“Outside category” – Tuesday, the 16th stage of the Tour de France arrives at the top of Mont Ventoux. The half-marathon of the Provence giant was held a fortnight. So is it by bike or on foot that the ascent is the most difficult?
A thousand six hundred meters of elevation to swallow, including “15.7 km with 8.7 % average slope”, announces Christian Prudhomme. Here is what awaits the runners of the Tour de France this Tuesday for the 16th stage between Montpellier and the summit of Mont Ventoux, where previously Bobet, Merckx, Pantani or Virenque raised their arms by winner. Fifteen days ago, 1,600 participants in the half-marathon in the same Mont Ventoux, the most difficult in Europe, on the climbing road to the weather station in Provence, at an altitude of 1,910 m.
Among them, Grégory Pucheu completed the 21.6 km 100 % up in 2h27. This Vauclusian had already mounted the slopes of the Ventoux by bicycle a dozen times, but it was his first while running. The opportunity to ask him what ascent is the most difficult? “The difference between the two is by running, we can alternate walking and running. By bike, we advance, we advance. In both cases, it remains a difficult ascent where there is no respite. »»
Arrived at the top “tightening your teeth, in mind”
But then, which one is really the most difficult? “By bike, it’s more fun. We go out with colleagues, we take the wheel of one, we encourage each other. And he concludes: “It’s a little easier by bike. “For the half-marathon, he admits that” it was hard, very very hard “, that he finished” tightening his teeth, in the mind “, embarrassed in particular by cramps that were pointing and an adductor who whistled since the 10th kilometer.
Unlikely that Tadej Pogacar or Jonas Vingegaard feel these ailments on the slopes of the Ventoux, but we take the bet that their face will be marked at the end of the effort (…)
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