Released with Zwift’s France map for the first-ever Virtual Tour de France, the “Ven-Top” route is named for the massive climb it contains: Mont Ventoux! This GPS-accurate model of the world-famous climb is by far the toughest ascent in game, climbing 1480 meters (4857′) from the beginning to end of the timed KOM segment.
Released with Zwift’s France map for the first-ever Virtual Tour de France, the “Ven-Top” route is named for the massive climb it contains: Mont Ventoux! This GPS-accurate model of the world-famous climb is by far the toughest ascent in game, climbing 1480 meters (4857′) from the beginning to end of the timed KOM segment.
Route Basics
Length: 20.9 km (13.0 miles)
Elevation: 1534 m (5,033‘)
Lead-In: 0 km ( miles)
Map: France
Start & Finish
Begins at start pens, ends atop Mont Ventoux at KOM arch
Achievement Badge: 420 XP
Sprint & KQOM Segments |
| Ventoux KOM (19km, 7.8%) |
Strava Segments
Ven-Top
Mont Ventoux KOM
Chalet Reynard KOM
Start Pens to Chalet Reynard
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!
The route begins at the start pens heading east (away from the marina) and immediately onto a false flat. Enjoy it while you can: it’s only going to get steeper! The timed KOM begins approximately 1.8km after the start. From here you have 19km and 1480m to the top of Mont Ventoux, or you can target the first KOM arch at Chalet Reynard which is 13km and 1058m from the KOM start line. (For comparison, the Chalet Reynard KOM line makes this climb very similar to Alpe du Zwift, which is 12.2km long with 1035m of elevation gain.)
When you pass the Didi balloon (not always visible) and see pitchforks on the pavement, you know you’re getting close to Chalet Reynard. Keep pushing for another 500 meters to that KOM banner. Then you have a decision to make: do you have what it takes to push for another 6km and 400+ meters to the top? (Of course you do! You’ve made it this far. Keep going!)
Notice how the landscape and foliage changes as you climb, beginning with rolling hills and pastures, morphing into a landscape strewn with giant boulders and pine trees, and eventually changing to the famous “moonscape” of Mont Ventoux’s upper reaches. Be happy you’re indoors – it gets windy outside!
You’ll pass Tom Simpson’s memorial with 1km to go. Almost there! When you reach the weather station atop Mont Ventoux, you’ve completed the Ven-Top route. But keep riding on the flat loop to turn around, then enjoy the long descent – you’ve earned it!
I will bet somebody is already planning 6 trips up to VEverest Ventoux.
Busted 🤣🤣
Sick puppy. Good luck!!!
Raises hand with knowing nod.
PS. According to the screenshot at https://www.strava.com/activities/3689917533#2712783912399971003 this route is 420XP, rather than 400XP.
I got 420 XP when I completed the route and not 400. I have uploaded a screenshot to my Strava ride.
Hod did you get access?
On ZwiftHub it’s listed as 420 XP
Chuck Norris reading this laughs and says, “Just a long false flat. Easy peasy.”
Is the Tom Simpson memorial included?
Sure is 😀 Got a pic of it yesterday
How have you done this, I though it was not available to ride? Am I missing something?
They “hacked in”. Something with writing “France” into the code. https://www.strava.com/segments/24682578?filter=overall
Does Zwift have segments on the left like the Alpe hairpin segments that you can use for pacing?
Nope.
Is there a way to dismount your bike and run on foot, a la Chris Froome?
You could buy a treadmill and change halfway🤣🤣
Can hardly wait to tackle this climb
Why’s the KOM banner 70% of the way up? I don’t get that. Surely it’s not that way in the TdF?
There are two KOM arches. Chalet Reynard, which the pros are racing to, is partway up. They’re using this to keep the race under an hour.
Then the actual timed KOM segment goes all the way to the top, to the second arch. I believe that’s what Zwifters are riding for L’Etape du Tour.
So it’s available now? For all levels?
And when will it shut?
Have done Mont Ventoux on RGT several times, which does not have the option to change trainer resistance. Which makes it a tough but realistic climb. Zwift’s ability to change restistance may make it more doable but not as realistic. Looking forward to setting it at 100% and comparing the Two.
You can change trainer difficulty on RGT, it’s called trainer feedback intensity but I can’t remember how to get to it in the menus, I did find it once.
You go on the ride and click the controllable tab at the far right, then the trainer with gradient that you are using will appear, along with a sliding bar
You can change the resistance in RGT and it works in exactly the same way as Zwift – the difference is the default in RGT is 100% (And the rolling resistance is more accurate in RGT). Both Apps appropriately reduce your speed to compensate for the advantage of reducing the slope.
