Persistent readers of this blog will recognize the name ‘Mont Bouquet’; famous for old friend Doug’s ‘Bouquet List‘, as well as many other painful adventures on this tiny, horrible mountain. Well, our little nasty piece of work is now going ‘pro’ and will feature as a summit finish of the penultimate stage of our department’s (Gard) early-season professional race: Etoile de Bessèges. 

I was actually on Bouquet with a client a few weeks back and we remarked on the road improvement at the time. There’s a shiny new tarmac that nearly made the climb bearable, and new tarmac on a mountain road in the middle of nowhere in France can only mean one thing – a bike race is about to happen there.

The stage in question (4 out of 5) could prove to be decisive in this usually-flat stage race because the punchiest climbers in the peloton can definitely make a difference on this short (less than 5 km), brutal climb, with the majority of the rest of the stages being for either breakaways or sprinters.

If you’d like to come and see the brute for yourself, I’m always up for some punishment. Give me a call.

Source: Climb by Bike