Some waited for me at the top of the climbs, while others were waited for. Others just killed time, waiting in a bar, or even picked me up from one. Like me, they all loved the mountain, the gorges and the hills of the Vaucluse and the Drôme.
Bibliography
Guy Barruol, Le Mont Ventoux: Encyclopédie d’une montagne provençale (Alpes de Lumière, 2007)
Michael Barry, Shadows on the Road: Life at the heart of the peloton, from US Postal to Team Sky (Faber & Faber, 2014)
Christophe Bassons with Benoît Hopquin, A Clean Break: My story (Bloomsbury, 2014)
Philippe Brunel, An Intimate Portrait of the Tour de France: Masters and slaves of the road (Buonpane Publications, 1996)
Les Carnets du Ventoux, various editions (Les Editions du Toulourenc)
Jeff Connor, Wide Eyed and Legless: Inside the Tour de France (Simon & Schuster, 1988)
Jeff Connor, Field of Fire: The Tour de France of ‘87 and the rise and fall of ANC-Halfords (Mainstream Publishing, 2012)
Nicole Cooke, The Breakaway: My Story (Simon & Schuster, 2014)
Daniel Coyle, Lance Armstrong: tour de force, (Collins Willow, 2005)
Le Dauphiné, 50 ans de Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (Editions le Dauphiné)
Gérard Delestre, Paris-Nice 1933–1999: Anthologie de la ‘Course au Soleil’ (Editions SPE-Barthélémy, 2001)
L’Équipe, Cols Mythiques du Tour de France (L’Équipe)
L’Équipe, Le Ventoux Sommet de la Folie (L’Équipe)
Laurent Fignon, We Were Young and Carefree (Yellow Jersey Press, 2010)
William Fotheringham, Put Me Back On My Bike: In search of Tom Simpson (Yellow Jersey Press, 2002)
Daniel Friebe, Eddy Merckx: The cannibal (Ebury Press, 2012)
Philippe Gaumont, Prisonnier du Dopage (Grasset, 2005)
Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle, The Secret Race: Inside the hidden world of the Tour de France: Doping, cover-ups, and winning at all costs (Bantam Press, 2012)
NG Henderson, Fabulous Fifties (Kennedy Brothers)
Bernard Hinault, Memories of the Peloton (Springfield Books Limited, 1989)
Paul Howard, Sex Lies and Handlebar Tape: The remarkable life of Jacques Anquetil (Mainstream Publishing, 2008)
HR Kedward, In Search of the Maquis: Rural resistance in southern France 1942–1944 (Oxford University Press, 1994)
Sean Kelly with David Walsh, Sean Kelly: A man for all seasons (Springfield Books Limited, 1991)
Greg LeMond and Samuel Abt, The Incredible Comeback of an American Hero (Stanley Paul, 1990)
Isaac Levendel, Not the Germans Alone: A son’s search for the truth of Vichy (Northwestern University Press, 1999)
Steffen Lipp, Mont Ventoux (Édisud, 1989)
Robert MacFarlane, Mountains of the Mind: A history of a fascination (Granta, 2003)
David Millar in collaboration with Jeremy Whittle, Racing Through The Dark: The rise and fall of David Millar (Orion, 2011)
Miroir du Cyclisme, Tour de France: Les Vainqueurs (Vaillant Miroir Sprint)
Bernard Mondon, Les Grandes Heures du Tour de France au Ventoux (Editions Equinoxe, 1998)
Richard Moore, In Search Of Robert Millar: Unravelling the mystery surrounding Britain’s most successful Tour de France cyclist (HarperSport, 2007)
Richard Moore, Slaying The Badger: LeMond, Hinault and the greatest ever Tour de France (Yellow Jersey Press , 2012)
Tim Moore, French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France (Yellow Jersey Press, 2012)
Caroline Moorhead, Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France (Chatto & Windus, 2014)
Matt Rendell, The Death of Marco Pantani: A biography (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2006)
Bjarne Riis, Riis: Stages of light and dark (Vision Sports Publishing, 2012)
Stephen Roche with David Walsh, The Agony and the Ecstasy: Stephen Roche’s world of cycling (Stanley Paul, 1988)
Stephen Roche, Born to Ride (Yellow Jersey Press, 2012)
Chris Sidwells, Mr Tom: The true story of Tom Simpson (Mousehold Press, 2000)
Tommy Simpson, Cycling Is My Life (Stanley Paul, 1966)
Rik Van Walleghem, Eddy Merckx: The greatest cyclist of the 20th century (VeloPress, 1996)
Jean-Paul Vespini, La Legende du Ventoux (La Provence)
Richard Virenque, Ma Vérité (Editions du Rocher, 1999)
Past editions of magazines including Velo, Miroir du Cyclisme, Cycling Weekly, Cycle Sport, Procycling and numerous others.
