Mont Ventoux from Bédoin – cycling climb map

by Sidney van den Boogaard

The Ventoux from Bédoin starts gently, almost politely, among vineyards and orchards. Then comes the bend at Saint-Estève, about six kilometres in, and the mountain shows its real face: some ten kilometres of forest at around nine per cent, with no easy stretch to recover. At Chalet Reynard the trees give way and the road climbs into bare white scree, the weather station on the summit already in view and the wind often straight in your face. About a kilometre below the top stands the memorial to Tom Simpson. For the rider who wants the Giant of Provence on the wall, conquered or still waiting.

This work is part of the Legendary Climbs collection: the most famous climbs in road cycling, from the Alps and the Pyrenees to the short, steep hills of Flanders and Limburg. Each climb is drawn from the real road, with the elevation profile coloured per kilometre and, along the bottom, the length, elevation gain, average and maximum gradient and the summit.

The road is drawn from OpenStreetMap data (© OpenStreetMap contributors) and the profile from Copernicus elevation data (EU-DEM). A great gift for any cyclist, to hang next to the bike or as a goal for next season.