Tadej Pogačar just set a new fastest time up Mont Ventoux during stage 16 of the Tour de France

Tadej Pogačar set a new fastest time up Mont Ventoux on stage 16 of the Tour de France yesterday. 

Nicknamed the ‘Giant of Provence’, thanks to how it rises from the flat surrounding landscape and is visible from over 100km away, Mont Ventoux is one of the most formidable climbs in cycling history. In total, the climb to the summit is 20.74km in length and has an average gradient of 8.31 per cent – although there are ramps of 11 per cent. 

According to his Strava upload, Pogačar completed the climb in 53 minutes and 47 seconds at an average speed of 23.1kph, taking the KOM in the process.

Beating his own record 

The Slovenian already held the Strava record after the Tour de France ascended Mont Ventoux in 2021. But yesterday’s stage saw him shave just over 5 minutes off his previous record. 

Although besting himself by such a time margin is a remarkable feat, it makes sense when you consider what led up to each attempt. 

At the 2021 Tour de France, the peloton climbed the mountain twice on a 198km parcours that had over 4,500m of climbing. On yesterday’s stage, it came at the end of a relatively flat day, which was certain to lead to an explosive pace up the mountain’s slopes. It was also the first time the Tour de France has finished on Mont Ventoux since 2013.

Yesterday seemed like a prime opportunity for Pogačar to bag another Tour de France stage win. But, surprisingly, Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates – XRG appeared to let the breakaway go. 

The break had more than six minutes on the peloton as it hit the first slopes of Mont Ventoux, but paced by Visma–Lease a Bike, that gap began to drop. 

In the final few kilometres of the stage, it looked as if the Pogačar and Vingegaard duet we’ve become accustomed to seeing battle it out on Le Tour’s mountains may in fact close the gap. But the break managed to hold. EF Education–EasyPost’s Ben Healy opened the sprint around the final bend, but he was pipped to the line by Soudal QuickStep’s Valentin Paret-Peintre. 

Pogačar wasn’t the only pro to fly up Ventoux. Britain’s Oscar Onley set a time of 55 minutes and 32 seconds, averaging 22.4kph. 

This keeps the 22-year-old in fourth place in the GC and second in the young rider competition. But his gap to Florian Lipowitz, the competition leader and third in the GC, increased from 1 minute and 25 seconds to 2 minutes and 1 second after yesterday’s stage. 

A lightweight aero bike 

Pogačar had a special version of his Colango Y1Rs aero bike for yesterday’s stage, with a lightweight raw carbon finish. 

While his Colnago V5Rs might seem a more obvious choice for a big mountain, UAE Team Emirates XRG said the aero bike, with its lack of paint, is only marginally heavier than the climbing bike. 

Colnago said aerodynamics outweigh small weight savings: “Wind-tunnel testing reveals that the Y1Rs utilizes new 8:1 tube-depth rules, saving approximately 20–25 W at 50 km/h, which exceeds the approximately 150–200 g weight difference between the Y1Rs and the V5Rs.”

“Pre-stage modeling shows that aero bikes retain decisive seconds even on gradients of up to 10 per cent,” Colnago added. 

Over double the speed of amateurs 

The average time amateurs take to climb the Giant of Provence puts Pogačar’s record of just under 54 minutes firmly into perspective. 

Strava says it takes amateurs an average of 2 hours and 3 minutes to climb Mont Ventoux, which means Pogačar climbed it at over double the speed of regular folk. 

However, the cycling app also says the average time for pros is 1 hour and 23 minutes. But that will be due to much of the peloton just trying to survive the mountains to make it to Paris.