Released with Zwift’s France map for the first-ever Virtual Tour de France, La Reine (translated “The Queen”) was the Queen Stage of the vTDF, taking riders partway up Mount Ventoux to the Chalet Reynard banner.
This route began as an event-only route, but became an open route in the December 2022 update.
La Reine is an alternative way to ride Mount Ventoux, but be warned: it bypasses the Mount Ventoux KOM start line, so if you choose to ride all the way to the top, you won’t be listed on the leaderboard or Strava segments for the main Ventoux climb! If you want to ride the KOM start to finish, select the Ven-Top route.
Released with Zwift’s France map for the first-ever Virtual Tour de France, La Reine (translated “The Queen”) was the Queen Stage of the vTDF, taking riders partway up Mount Ventoux to the Chalet Reynard banner.
This route began as an event-only route, but became an open route in the December 2022 update.
La Reine is an alternative way to ride Mount Ventoux, but be warned: it bypasses the Mount Ventoux KOM start line, so if you choose to ride all the way to the top, you won’t be listed on the leaderboard or Strava segments for the main Ventoux climb! If you want to ride the KOM start to finish, select the Ven-Top route.
Route Basics
Length: 22.8 km (14.2 miles)
Elevation: 1181 m (3,875‘)
Lead-In: 0 km ( miles)
Map: France
Start & Finish
Begins just after the start pens, ends at Chalet-Reynard KOM banner partway up Ventoux.
Achievement Badge: 460 XP
Sprint & KQOM Segments |
Ballon Sprint (0.21km, 0%) |
Petit KOM (2.7km, 3.9%) |
Strava Segments
Bike Selection
Looking to get your fastest time up this climb? Use the lightest frame and wheelset you’ve got. Read “Fastest Climbing Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level” for details.
Route Description

Route profile by ZwiftHub – the place to plan and track your route achievements!
We begin by traveling west from the start pens, then taking the first right to ride along the twisty river road (we call it les intestins) toward the hot air balloon fields and Ballon sprint.
Enjoy your 8km of flat warmup, because you’ll soon turn right and begin the Petit KOM climb – and your climbing won’t end until you reach the KOM banner at Chalet Reynard over 14km (and 1100 meters) later!
The climb up to Chalet Reynard is beautiful, with the landscape morphing from lowland rolling hills to granite-strewn pine forests. When you see the banner at Chalet Reynard it’s time to push it to the line!
Keep Going?
For those unfamiliar with Mount Ventoux’s layout, Chalet Reynard is located partway up the climb, 6km before the very top of Mount Ventoux. You can continue riding after finishing the La Reine route, climbing for another 6km to the summit.
A bit of TDF History
In 2016, Tour organizers cut the Mont Ventoux stage short due to high winds, deciding to end it at Chalet Reynard. Race leader Chris Froome crashed into a stopped moto and famously elected to run his way across the final ~1km since he couldn’t ride his broken bike! (He was eventually given a neutral service bike.)
If you ride to the top from La Reine, do you get the Ven Top route badge?
Nope.
Is U-Turn enabled once a rider completes the 22.8 km and 1181 m? I need some sort of reward motivation for this. With AdZ, there are bonus exp points or those fancy wheels. Then I put the fans on high and get the virtual decent. (Who am I kidding, they are on high the whole time!)
I was able to U-Turn on the companion app after crossing the banner today. Enjoyed the nearly 15 kilometers of descent.
I love it how they made the most useful route in France event-only. Who wants to do a lead-in before long climbs right?
If you don’t want a lead-in, Ven-Top is more your thing and isn’t event-only. You basically start climbing from the first pedal stroke on Ven-Top instead of doing a flat section to get to the Petit KOM like you do in La Reine.
CAN i finish thé ben Top agiter thé race ?
Sorry
CAN i finish the ven top after the race
Yes, you can keep going to the top. You won’t get the Ven-Top route badge for it though.
Will you get extra XP if you complete La Reine?
No, since it’s an event-only route.
La Reine is no longer event only (as of latest game version 1.32). You get a badge and XPs. Currently not specified, bonus XPs are usually the equivalent of the distance covered, so you’ll likely get 440 XPs for the distance, and 440XP bonus .
How long does it take to complete this route at 3.5 w/kg on the climb?
I’d estimate around 70mins, AdZ is about an hour at 3.5 and this is a little more.
If you look on ZwiftPower and sort the finishers from today’s ride by w/kg you’ll get a good idea, but I don’t think the first group has finished yet.
Bear in mind that ZP isn’t good when there’s multiple routes for a ride, be sure to look at riders doing the A cat event.
Excellent. Thank you.
How long would you estimate this route taking as a steady training ride at 2w/kg?//kg
80 mins
What happens when you do 2 laps of La Reine, will you get teleported to the start or something?
Just completed this route as part of Ryzon Days of Dedication. I’d love to see how I stack up against other riders, however, Strava removed all but ZwiftInsiderVerified segments a couple of days ago (a move I fully support as there were so many silly segments). I wonder though, could you (I mean you Eric) create a couple of segments for the run in an the climb?.
I’m crossing my fingers 🙂
Now this has become a regular, selectable route you need to create a suitable Strava Segment for it as you do not pass the start line of your current segment as you don’t start near the start pen.
Thanks for any help.
I just finised the Zwift route called La Reine with the goal of doing the strava segment called
La Reine from start pens.
https://strava.app.link/Z4LfxNFL5vb
I finished the route but no recognition from strava. I think i understand why from reading comments.
What zwift route must I do to include this strava segment of 14.2mi.
Thanks!
Barry
I did the route (including badge) en went on to the top but Strava and veloviewer didnt recognize the route nor the Ventoux KOM?
Bekijk mijn activiteit op Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8294336816/shareable_images/image?token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ1cmwiOm51bGwsInR5cGUiOiJtYXAiLCJ0b2tlbiI6ImYxM2EwYjIwMGJiMzU1Yzg3MDk4YjBjMWFmYjBkNmUzN2RlNmQ5YzQiLCJ3aWR0aCI6MTA4MCwiaGVpZ2h0IjoyMTYyLCJpbWFnZV93aWR0aCI6bnVsbCwiaW1hZ2VfaGVpZ2h0IjpudWxsLCJ1bmlxdWVfaWQiOm51bGwsInN0YXRpY192aWRlb191cmwiOm51bGwsImR1cmF0aW9uIjpudWxsfQ.tO_6O70U-xT4_Q5C2yZOCQ37lKDW3cPuzwHDDo11dJc&hl=nl-NL&utm_source=com.strava&utm_medium=referral
Hey @Eric Schlange, any chance you could create a segment for the La Reine route, and maybe we can then ask VeloViewer to switch to using that for the Leaderboard? As of now, there’s no way to complete all the routes on the Leaderboard as no-one’s using the La Reine race route for races!!
Actually, better solution would be changing the segment that VV Leaderboard uses to the current (non start pens) route.
Avevo il badge della REINE ma scomparso.Perchè?
The route details on your page are immensely helpful. Wonder if it might be possible for lead-in from pens to be shown on the maps as well?
Which bike is the best for this course? Specialized Tarmac Pro with Lightweight Meilenstein ???
The best bike and wheel combo is actually the Specialized Aethos bike and Roval Alpinist CLX wheels.