || 7.4%
|-
|  9 || 10.5% || 20 || 8.3%
|-
|  10 || 10.1% || 21 || 9.1%
|-
|  11 || 9.3% || 22 || 10.0%
|}

===Transcontinental Race===
Mont Ventoux was used as the first checkpoint in the 2015 [[Transcontinental Race]], which is a non-stop, unsupported bicycle race across Europe.