Glossary of names
Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO) – Paris-based owners of all major French races, including the Tour de France, and biggest promoter in world cycling
Lance Armstrong – fallen icon and confessed doper, stripped of seven Tour de France wins, after a lengthy investigation by USADA (US Anti Doping Agency)
Bedoin – gateway village to the famous southern ascent of Mont Ventoux, known as ‘race’ or ‘Simpson’ side
Jean-Francois Bernard – Mont Ventoux stage winner in 1987 Tour de France
Louison Bobet – three-time Tour de France winner and stage winner over Mont Ventoux
Dave Brailsford – founding father of the British Cycling ‘medal factory’ and team principal of Team Sky
Johan Bruyneel – former professional rider, subsequently sports director to Lance Armstrong, sanctioned for doping offences
Éric Caritoux – former Tour of Spain winner and French national champion, resident of Flassan
Chalet Reynard – ski station bar and café on the southern ascent of Mont Ventoux
Cingles du Mont Ventoux – select club of riders who have completed all three ascents of Mont Ventoux in one day
Nicole Cooke – former Olympic and world champion, first British Tour de France winner and stage winner over Mont Ventoux
Fausto Coppi – revered double Tour de France winner and five times Giro d’Italia champion, who died of complications following malaria, in 1960
Critérium du Dauphiné – Alpine stage race, formerly the Dauphiné Libéré, now owned by ASO and a critical warm-up race for the Tour de France
Drôme – the county, or département, north of Mont Ventoux and the Vaucluse, between the Rhone valley and the French Alps
Pierre Dumas – Tour de France doctor from 1952 to 1969, who revived Jean Malléjac on Mont Ventoux in 1955 and fought to resuscitate Tom Simpson, higher up the mountain in 1967
L’Équipe – legendary French sports newspaper, owned by ASO, and traditional mouthpiece of the Tour de France
Étape du Tour – ASO-owned high-end mass participation sportive ride staged every July over the route of one of that year’s key Tour stages
Laurent Fignon – Paris-born double Tour de France winner who died of cancer in 2010, also remembered for losing the 1989 Tour by just eight seconds
Chris Froome – Kenyan-born Team Sky leader, triple Tour de France winner and stage winner on Mont Ventoux in 2013
Charly Gaul – former slaughterman turned mountain goat, renowned for his climbing abilities, winner of the 1958 Tour, including a stage win on Mont Ventoux
Raphael Géminiani – iconic 1950s star and personality, known for his volatile character, aggressive riding style and defiant nature
Tyler Hamilton – Massachusetts-born mountain climbing team-mate to Lance Armstrong, stage winner on Mont Ventoux, who subsequently confessed to serial doping
Hugo Koblet – charismatic Swiss rider known as the pédaleur de charme, Koblet won the 1951 Tour but was killed in a car crash in 1964
Ferdi Kubler – Kubler won the 1950 Tour but is remembered as well for a frenzied assault on Mont Ventoux which left him in a state of near-delirium
Floyd Landis – 2006 Tour winner, later stripped of victory, and key witness in the USADA anti-doping investigation which led to the downfall of Lance Armstrong
Greg LeMond – triple Tour de France winner and first Anglophone to win the Tour
Malaucene – gateway village to the northern ascent
of Mont Ventoux
Jean Malléjac – French rider who collapsed during the 1955 Tour and was revived by doctor Dumas
Iban Mayo – Basque cyclist and holder of the record for the fastest ascent of the south side of Mont Ventoux, later banned for two years for doping
Eddy Merckx – five-time Tour de France winner, former team-mate to Tom Simpson and stage winner on Mont Ventoux in July 1970
David Millar – British ex-professional and winner of stages in all three Grand Tours of France, Italy and Spain, banned for doping between 2004 and 2006
Mont Serein – ski station and village below the summit of Mont Ventoux’s north side
Marco Pantani – deceased Italian icon and mountain climber, former winner of the Tour and Giro, still revered in Italy despite numerous allegations of doping
Gaston Plaud – former professional and sports director of Peugeot-sponsored team from 1959–73
Eros Poli – heavyweight super-domestique rider and unlikely winner of the Mont Ventoux stage in the 1994 Tour de France
Jean Robic – diminutive winner of the 1947 Tour de France, renowned for eccentric style, gurning expressions and mercurial temperament
St Ésteve – site of the critical bend on Mont Ventoux’s southern climb that signals the steepest section of road
Sault – gateway village at the foot of the Ventoux’s eastern ascent to Chalet Reynard
Chris Sidwells – nephew of Tom Simpson and author of Mr Tom: the true story of Tom Simpson
Helen Simpson – wife of Tom Simpson, later Helen Hoban, after marrying his former team-mate, Barry Hoban
Joanne Simpson – daughter, with sister Jane, of Tom Simpson
Tom Simpson – former world champion and BBC Sports Personality of the Year, who collapsed and died close to the summit of Mont Ventoux in July 1967
Vaucluse – home county or département of Mont Ventoux, sited between the Drôme and the Bouches du Rhone
Jonathan Vaughters – former cyclist and confessed doper, key figure in the USADA investigation into Armstrong, now team manager
Richard Virenque – Mont Ventoux stage winner, convicted doper, now a television presenter and pundit
David Walsh –– Sunday Times journalist and author
Index
A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.
