The stele dedicated to Tom Simpson is located 1.5 km from the summit of Ventoux, where the convict of the road, victim on July 13, 1967 of the slope and amphetamines, felt he was falling to death. The 29-year-old British cyclist, victim of a cardiac collapse during the ascent of the Bald Mountain, will die in Avignon hospital (Vaucluse). For the 30th anniversary of his death, in 1997, a copper plate was riveted to the gray marble of the stele by his daughters Jane and Joanne Simpson: “There is no mountain too high” (“No mountain is too high”).
The place, this Wednesday July 7 in the early morning, by 13 ° C above the clouds, looks like the vestibule of paradise for Didier, 55 years old. It took two and a half hours from the village of Bédoin, on a steel Colnago, to reach the top: “My first ascent when I live 30 km away! “, he said, his legs paralyzed by the effort.
At 7:30 a.m., a few dozen pedestrians in prayer beads climbed to the summit, including two young men of 21, Clément and Julien, who left Montpellier at 3 a.m. by car and whom a good soul left in front of the stele of Simpson. This is a bit like that of the leader of the Doors, Jim Morisson, at the Père-Lachaise cemetery, in Paris.
This year, fashion will be in the can
The objects deposited, cyclists’ votive offerings, say that in eternity we always need a canister or an emergency hose. Even a cap. All that remains is the blue visor of that of the Italian team Lampre Daikin, the flagship formation of the 2000s, which successive winters have gradually destroyed, leaving only an elastic band eaten by time.
In summer, the trend is for caps. This year, fashion will be in the can. This morning, however, a cap was put on. This stone desert is useful so that it does not fly away because the mistral had to rise from 1 to 2 p.m.
A pair of glasses with an illegible mark. An aluminum bottle cage. Twelve cans with pebbles in it. But no gloves. A packet of Kleenex. The inevitable Breton flag. A polished pebble with engraved on it: “For All the Fighters” (“For all combatants”). Another pebble: “Here Ruud, the first Dutch devil, made his 10e ascent of Mont Ventoux for its fiftieth anniversary. “
Another marble slab: “In memory of Tom Simpson, the Racoones of Somain”. The Dirson marble factory produced this work for the northern cycling club. A green Skoda can, still full of brown liquid. Snow washed business cards. An energy bar. The purple jersey of a deceased young cyclist, Nicolas Adam Clay (1998-2021), from “From mom, dad and Charlotte”.
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