(Photo courtesy of Sarra Mander)
Back in June we reported how eight year old Alfie Earl was possibly the youngest person to climb the Tourmalet on a bike. Well, since then he may have had his ninth birthday, but the little blighter has been putting his seniors to shame again, this time conquering Mont Ventoux on Saturday 22nd October on his half term break.
While his contemporaries were amusing themselves on their DS consoles or immersing themselves into a virtual world of Minecraft, Alfie was busy ascending the 1612m to the summit of the bald giant. Described by the French philosopher Roland Barthes as, “a damned terrain, a testing place for heroes, something like a higher hell,” some say this mountain is the hardest of all the mythical Tour de France climbs. And unlike Tour winner Chris Froome in the summer, Alfie managed to reach the top without resorting to pushing his bike up it!
(Photo courtesy of Sarra Mander)
Alfie’s next ambition is to complete the Stelvio in Italy before tackling the Tour of Flanders in the spring. He comes from a cycling mad family who share 31 bikes between them. Chapeau!
