2013 · Documentary · ★ 7.4

Le Roi du Mont Ventoux

At the top of Mont Ventoux hangs a huge poster with the names of all the cyclists who won Tour de France stages to the summit of this legendary “Giant of Provence”. But which one of these winners is the greatest climber of them all? The documentary feature The King of Mont Ventoux puts five cycling heroes against each other in an unprecedented virtual race beyond the bounds of time: Belgian ‘Cannibal’ Eddy Merckx (1970), Frenchmen ‘Jeff’ Bernard (1987) and Richard ‘the Lionheart’ Virenque (2002), the Italian ‘Pirate’ Marco Pantani (2000) and Spanish climber ‘Juanma’ Gárate (2009). Starting together at the foot of the giant, they battle it out over the 21-km ascent along a winding forest road to the lunar-like summit of the ‘Bald Mountain’; a gruelling one-hour test of endurance and strength. The first to reach the summit is crowned King of Mont Ventoux.