In 2021, the Tour de France last crossed Mont Ventoux on the 11th stage – twice in one day. The section that ended in Malaucene was won by Wout van Aert. Jonas Vingegaard showed there for the first time that he can put Tadej Pogacar under pressure.
Four years later, the mythical mountain in Provence could once again be part of the most important cycling race in the world. The newspaper The Marseillaise writes that there will be a mountain finish there next year at an altitude of almost 1,900 meters. “There is a very good chance that we will have the Tour de France next year,” Dominique Santoni, President of the Vaucluse department, is quoted as saying.
Mont Ventoux at the Tour de France 2016 – when Chris Froome had to jog
Photo: Getty Images/Tim de WaeleOn foot: Chris Froome on Mont Ventoux 2016
The last mountain finish of the Tour de France on Mont Ventoux took place in 2016, but due to strong winds the finish was moved at short notice to Chalet Reynard, almost 400 metres below the summit. The stage, which was won by Belgian Thomas De Gendt, ended chaotically: the overall leader at the time, Chris Froome, had to walk a few metres after an incident – images that made cycling history.
Three years earlier, the Brit had already won the last Tour de France stage to date on the summit of Mont Ventoux, where he broke away from the competition with a spectacular start. Four years before that, Tony Martin narrowly missed out on victory on Mont Ventoux against Juan Manuel Garate.
>> School trip to Mont Ventoux
Mont Ventoux gains sad notoriety
The name Mont Ventoux is also closely linked to the fate of Tom Simpson. In 1967, the Briton fell off his bike three kilometers below the summit, pumped full of amphetamines and alcohol. Spectators helped him back up, but a short time later he fell again and died – the issue of doping in connection with cycling appeared in a different light. To this day, a memorial stone stands at the spot on Mont Ventoux where Simpson collapsed.
Presentation of the Tour de France 2025 at the end of October
If Mont Ventoux is really back on the program in 2025, it should be one of the highlights of the route presentation, at which the complete Tour de France 2025 is to be officially presented on October 29th. The first three stages with the Grand Depart in Lille were already presented by the organizer ASO at the end of November 2023.
