A change of pace today for you. I’ve had Mont Ventoux on the brain for part of my day today because I saw a Facebook post that announced the beginning of roadworks on the summit (closing it to car traffic for many months) and then ran across a ‘live’ video on the Equipe website of Armstrong gifting a Ventoux summit win to Pantani in 2000 (can you believe that’s 20 years ago now?).

During this broadcast they listed all the riders who’d won on Ventoux since the beginning. It took about 5 seconds to read them off. This is one reason why this climb is so mythic and special – check out the number of times equally-famous Alpe d’Huez has hosted a stage finish in the Tour since 1952.

The blank spaces you see for 2001 and 2004 were Armstrong. I guess it wouldn’t have mattered if he’d taken that stage from Pantani in the end!

And the list of Le Geant since around the same time.

30 for AdH and 10 for Ventoux.

And 2016 wasn’t even a summit finish (recall ‘running man’, Froome, finishing at Chalet Reynard because of high winds at the top).

Once May 11th hits and assuming I have some fitness, I’ll be getting over there to climb Ol’ Baldy on car-free roads. Care to join me?