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The Tour of Flanders was conceived in 1913 by Karel Van
Wijnendaele, co-founder of the sports paper Sportwereld.
Before the Second World War the race was usually
organized on the same day as Milan-San Remo. Prominent
Italian and French racers preferred the latter which
explains why there was only one non-Belgian winner
before the war.
The Flemish roads were often in bad condition in the
first half of the 20th century, so that a selective
course was relatively easy to draw. Large parts of race
were already on cobblestones. Mid-century, more and more
roads were paved, so that smaller roads and hills were
selected to keep the race its character. The centre of
the race moved increasingly to the Flemish Ardennes.
Last years, the Tour de Flanders starts in
Antwerp or Brugge. After a relatively flat start the
tour heads towards Kortrijk and winds through the
Flemish hills till the finish in
Oudenaarde. The
Tour of Flanders has about 20 kilometers of cobblestones
and between 15 and 20 hills. None of them are very high,
but they are often very steep and paved with
higgledy-piggledy cobblestones. A foot on the ground is
not an exception. Even dyed-in-the-wool professionals
have to walk up sometimes.
From 1975 to 2011 the Muur
of Geraardsbergen and the
Bosberg were mostly
the last two climbs before the finish. From 2012, the
Oude Kwaremont and
Paterberg have to
be climbed three times in the final.
Five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault said about the
Tour of Flanders: "I told the organisers it wasn't a
race but a war game. It's hard to explain what the
Koppenberg means to a racing cyclist. Instead of being a
race, it's a lottery. Only the first five or six riders
have any chance: the rest fall off or scramble up as
best they can. What on earth have we done to send us to
hell?" |
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131 km |
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143 km |
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1st part Tour of Flanders |
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131 km |
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2nd part Tour of Flanders |
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130 km |
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