on ventoux

tour de france stage 11

I’m in the backseat of a too-swerving car all slowed up now because the Provençal roads are crowded with people. Some of them are drunk, shirtless. Some of them are on bikes, increasingly more of them as the road inches upward. Taut cypresses sprout exclamation points from the ground, punctuating each winding curve that soon cinches into a tight switchb…