7-time stage finish• The highest point in Provence, culminating at 1,912 metres• 20 kilometres from Carpentras
“The mirror of the eagles”, according to the poet René Char, culminates at an altitude of 1912 metres above the Comtadine plains. 95 million years old, a legendary reputation has been carved out of these Cretaceous rocks, and one that extends well beyond the borders of the Vaucluse. The Mont Ventoux and its summit, a vestige of the former site of ancient rich forests, present a 1 800 metre variance in height for the hikers and cyclists who, climate permitting, eagerly flock to this spectacular site, launching their attack on a north-climb, out of Malaucène, or a south-climb out of Bédoin. “The Giant of Provence”, partly reforested in 1858, extends over a total distance of 580 square km and is 25 kilometres long from East to West. It is a paradise for botanists and researchers who discover the Mediterranean forest at its base and an alpine flora at its summit, with olive trees, hairy yellow Greenland poppies, Holm oaks, Spitzberg saxifrages. This marvel of nature is home to stags, deer, chamois and wild boars, and adorned with Scotch pines, beeches, larches and Atlas cedars.(PLUS TWO TIRED GUY'S FROM SPRINGFIELD,OHIO)
