1999 tour of flanders

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Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres

Race information.

• Date: 04 April 1999
• Start time: -
• Avg. speed winner: 43.2 km/h
• Race category: ME - Men Elite
• Distance: 270 km
• Points scale: 1.WT.A
• Parcours type:
• ProfileScore:
• Vert. meters:
• Departure: Brugge
• Arrival: Meerbeke
• Race ranking: 0
• Startlist quality score: 993
• Won how: Sprint of small group
• Avg. temperature:

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The history of the Tour of Flanders: Tales from De Ronde

Eight tales from the history of the Tour of Flanders, from the Koppenberg to Tom Simpson and the race's founding father

Words: Paul Maunder

Photos: Simon Scarsbrook

When the men’s and women’s pelotons roll respectively out of Antwerp  and Oudenaarde on March 31, bound for hundreds of kilometres of tortuous twists, turns and narrow cobbled climbs, it will be the 108th and 21st editions of the Tour of Flanders , arguably the finest of the Classics.

The route may change slightly each year, but the hellingen that pack the region and define the race are a given, guaranteed to produce worthy winners of a true Monument. In the Ronde, only the strong survive.

From Issue 61 of Rouleur magazine, first published in 2016, Paul Maunder delves into eight memorable episodes in the past of Flanders’ Finest.

Father’s Finest

The first Tour of Flanders, in May 1913, was both a marketing stunt and a piece of political agitprop. The preceding summer, a young sports journalist named Karel Van Wijnendaele had been asked if he would like to work on a new newspaper, Sportwereld . Van Wijnendaele, a former racer and fanatical cycling fan, agreed.

Another founding member of Sportwereld , Leon Van den Haute, was already developing plans for a bike race based in Flanders. Van den Haute was a businessman and organiser, and had been involved in other bike races in the area. The Tour of Flanders became an all-consuming passion for him, and in the months running up to the inaugural race he was completely dedicated to it. He designed the course, checked the condition of the roads, put out route markers and secured prizes.

If Van den Haute was the real organiser of the race, Van Wijnendaele was the marketing man. His vision was to create a vehicle to promote not only his newspaper, but also cycling and the Dutch language. Since the establishment of modern Belgium in 1830, Flemish culture and language had been suffocated by the French-speaking Walloons. There was nationalist resistance, much of it focused on works of literature such as Hendrik Conscience’s De Leeuw van Vlaanderen (The Lion of Flanders). Correspondingly, Flemish nationalism adopted the Lion as its emblem.

Van Wijnendaele wanted to emancipate the Flemish community by providing it with its own sporting heroes. The vision of a Flandrian war hero portrayed by Conscience was of a hard-working man: tough, with immense willpower, humble, proud of his family and community. Van Wijnendaele saw the opportunity to translate this vision into a generation of cycling heroes.

While Van den Haute designed the course, its outline was agreed by the whole editorial team at Sportwereld . Crucially it was agreed that the race should start and finish in Ghent.

At the time a French-speaking elite held power in this quintessentially Flandrian city. Van Wijnendaele wanted to get ordinary Flemish people out onto the streets, cheering on their own riders, in their own language, sponsored by their own newspaper, as a political nose-thumbing to the Walloon interlopers.

It worked. Over the course of its history, the Tour of Flanders has become inextricably linked with Flemish identity, politics and culture. In the middle of the 20th century, with Walloon industry going into decline, Flanders regained the supremacy it had 400 years earlier, when Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges were major industrial and cultural powerhouses.

The modern Tour of Flanders is both a celebration of that resurgence and a reminder of the values of the region. Although the idea for the race almost certainly came from Van den Haute, Van Wijnendaele has become known as the father of the race nicknamed Vlaanderens Mooiste - Flanders’ Finest. His vision resonated with the people in 1913, and it still resonates now. Cycling’s other monuments have tremendous history attached to them, but no other race defines a nation the way the Tour of Flanders does.

