- Sep 20, 2017
- 10,831
- 19,959
- 28,180
Time for the hardest climb, and possibly the hardest stage, of the race. Pretty hyped for this one, how often do you see Ventoux being descended?
Stage 11: Sorgues – Malaucène, 198.9 km
Arguably the queen stage, also depending on whether any stage deserves the moniker this year. It’s a shame that the Bedoin side of the Ventoux isn’t being used twice to make this an actual queen stage, but the descent finish means we should still have 40 kilometers of action.
Map and profile
Route details
The first 30 kilometers of the stage are the easiest by some margin, the 40 kilometers after it are hilly and start with the first climb of the day, Côte de Fontaine-de-Vaucluse.
After an uncategorised bump, there’s a descent which precedes a false flat up to the intermediate sprint.
Immediately after this, the next climb, Côte de Gordes, starts. It’s the profile below as far as the eponymous village at 5.8k.
A number of uncategorised climbs and a false flat lead us to the first longer climb of the day, the Col de la Liguière. This is something of a transition from the hills before to the Ventoux itself. By the time the profile below (and with it the categorisation) starts, the false flat has already started to give way with a kilometer at about 5% heading into the village.
The climb is lopsided enough for the descent to be little more than a false flat into Sault, where there’s the final 1.1 kilometers of the profile below before Mont Ventoux can be tackled.
The Sault side of Mont Ventoux is obviously by far the easiest, but the part past Châlet Reynard, which is identical to the classic Bédoin side, should still do some damage.
The descent takes us into Malaucène, but there’s no passage of the finish line. Instead, just after the flamme rouge, we head south through the easy, uncategorised Col de la Madeleine (not that one) to reach Bédoin.
The classic side of Mont Ventoux requires no introduction. All the tales there are to tell will doubtlessly be repeated by the commentators on either ascent. Even so, this will be the first time since 2013 that it’s climbed in full by a stage race.
All that’s left is the same descent, with the same narrow first 6 kilometers preceding the wide road from the ski lifts at Mont-Serein, that continues all the way until just past the flamme rouge.
Final kilometers
If there’s any sort of sprint for the stage win, positioning will matter with a roundabout at 300 and a right-hander (albeit not at 90 degrees) at 130 meters to go.
Stage 11: Sorgues – Malaucène, 198.9 km
Arguably the queen stage, also depending on whether any stage deserves the moniker this year. It’s a shame that the Bedoin side of the Ventoux isn’t being used twice to make this an actual queen stage, but the descent finish means we should still have 40 kilometers of action.
Map and profile
Route details
The first 30 kilometers of the stage are the easiest by some margin, the 40 kilometers after it are hilly and start with the first climb of the day, Côte de Fontaine-de-Vaucluse.
After an uncategorised bump, there’s a descent which precedes a false flat up to the intermediate sprint.
Immediately after this, the next climb, Côte de Gordes, starts. It’s the profile below as far as the eponymous village at 5.8k.
A number of uncategorised climbs and a false flat lead us to the first longer climb of the day, the Col de la Liguière. This is something of a transition from the hills before to the Ventoux itself. By the time the profile below (and with it the categorisation) starts, the false flat has already started to give way with a kilometer at about 5% heading into the village.
The climb is lopsided enough for the descent to be little more than a false flat into Sault, where there’s the final 1.1 kilometers of the profile below before Mont Ventoux can be tackled.
The Sault side of Mont Ventoux is obviously by far the easiest, but the part past Châlet Reynard, which is identical to the classic Bédoin side, should still do some damage.
The descent takes us into Malaucène, but there’s no passage of the finish line. Instead, just after the flamme rouge, we head south through the easy, uncategorised Col de la Madeleine (not that one) to reach Bédoin.
The classic side of Mont Ventoux requires no introduction. All the tales there are to tell will doubtlessly be repeated by the commentators on either ascent. Even so, this will be the first time since 2013 that it’s climbed in full by a stage race.
All that’s left is the same descent, with the same narrow first 6 kilometers preceding the wide road from the ski lifts at Mont-Serein, that continues all the way until just past the flamme rouge.
Final kilometers
If there’s any sort of sprint for the stage win, positioning will matter with a roundabout at 300 and a right-hander (albeit not at 90 degrees) at 130 meters to go.
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