Agen, 56
Agostinho, Joaquim, 103, 114
Aigues Mortes, 20
Alazards, 16
Albert, Monsieur, 21–2
Alcala, Raul, in Tour 1994, 146
Allée de l’Oulle, 59
Allée des Platanes, 42, 111, 146
Alpe d’Huez, 11, 24, 60, 63, 160, 184
as iconic climb, 216
Altig, Rudi, 108
Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), 23, 25, 26, 101, 156, 174, 246
amphetamines, see under doping
Anderson, Phil, 46, 137
in Tour 1994, 146
The Andrew Marr Show, 260
Andy (friend), 37–9
Anquetil, Jacques, 106
‘Judas’ accusation against, 54
in Tour 1958, 73–4
Arenberg forest, 257
Armstrong, Lance, 43, 81, 118, 123, 149–71, 173, 176–8 passim, 185, 224, 232
author’s conversations with, 152–5, 157–70, 189–92
bike shop of, 150
and cancer, 150, 152, 224
and chemotherapy, 150, 152
Cooke on, 213
crowds celebrate downfall of, 197
and Dauphiné, 62
and Ferrari, 188, 264
first Tour de France win of, 149
first Ventoux race of, 169
Froome compared with, 214, 221, 227, 228, 236
golf played by, 152
and Hamilton, 169–71, 187–90, 191
jeered, 187
last Ventoux race of, 190
lifetime ban on, 154
and long distance, 199
and Pantani, 34, 117, 120, 151, 152, 161, 162–5, 177
and Roi du Mont Ventoux film, see Roi du Mont Ventoux
and Sunday Times, 166
and therapy, 191
in Tour 1999, 171
in Tour 2000, 34, 113, 161–4, 177, 228, 236
in Tour 2002, 117
in Tour 2009, 154–5, 190–1, 277
in Tour 2010, 190
trophies of, 192
and Vaughters, 184
Walsh’s ‘Witchfinder’-like pursuit of, 197
and Wiggins, 190
and Winfrey, 158, 213
Armstrong, Max, 192
Aru, Fabio, 249–50
Aubisque, 121, 176
Baggio, Roberto, 144
Bahamontes, Federico, in Tour 1958, 74, 75
Ballester, Pierre, 224
Barry, Michael, 230, 231
Bartali, Gino
and climbs, 62
in Tour 1951, 57, 58
in Tour 1952, 66
as Tour ‘royal’, 58
Bassons, Christophe, 155, 224
Bataclan, 244
Bauvin, Gilbert, in Tour 1952, 65
Bay of Marseille, 20
BBC Sports Personality of the Year, 23, 108, 203
Beaucaire–Tarascon, 57
Beaumes-de-Venise, 89
to Valréas, 173
Beckett, Samuel, 86–7
Bédoin, 18–19, 25, 27, 28, 31, 82, 94, 141
becomes Tour’s second ascent, 60
and Cingles du Ventoux, 31
first road to summit from, 21
focal point for crowds, 28
Poli favours, 147
and Simpson, 33
to summit, thousands of spectators on, 73
and Tom Simpson randonnée, 41, 43
Bellier, Pierre, 16
Beloki, Joseba, 117
Benoît, Adolphe, 22
Benson, Daniel, 260
Bergaut, Louis, in Tour 1958, 75
Bergonzi, Pier, 164–5
Bernard, Jean-François ‘Jeff’, 46, 47, 48, 129, 140
enthusiastic hunter, 20
resignation of, 111
and Roi du Mont Ventoux film, see Roi du Mont Ventoux
in Tour 1986, 128
in Tour 1987, 20, 115, 127, 130–1
Bidot, Jean, in Tour 1951, 58
Bidot, Marcel, 66, 67, 73–4