I’m looking forward to doing it in Zwift to add to the Virtual Ventoux collection I now have – RGT, FulGaz, Rouvy, and VeloReality.
Trainer resistance is just like having different gearing. Is the real climb less realistic, if you use 34/32 than, if you use 39/25?
Gearing can be changed, trainer resistance can be changed…
Good point. Next time I climb Ventoux IRL I will put the cassette on that makes it feel flat.
It’s the same old discussion but not totally true. On light slopes probably you just adjust the gearing and there is no notable difference in how you would ride at 50 or 100%. However, not many bikes have a gearing that allows you to knock out a 85 cadence up a 20% slope for several kilometres at a moderate wattage, so the fatigue load on the legs grinding it out is not the same as on the flat…try riding up a mountain on a Singlespeed to see why it matters! 200w is 200w though..it is not cheating on power as… Read more »
You can’t compare the two. Zwift tackle Ventoux from Bédoin, but RGT goes up from Malaucène. The route on Rouvy goes from Sault so if you do all three in the same day you be eligible for the prestigeous Club des Cinglés
I’ve installed RGT yesterday and rode the Mt. Ventoux route. Today I did the Zwift Ven-Top. The RGT ride was a walk in the park compared to Zwift. But like Swindonlan said, the apps tackle the mountain from different sides. RGT felt like the trainer difficulty was set real low but I triple-checked and it was at 100%.
Does anyone have any tips on riding in a group on such an event?
One thing is that the draft will not be very effective at all
Can’t wait to give it a try 😀
Can’t wait to ride it.
Does this link on to the rest of the France map? Can’t see where it connects, unless there is a road that isn’t part of any of the announced routes.
I now see it, the route La Reine links the main France section to part way up Ventoux, while Ven-top doesn’t include the linking bit.
I suppose “Le Roi” would be the rebel route from the start of La Reine all the way to the summit.
Or maybe “l’impératrice” would be better!
(Apologies to any french speakers if Google translate is mangling language)
I dont understand how some people are already able to ride these? I cannot find the routes in the Zwift App (Under Group Event).
It must have been a restricted preview event.
Correction: it seems the usual route hack works.
How do you do the route hack?
Read the last comments at https://zwiftinsider.com/world-tag/
(it seems to work on Windows computers, not macOS or iOS).
Is there already a way we can ride this route?
Going to the Mont Ventoux in a few weeks, this would be a great exercise moment!
En hoe was de echte ervaring in vergelijking met de virtuele? 😉
I love climbing, i love climbing, I love climbing…that is what i csay to myself as i do these climbs in Zwift.
I don’t understand why the Ventoux climb on Zwift is located in New Caledonia and not on its original place (or at least at few km not to have a confusion with the real one on Strava segment) ???
I assume it is because it links to the rest of the France world, which is not a set of specific roads in France itself but designed to replicate the terrain and scenery of different parts of the country and therefore, like Watopia, is located on a Pacific island.
Zwift’s Ventoux is in New Caledonia, like Zwift’s Alpe d’Huez is in Teanu.
I don’t understand that either. The Bologna TT on Zwift is located in Bologna, so placing the Ventoux in France (while marking it as “virtual”) should have been possible.
just finished ventoux, soul destroying.. 😫 ill stick to the alp
How did you ride it? I can’t get the usual Zwift Hack to work.
Check out the comments on the zwiftinsider hack guide, i used simons simple solution.
Looks like our first shot at Ven-Top is the 17th of July at 10pm PDT. There’s a series of 16 more L-Etape events for Ven-Top going on for the next two day after that.
what date will France be available to the general public?
Did it yesterday with the known route hack … and it’s a brutal climb!
Yesterday the Strava segment showed that 25 persons already did an attempt … I was one of them on position 24 😀
position 27 for me! 😛
IRL there’s three roads up Ventoux.. waiting for that
Only 420 points for the route badge?!? That’s the lowest ratio of XP to VVOM yet!
They are not giving out badges yet until this weekend. I just rode the route yesterday via TDF Event stage 3 hack. Crazy long climb took me 1.5hrs to complete the segment at 2.5-3 w/kg
Just did it as part of a zwift event. No badge. Wouldn’t recommend doing it as a zwift event.
I can only hope that it is easier than the real thing. Because having done the real climb I know it is torturous!
Absolutely gutted I didn’t get the Ven-Top route ticked off, did the La Reine route stage 5 TDF, carried on beyond the KOM arch expecting, something …?so,I carried on to the very top to descend back down after the loop…still nothing. Now I’ve just seen the thread re:where Ven-Top starts, very annoying La Reine exceeded that lead up to the foot of the climb yet didn’t get acknowledged, only by my chaffed butt cheeks!