Beers for Van Lerberghe

Henri Van Lerberghe, runner-up in 1914 and winner in 1919, was the epitome of a Flandrian hero, at least according to Van Wijnendaele’s vision. The race director thought that a true Flandrian rode only with brute force, not tactics or any kind of finesse. Van Lerberghe, an ex-soldier by the time he returned to the race after the war, was tough, simple and stubborn. He put his head down and rode hard for as long as possible – not the most advanced tactical strategy, even in those days, but on the crumbling roads of post-war Flanders, it had its merits.

In 1919, Van Lerberghe turned up on a single-speed bike, and on the Kwaremont he lived up to his fantastic nickname, The Death Rider of Lichtervelde (so-called because he used to tell other riders that he would ride them into an early grave, or die trying). He pulled clear and set about driving on all the way to the finish, only to find his route blocked by a train that had stopped in the middle of a level crossing. Such a trifle wasn’t going to deny Henri his victory. He hoisted his bike onto his shoulder, stepped into the train, through to the other side and carried on his way. One likes to think he tipped his hat to an astonished old lady sitting in the carriage.

The finish in Gentbrugge was on a cinder cycling track. Van Lerberghe arrived 15 minutes clear of the nearest chaser and made the most of his laps of honour, riding slowly around the track, waving to the crowd, with a bottle of beer handed up from the race staff. When he finally got round to crossing the finishing line, he bellowed: “I’m half a day ahead. You can all go home now!” For his efforts he won three kilos of beef and two bottles of wine.

An English Gentleman?

The only British win in the men’s Tour of Flanders was by Tom Simpson in 1961, and it was controversial. Simpson, in only his second year as a professional, had never ridden the Ronde before, but he adapted well. After the overwhelming favourite Rik Van Looy, in the rainbow bands of world champion, crashed out at the foot of the Kruisberg, the race was wide open. Simpson and Italian rider Nino Defilippis bridged from the peloton to a breakaway group, then sprang clear on the Grotenberge, the final climb.

For many years after the race, Defilippis complained bitterly that Simpson tricked him twice: firstly by pretending to be tired, secondly by pretending in the final sprint to have gone too early, only to surge past Defilippis and take the victory.

The truth about that final sprint is murky, because high winds had blown the finis banner down at Wetteren. The organisers posted a man with a red flag on the line, and most accounts say that Simpson sprinted for that marker, whereas Defilippis timed his sprint for a different, earlier flag.

Afterwards, the man from Turin protested and his team asked Simpson if he would consider equal first status. “Not on your life!” he recalled in his autobiography Cycling Is My Life . “They told me that an Italian had not won a classic since 1953, but I replied that an Englishman had not won one since 1896!”

Briek Schotte’s Ten Commandments

When Briek Schotte died, many considered it to be the end of a dynasty. Schotte was the last of the Flandrians, a throwback to the heroic period before the Second World War. Born in 1919 near Ghent, Schotte rode in 20 consecutive editions of the Ronde. He won twice and finished on the podium six more times. He loved racing in cold, wet conditions and covered his legs with candle wax for protection. During the war he would go to illegal slaughterhouses to buy steak. A typical race day breakfast was steak, eggs, buttered bread and coffee.

Schotte travelled to races by train, his contraband meat packed in a suitcase, and would often cycle home afterwards. Part of his reputation was built on his skills as a mechanic. The atrocious roads played havoc with bikes, and Schotte is reputed to have repaired a brake with wire torn off a fence, and mended a punctured tubular with needle and thread borrowed from a spectator.

A L’Equipe writer described his riding style: “Fierce in battle, sometimes slow to get going, but terribly effective at the end of races. He can deal with heat and bad weather, taking advantage of an ascetic’s life and his commitment to training. Finally, he knows how to suffer more than the rest. Very stretched out on the bike, his chiselled face flush with his bars, his blue hat pulled down to his ears, he can be picked out from afar.”

He died on the day that Steffen Wesemann outsprinted Leif Hoste to win the 2004 Tour of Flanders. These are Briek Schotte’s ten commandments for being Flandrian. It’s not a bad way to live.

