“La Reine” Route Details (France)
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: 22.4 km (13.9 miles)
Elevation: 1201m (3,940‘)
+0.4km (0.2 miles) lead-in
Map: France
ZIMetricsBETA
Rating: 26.7/100 🛈
Time Estimates 🛈
2 W/kg: 120 minutes
3 W/kg: 84 minutes
4 W/kg: 67 minutes
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.)