I think that was the hardest thing I ever did on a bike …
can we expect as for alpe du zwift an article on how long it takes for the climb of Ver-top based on watt per kilos? is it too early and we need more rides in for a strong R2 corelation?
Great climb, but a shame it’s not linked to France, so we could do a warmup first.
What do you mean? It’s linked to the rest of the France map… you just need to do a little manual navigation if you want to warm up before hitting the big climb.
Is Ventoux available this Friday 4th of September?
The description mentions the Didi balloons and the pitchforks. Unfortunately they aren’t ar Chalet Reynard any longer, and presumably were only there during the vTdF (shame).
Why don’t they just call these climbs what they are? Why Ven Top versus Mount Ventoux?
I DO know that Zwift has hesitated to refer to their virtual Ventoux as “Ventoux”. I’m not sure why. Perhaps for the same reason they call it “Alpe du Zwift” – it would seem ZHQ don’t want to say it’s equivalent to the “real thing”, but they want to relate the two.
Or it’s an IP/trademark thing? Like Champagne is trademarked/protected for ‘sparkling wine’ made in the Champagne region in France.
Rode a Zwift Academy race La Reine yesterday, after completing I went on to complete the climb up Ventoux. Was disappointed to learn there is no segment for this route!!! Odd as most Zwift routes contain dozens of segments, most nonsensical. The new courses in France are spectacular BTW
The La Reine route ends at the lodge, partway up the climb. So that’s what our segment covers.
I am trying to get the elevation for this ride as it shows up on zwift but not on strava. How can I download the file with the elevation to load onto strava? https://zwift.com/activity/674162181805582688?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=zwift_nam_us_cycling_search_brandcoreex_performance_eng-imprshare-20&gclid=CjwKCAiAnIT9BRAmEiwANaoE1e3dA06cwKrpOAnhox_aMqtjKcq7mjNsjIV8oR_BBMC8H32ch-kBoxoC7iIQAvD_BwE
Is there a taco truck on the summit like there is on Alpe du Zwift?
On the list of to do’s
I completed TDZ long stage today and carried on to the top of Ven top and back down again, but no route badge. Amy idea why?
Because the event was on the La Reine route, not the Ven-Top route. You only get a badge if you pick the Ven-Top route (or do an event set on that route) then finish it. Freely navigating a route doesn’t earn you the badge.
That was a picture I pasted into the post. Can’t figure out how to edit it out. Still Segment was or is flagged as dangerous. https://www.strava.com/segments/24682698?filter=overall
Seems that Ven-top as an event doesn’t start at the bottom but part way up, so completing the event doesn’t get the route badge.
Oh my! I was going to set up an event for tomorrow. Def won’t do that now – you saved me! Thanks!
What makes you say that? This hasn’t been my experience.
I just did this and my avatar was placed .4 miles and about 300ft ahead of the “start” so when I climbed up, I didn’t get the badge. Second time this has happened 😤
No – I’m talking rubbish. I must have had a network drop-out when I did it and failed to get the route badge. Sent my partner on Ven-top event and she got the badge just fine. Using ethernet rather than WiFi now.
Waited all week to ride Ven Top,now its been swapped for the new Makuri. Why ?.It was on the calandar for Friday and Saturday.
I just did this and my avatar got placed just before the “route start” to get the badge. At the top I was at 11.4 miles and around 4,700 ft climbed and didn’t get the badge. Pretty frustrating!
In game, it looks like there is a railway to go up at about 500m mark, but I cannot find it in the real place. I am asking just in case I get over there for business or whatever, I’d want to go up and see the course for real. But that train thing is just placed there. In Innsbruck, the cable tram does exist as in the game.
How can this be only 420XP and Climber’s Gambit 600XP???
It’s just 21 km… 🙂 Badge achievement only doubles xps.
“Looking to get your fastest time up this massive climb? The Specialized Tarmac Pro frame with Lightweight Meilenstein wheels is your best bet!”
Not any longer of course… Now it’s the Aethos with Meilenstein wheels (or Alpinist)
Hello – I would like to ride this course bur can’t find in on Zwift… can someone tell me how to find it please?many thanks
If France is one of the guest worlds you can select it before starting your activity. If it is not a guest world you can create a meetup or join an event on that route
thx!
Do you have to do that via Zwift Companion?
Oh sod, I thought it started after the road join at 3km. Just did it this eve from that other side and was disappointed not to get a segment. Long session, no let up.
And yet again the KOM nor badge not included in Tour de Zwift 2023. So to claim it, you’ll need to ride it again.
TdZ route clearly marked as La Reine so why would you expect to be awarded the Ven Top KOM if you didn’t ride the Ven Top segment?