For anyone who has posed in front of the recently stolen Mont Ventoux sign at the arrival line on top of the mountain, the numbers in the title of this article might be a little irritating.

But that’s the way it is, brother, so suck it up. The actual altitude, according to recent measurements, is 1897.1 meters. And that sign was never correct anyway because the 1911 meters on the famous sign referred to the highest point on Mont Ventoux, not the parking lot where it was stuck.

But it gets better because during this latest measuring of Ol’ Baldy the surveyors discovered that that highest point is not even 1911 m, but 1909.6 m!

But back to what we really care about – how much climbing we are actually doing on this thing. Kilometer Zero, just outside the parking lot of France Bike Rentals, is at an altitude of 309.39 meters, meaning you will be sweating up 1587.71 meters of limestone next time you come down to Provence.

So in the end, it’s probably a good thing the sign was ripped off. It was all a big lie anyway.