(Originally published in the Sacramento Bee/Portland Oregonian, July 22, 2009)

AUBENAS, France — It's too bad Alberto Contador leads the Tour de France by more than four minutes. The 20th stage of the race's 96th edition Saturday really could have been something. Now, it will only be epic.

The next-to-last day of this year's race, now three weeks old, will take riders 167 kilometers (103.7 miles) from Montelimar to Mont Ventoux. The day will feature five categorized climbs, but it's the final ascent that will cause the most problems.

For the first time in modern race history, organizers placed a mountaintop finish one day before the race's conclusion end. And this instance, it will be the most notorious mountain in race history.

Race organizers had hoped the overall race would be determined on the final climb before the field rides into Paris. But with Contador, the pencil-thin Spaniard holding a 4:11 lead over Andy Schleck (Saxo-Bank) of Luxembourg and a 5:21 margin over his Astana teammate Lance Armstrong, the anticipated confrontation is unlikely.

Mont Ventoux, known as the Bald Mountain or Tour of the Moon because of its barren landscape, is the final of the race's hree beyond categorized climbs. It concludes with a 21.6 kilometer (13.4 mile) climb with an average grade of 7.6 percent.

Riders have suffered terribly on Mont Ventoux and even died. It's barren landscape is unique in France because vegetation can't survive in its often brutal winds. In early Tour de France editions, before team cars and hydration systems, dehydration was a common malady.

British cyclist Tom Simpson, world titlist and Olympian, perished while climbing near the summit and a shrine rests where he collapsed on July 13, 1967. Simpson isn't the only cyclist who has died in the Tour de France, but more than four decades after his passing his legacy combines the tortuous nature of the mountain and the reverence for a cyclist universally respect.

So many flowers, trinkets, handwritten notes and other remembrances are left by cyclists and other passersby, the area around the shrine requires periodic cleaning. Two years ago, one of Simpson's two daughters, a
recreational cyclist, trained and completed the ride her father couldn't.

Simpson's life and his ultimate demise has fascinated British amateur filmmaker Ray Pascoe since he first met Simpson in a London cafe nearly 50 years ago.

Pascoe, a photojournalist attending this year' s Tour de France, has made the only two documentaries about Simpson, “Something To Aim At,” (2007) and “The World of Tommy Simpson.” (2008).

“It was a bit of hero worship, I suppose,” said Pascoe, 67. “A lot of guys from England tried to go to Belgium in the 1960s and get a professional contract and not many of them made it. But he made it, and he made it big.”

Although the mountain has been part of the Tour de France 13 times, it's only been a stage finish seven in race history, twice during Lance Armstrong's seven-year Tour de France title reign.

In 2000, Armstrong, en route to his second title, eased near the finish allowing the popular Italian rider Marco Pantani to win the stage. At a press conference following the stage, two riders exchanged words.

Pantani, who died of a drug overdose in a hotel room in 2004, won Tour of Italy and Tour de France in the 1988, and is the last rider to accomplish the rare double victory.

“I don't need a gift from Lance Armstrong's to win the Ventoux,” Pantani said a few hours after the stage.

Armstrong, who didn't need the stage victory to win the Tour de France, followed cycling etiquette to give it to fellow rider with whom he climbed the final stretches, was insulted.

Pantani, a small rider who often wore a bandana to cover his bald head and large ears, liked to be called “Il Pirata” The Pirate. Armstrong called him “Elephantino” (Little Elephant) throughout the press conference.

Beyond the Armstrong-Pantani banter, Mont Ventoux's place in the Tour de France dates to 1951 when Louison Bobet climbed the moutain en route to winning a stage from Montpellier to Avignon. Fausto Coppi, Charly Gaul, Raymond Poulidor, Eddy Merckx, Miguel Indurain and Richard Virenque have all won Mont Ventoux stages.

Armstrong has often talked of Mont Ventoux as a stage he regrets not winning. But whether he will try Saturday or whether Contador or will again ride to another stage win, is unknown.

What is known is that the riders who find their way to the top of the mountain unscathed will Sunday also likely find their way to Paris.