• Be content with what you have
• With willpower and patience, you can go anywhere
• Tired? If you’re tired, you must sleep
• Never lose your freedom
• Remain yourself
• By looking, you learn a lot
• Anyone who lets go is lost
• Never forget where you come from
• Don’t believe in dreams that cannot be achieved
• He who speaks evil will reap evil

Generation Game

Matt Brammeier is a very canny rider. In the 2015 Tour of Flanders, he got himself into the early break, then to general mystification sprinted hard through the village of Sint Eloois Winkel after 34 kilometres. The reason? Former professional Nico Mattan was offering a prize for the first rider through—his weight in Stene Molen beer. After the race, MTN-Qhubeka manager Brian Smith maintained that Brammeier had only been following team orders by getting into the break, but then went on to admit: “Like all cyclists, he likes beer.”

Brammeier’s intentions were made clear when a picture emerged of his handlebar stem notes – alongside the list of hellingen was a picture of a foaming beer mug, marked 34km. And in a further tactical masterstroke, Brammeier shared his prize out between the team mechanics and helpers, who are now friends for life. All of which is in keeping with the race’s history of offering weird and wonderful prizes.

The straitened years during and immediately after the Second World War meant that organisers could only offer whatever goods they could lay their hands on. There was cycling kit, razor blades, bottles of wine, golf trousers, a mattress, cigars and a coffee table. In 1947, the first three French finishers were awarded ten kilos of coffee to take back over the border.

In an echo of the maglia nera and lanterne rouge, the Ronde has a tradition of rewarding last place. In 1948 the last rider into the finish at Eeklo was awarded 100 Francs. The following year, the last four riders were given bottles of massage oil. Was there just a hint of irony about this prize?

Climbing Ladders

In the 1970s, many of the cobbled roads of the region were being resurfaced and rendered unusable for the Ronde, leading to worries that it was becoming too easy. To preserve the race’s identity, the organisers added some new climbs, one of which was to become infamous.

It starts out innocently enough, but grows more sinister as gravity begins to pull at you. As the cobbles take you into the trees, your lungs are strongly advising you to stop, and you still haven’t reached the worst part. The Koppenberg is one of the most feared, famed, loved and loathed climbs in cycling.

Its first inclusion was in 1976 and what happened in that race set the tone for the climb’s ongoing reputation. Five riders – Francesco Moser, Roger De Vlaeminck, Marc Demeyer, Freddie Maertens and Walter Planckaert – crested the hill on their bikes. The rest were reduced to trudging up in their wholly unsuitable footwear. Among them was Eddy Merckx, who later declared: “It’s irresponsible to keep this hill in the race. You might as well make the cyclists climb ladders with bikes round their necks.”

The difficulty lies not only in the cobbles and the gradient but in the trench the road sits in. Banks of earth rise up steeply from the gutters, and overhead the trees knit their branches together, condemning the road to constant gloom. The cobbles there never seem to get properly dry. They’re either a bit slippery, very slippery or completely unrideable.

Despite Merckx’s complaints, the Koppenberg became an annual feature. While it rarely decides the winner, it does play a role in the whittling down process. Coming just after the Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg, two of the hardest climbs in the race, over 200 kilometres into the race, the Koppenberg weeds out anyone not on top form. If you’re not at the front, you’re entering yourself into a lottery.

In 1984, only two riders, Phil Anderson and Jan Raas, made it up the climb on their bikes. The following year Raas wasn’t so lucky. Caught in the melee, the Dutchman vented his frustration by punching a photographer in the face.

After the Jesper Skibby incident in 1987, where the Danish cyclist crashed whilst alone in the lead, then promptly had his bike crushed under the wheels of an official’s car, the Koppenberg was removed from the route. Resurfacing allowed it to be reinstated in 2002, and it’s been a near-fixture ever since.

Every year we wait for that first wobble, that first foot unclipped, and the ensuing chaos. Photographs of riders pushing or carrying their bikes cyclo-cross style have become part of the legend of the Tour of Flanders. While the strongest of our heroes power up over the cobbles, the rest of the peloton are humbled. It’s pure theatre.

Start your career as a professional road cyclist in your late twenties? Highly improbable. For eight years, Ludo Dierckxsens worked as a painter in a DAF trucks factory, combining the daily grind with amateur racing. He was a talented rider but wary of the insecurity of being a professional cyclist. Then a wave of redundancies swept through his workplace. Dierckxsens survived the cuts but the experience of seeing his mates laid off made him re-evaluate.

