The opening scene of Keith Floyd’s 1987 series Floyd On France begins with the restaurateur and bon vivant rattling through Les Gorges de la Nesque in an open-topped Citroën. His mission is to educate lumpen Brits on the gastronomic and cultural wonders of Provence, and three decades later it would seem he has succeeded. Nowadays, I’d be pushed to find a compatriot who wasn’t familiar with the joys of ratatouille, bouillabaisse or aioli. Nor would I be able to find a cyclist who didn’t know the name of Mont Ventoux.
The Giant of Provence looms larger than any peak in the history of cycling. Sitting in isolation, Ventoux’s famously barren upper reaches, HC status and storied inclusions in the Tour de France make it a superstar among mountains. Add in the doomed romance of Tom Simpson, who died just short of the summit in 1967, and its mythical status is secured.
Eulogised consistently since the poet Petrarch wandered up it during the 14th century, Ventoux is a mountain that has spawned a mountain of writing, plenty of it in this magazine. has visited its slopes on numerous occasions, but we are always on the hunt for new and intriguing approaches to old
