Arnaud Gérard: "Mont Ventoux, a test for Alessandro Verre"
For the 2022 edition of the Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge, which will once again feature two climbs of the “Mont Chauve”, the Arkéa-Samsic team will be hiring a concentration of climbers.
Pre-race
“I have never competed in the Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge, but I know the two climbs of Mont Chauve that will be proposed to us because I have already climbed them in training. The first one, all things considered, will be less demanding than the second. We will climb Sault. It will be long up to Chalet Reynard with slopes averaging between 4 and 6%, then we’ll take the road up to the observatory, which is harder, clearer and therefore subject to the vagaries of wind and heat. This climb is “less hard” than the one via Bedoin. The Ventoux is a mythical pass, which arouses a small feeling of fear, the first part is wooded and then the final part is open, the overall time of effort is about one hour. This one day event is unique with this double climb, it could be the queen stage of a Grand-Tour or a UCI World-Tour of one week, so we will have to have good legs that day and be in a very big day in order to hope to do great things”.
The briefing
“The Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge is a rare race in the calendar, as it is aimed at pure climbers. It is of course an extremely difficult event with two climbs of this legendary Provencal pass. Our objective will be to do great things with our climbers: Michel Ries, Nicolas Edet and Alessandro Verre for whom this race will be a test for his young age. We hope that our riders will have a very good race and that they will be able to get a very good result against a great adversity”.