Speaking to Samuel Abt in 1998, he said: “When that happened, I had the opportunity to go with the pros and I thought, ‘Even though I still have my job, from day to day you can lose it.’ So I joined a pro team and I’m very happy I did.”

After serving his time riding Belgian kermesses with Saxon, Collstrop and Tönissteiner, Dierckxsens moved onto a bigger stage with Lotto, and his attacking style – along with his trademark bald head – won him the attention of the media and fans. He was a kind of brutalist version of Marco Pantani. He was clearly enjoying himself, and his raw strength made up for what he lacked in style.

Dierckxsens finest moment came in the 1999 Tour de France , when he won alone into Saint-Étienne, resplendent in the Belgium champion’s jersey. Unfortunately his finest moment soon turned into his lowest. At the doping control afterwards, when asked if he’d taken any controlled substances the tester should be aware of, Dierckxsens mentioned using a corticosteroid treatment earlier in the season. His Lampre team were upset at not being aware of this, and promptly sent him home.

As a Flandrian, Dierckxsens loved the Ronde and he was often an animator. In 2001, aged 36, he was in the decisive breakaway and led over most of the hellingen with a smile on his face. When his Lampre leader Max Sciandri came up from behind, Dierckxsens stayed with the frontrunners and helped his captain. But there was no fairytale finish: Sciandri started his sprint too early and finished eighth. Ludo finished ninth. Dierckxsens went on racing until he was 40 and has remained a popular, genial figure on the Flemish circuit.

Flandrian bike racing fans like their heroes to be men of the soil, or of the factory. They respond to riders who work hard, are approachable, honour family and tradition. Dierckxsens fitted that mould. Publicly he never regretted his late start, but one wonders how often, whilst spinning along in the peloton, he thought about those years he wasted in the DAF paintshop.

Wrong way Ronde

Not known for its progressive views on gender equality, the Belgian cycling establishment did itself no favours when the 2005 Women’s Tour of Flanders ended in utter chaos. On a sunny and blustery day, the peloton had raced hard over the 112km course. Coming into the final kilometres, teammates Mirjam Melchers and Susanne Ljungskog were clear of a 20-strong chasing group, having jumped away over the top of the Muur de Geraardsbergen.

But while Melchers and Ljungskog lined up to fight out the victory, an official car took the chasing group off the course and into the suburbs of Meerbeke. They eventually emerged beyond the finish and rode back through the finishing line the wrong way. The mistake was exacerbated when officials decided to award World Cup points to Melchers and Ljungskog and disqualify everyone in the chasing group. Oenone Wood, who lost her World Cup leader’s jersey, summed it up perfectly: “It’s totally shit.”

The following week the World Cup moved on to the Flèche Wallonne but race officials managed to remember to go up the Mur de Huy, rather than down it.

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Flanders Preview: PEZ Talks With Chris Horner

VIDEO: For many it’s THE race of the season, and with a stacked field of cycling’s biggest stars, this year’s Tour of Flanders promises nothing short of fireworks. I talk with pro-cycling legend, Vuelta winner, and inimitable race analyst Chris Horner about “de Ronde” – what makes this race cool, how to race it and who he picks to win . You’ll also hear the story about what happened in the ’99 de Ronde when Chris jumped into one broom wagon, but his bike went in another – Pez

Here’s what we talked about: 00:00 Introduction and Background

1:22 – How was it for Chris to ride in 1999?

3:11 – Riding de Ronde for the first time

4:11 – Look for the Red door

5:38 – Where did the showers go?

10:45 – How tough are the Parcours

11:26 – Getting through De Ronde

12:05 – Position on the climbs

16:39 – How rough are the Cobbles?

22:34 – Rider physique for Flanders

25:00 – Finding the best line

27:50 – Riders VS the Course – who makes the race?

33:00 – Rider picks

Actual photo of Chris Horner riding the 1999 Tour of Flanders – and the last time he wore those Oakleys.  (Watch the interview to find out why…)

# Keep it dialed to PEZ for more Flanders previews as we look back at what makes this race cool, and look forward to the action this Sunday. Al will have a full race report plus all the big photos as the Monuments season moves to Belgium.