Bingham, Andrew, 261
Bistrot de Lagarde d’Apt, 90
Blair, Tony, 32, 133–4
Blauvac, 82, 94
Blondin, Antoine, 121
BMC Racing team, 242, 244
Bobet, Jean, 15–16
memoir of, 54–5
Bobet, Louison ‘Zonzon’, 15, 29, 60
in brother’s memoir, 54–5
in Dauphiné 1955, 66
death of, 71
and doping, 71
Gaul’s resentment towards, 73
illness of, 66–7
‘Judas’ accusation against, 54
reputation of, for moods and anxiety, 59
in Tour 1951, 57, 58–9
in Tour 1953, 66
in Tour 1954, 66
in Tour 1955, 66–7, 69, 70–1
in Tour 1958, 71, 73–4
as Tour ‘royal’, 58
Boifava, Davide, 110, 116–17
Bontempi, Guidy, 47
Boom, Lars, 234, 241
Boonen, Tom, 241
Borg, OJ, 132–3
Born to Ride (Roche), 112
Botero, Santiago, 117
Bouches-du-Rhône, 83
Boulevard Albin Durand, 42
Bowie, David, 101
Brailsford, Dave, 64, 197, 198, 200, 211, 213, 214–18, 220–3, 230, 236, 237–40, 251, 259–60 (see also Team Sky)
and Campbell, 32
clarification questions sent to, 232–4
driven nature of, 214
and Maire, 232–3
and select committee, 261, 262–3, 264
Brailsford, John, 214–15, 216, 217
The Breakaway (Cooke), 201–2
Briançon, 59, 67
British Cycling, 204, 210, 213
Brive, 56
Brunel, Philippe, 193
Bruyneel, Johan, 167, 169, 178, 185, 188
BT, 245
Burtin, Alex, 69
Cabelle col, and Tom Simpson randonnée, 41
Café Vendran, 14
Calzati, Sylvain, 176
Campbell, Alastair, 31–2, 133–4, 221, 251, 252
Campbell, Rory, 32
Cannondale-Drapac team, 172
Caritoux, Éric, 16, 33, 84, 132–42
threats against, 138
Caritoux, Jean-Claude, 140
Caritoux, Kim, 141
Caritoux, Nathalie, 141
Carpentras, 32
and Tom Simpson randonnée, 41, 42, 45
Cavendish, Mark, 27, 203, 219
in Tour 2012, 65
Cazeneuve, Georges, 26
Cazeneuve, Thierry, 26
Chalet Liotard, 24, 58, 206
Chalet Reynard, 11, 12, 65, 103, 136, 160, 176, 227, 228, 240–1
finish line moves to, 246
to St Estève, 207
to Sault, 19, 241
Sault to, 42, 46
and Tom Simpson randonnée, 41, 42–3
Champ de Mars, 245
Champelle lavender farm, 19
Chany, Pierre, 279
Chapeau Rouge bakery, 91
Charlie Hebdo, 244
Château–Chinon, 98
Chez Camille, 132–3
Chiles, Adrian, 208
Christophe, Eugène, 141
Cinglés du Mont Ventoux, 31, 273
Cioni, Dario, 234
Cipollini, Mario, 148
in Tour 1994, 143
Circuit du Ventoux, 22
Cirque du Litor, 55
Clement, Pope, 32
The Climb (Froome), 220
Coe, Seb, 157
Cofidis scandal, 225
Col des Aires, 82
and GFNY, 35
Col d’Aubisque, 55
Col de la Croix de l’Homme Mort, 90
Col de Fontaube, 91
Col de l’Homme Mort, and GFNY, 35
Col de Macuègne, 82
and GFNY, 35
Col de la Madeleine, 33–4
Col du Négron, 90
Col de Perjuret, 75
Col de la Péronière, and GFNY, 35
Col des Tempêtes, 13, 33, 43, 198
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