Image source, Getty Images

Prepare to the feel the lactic in the legs. Lose the feeling in your fingers as you grip harder than before. Don't be surprised if you grind the enamel off your teeth.

This, my friends, is Mount Ventoux - two words that send a shudder down the collective spine of any peloton worth its salt.

It'll make you, or break you.

And at the very least, today, it will shake them up.