I had it marked in my diary, the date that the Tour de France & Etape routes would be announced. And either I was misinformed, or I made the old “hands like feet” clerical error, but heading off to the appropriate websites this morning, I found I was a bit late.

So for those of you who still don’t know, the Etape is scheduled for 20 July 2009. The day starts in Montélimar and concludes atop the infamous Mont Ventoux, 172km and five climbs later.

Mont Ventoux has a place in cycling’s history, albeit a tragic and a controversial one.

On Friday 13 July 1967, Tom Simpson – considered by many to be Britain’s best tour cyclist – collapsed and died on the slopes of Mont Ventoux. Tom was the first British cyclist to wear the yellow jersey and to finish in the Tour de France top ten.

In 2000, the race up Mont Ventoux was the cause of a major feud between Lance Armstrong and Marco Pantani. Armstrong insisted that his gift of the stage victory to Pantani was a tribute to a great champion, Pantani took it as an insult.

Nine years ago, the Etape was stopped before competitors could get to the top of Mont Ventoux due to freezing weather and a hailstorm. Hopefully 2009 will be a different story.

And just in case you’d like to know what what the route profile looks like, here it is…

L'Etape 2009 - All the way up Mont Ventoux!

Photo from www.letapedutour.com, where you can find loads more info and enter the event if you’re so inclined – be quick about it though, the Etape is usually full by February.