This cycling trips combines the best cycling routes in Provence, with the low Alpilles mountains, made famous by the brushstroke of Vincent van Gogh, and the Luberon mountain range with its beautiful perched, medieval villages and lavender fields. Then comes the Mont Ventoux climb, the renowned stage of the Tour de France cycling race. From Bedoin, the summit is a 1.5km high, with an average gradient of 7.5%. The ascent of the Mont Ventoux is a bucket list challenge for all cycling enthousiasts!
Your biking adventure begins in the heart of Arles, the Provence "Rome". Take the time to discover the roman town of Arles, gateway to the Camargue, a lively town whose streets are set around a 2000 year-old Roman coliseum.
Meals included : none
Night : Arles
Market on Wednesday & saturday (big one) morning in Arles
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contact@intura-travel.com
Leaving Arles, you head northward, passing the very spot where Van Gogh painted his "Starry Night over the Rhône". You are riding towards a first chain of mountains - Les Alpilles - a jagged limestone massif heading east-west. Cycling up into the heart of the mountains, you reach the perched medieval village of Les Baux de Provence, hanging defiantly on its rocky crag, overlooking its prized olive groves. A freewheling descent takes you down the north face of the Alpilles and to the artists' village of St. Rémy. Van Gogh spent the last year of his life here, from where he did his most prolific and acclaimed work. Heading eastward you then cross the Durance Valley. You follow small country lanes across the fertile plains, lined with fruit orchards, to reach the town of l'Isle sur la Sorgue.
Today's loop ride takes you to the most beautiful of the region's perched villages! And they call them the "perched" villages of Provence for a reason: high above the plains, and sometimes set dizzyingly above the rock upon which they were built, the high vantage-points offered better protection from enemies. With each climb under your belt the beauty of each village is unveiled: Gordes and its rings of homes sweeping upwards towards its castle, Roussillon and its village homes painted in a palette of colour from pale yellow to deep red, Bonnieux and its labyrinth of winding streets to its Romanesque church and majestic cedars, and the village of Lacoste, crowned by the ruins of Sade's castle.
On most trips, we simply follow the arc of Ventoux's plains towards Bedoin. But that's not enough of a challenge: in the sleepy village of Méthamis, you take a seldom-used road winding eastward and upward, gaining 500m in elevation to the St. Hubert farm. With an overhead view of the vast lavender fields, you reach the village of Monieux. Then the real fun begins: arguably the most spectacular cycling road Provence has to offer: les Gorges de La Nesque. Set above a spectacular canyon, a winding 20km descent twists through limestone arches, at times the gradient barely discernible if not for your roaring speeds. Exhilarating!
No beating around the bush. You're currently at an altitude of 300 metres, and the the summit soars 1.5km higher in the sky. From Mediterranean brush to a moonscape above the tree line, with an average gradient of 7.5%, and without a single moment of reprieve : you're facing 22km of pure uphill. Often touted as the hardest climb in France, Ventoux is a true test for your climbing legs, attracting amateur cyclists from all over the world. The first 5km are the easiest, a gradual uphill through the orchards and vines, passing the hamlet of Sainte Colombe. But then as you climb through the oak, cedar and then beech forests the slopes are at their most severe. By the time you reach the Chalet Reynard, with only 6km left to go, the gradient is more forgiving, but through a bare rock whose landscapes are often fiercely swept by the Mistral. The final hairpin turn towards the summit stands before you like a wall, but with the goal in view you find the energy to surge over the top... There are several options to return to Bedoin, but it's all downhill from here. 