I started PEZCycling in 2002, because I thought reading about pro cycling's biggest and best races and rides should be as much fun as actually being there. I still do.

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A beginner’s guide to the Tour of Flanders

All you need to know about the men’s and women’s editions of one of cycling’s biggest and toughest one-day races

The GCN team

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Mathieu Van der Poel attacks the cobblestones of the Paterberg in the 2023 edition

For one Sunday each Spring, the narrow roads around the sleepy towns of Flanders wake up to see one of the biggest races of the year thunder over them. Fans turn out in their thousands to line the course, flags flying in one hand and beers sloshing in the other as they cheer on their favourites during one of cycling’s most iconic events.

This race is the Tour of Flanders , or as it’s known in Flemish, ‘ De Ronde van Vlaanderen ’, and its men’s and women’s races will take place on Sunday 31 March.

The Tour of Flanders marks the grand finale of a series of Flandrian Classics that fall in the weeks before, starting with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and building through the E3 Saxo Classic and Gent-Wevelgem a week before Flanders.

Read more: Spring Classics 2024: Essential guide to the races and riders

Taking on a long, winding series of laps around the Flanders region that visits multiple steep cobbled climbs – most of them more than once – over a challenging, Monument-worthy distance, Flanders is one of the toughest races on the calendar and is always won by the strongest of Classics riders.

With winners like Eddy Merckx, Johan Museeuw and Tom Boonen in its history books, and more recently victories for Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar and Lotte Kopecky, it’s easy to see that Flanders is a prestigious jewel in cycling’s crown, and a race steeped in legend.

• Tour of Flanders Women 2024 startlist
• Tour of Flanders Men 2024 startlist

Tour of Flanders history

The inaugural edition of the men’s race took place back in 1913, making it the youngest of the five Monuments. The women’s race, on the other hand, started in 2004, which makes it one of the longest-running one-day races on the current calendar, as well as one of the most prestigious.

The fact that the men’s race is younger than the other four Monuments doesn’t make it any less respected, and it easily sits alongside Paris-Roubaix , and the World Championships in terms of racing importance. Win here even once and you’re guaranteed to earn yourself a spot in cycling’s Hall of Fame.

Unlike some of the other Monuments and Classics, the Tour of Flanders route has changed countless times throughout its history, with the start and finishing towns often changing and the roll call of climbs being tweaked slightly for each edition.

Two-time winner Peter Van Petegem famously said this about the race’s route: “It doesn’t really matter where the race goes. You have cobblestones, climbs and small roads, and that provides the character of the race.”

Read more: 66 years marshalling at the Tour of Flanders: Meet Lucien De Schepper

Tour of Flanders tactics and winners

The Tour of Flanders is ultimately a race of survival and to win, a rider must abandon all sense of foresight and attack purely on instinct. Fortune definitely favours the brave in Flanders.

Tadej Pogačar was reward for his solo attack in last year's Tour of Flanders

The notion of a big group coming to the finish of Flanders is essentially unheard of. There will be attacks, the race will be attritional, and it almost comes down to the last rider standing, who has seen all their competitors fall away over the gruelling climbs. Any sprint at the finish will be between tired legs, as a handful of riders battle for one of cycling’s biggest prizes.

Read more: The Van der Poel rules: How to beat cycling's best Classics rider at the Tour of Flanders

Over 107 editions of the men’s race, the home nation of Belgium has taken 69 wins, the most of any country, perhaps unsurprisingly. Six riders sit on top of the individual winners list with a hat-trick of titles to their name: Belgians Achiel Buysse, Eric Leman, Tom Boonen and Johan Museeuw, Italian Fiorenzo Magni and Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara.

All six of these riders are Flandriens to the core, even those born outside of Belgium, and are revered as gods amongst the local people - none more so than the ‘Lion of Flanders’ himself, Johan Museeuw.

The women’s race has seen much less Belgian success, but perhaps largely to do with its relative youth. Over its 20 editions so far, two Belgian riders have taken Flandrian titles: Grace Verbeke in 2010, and Lotte Kopecky in 2022 and 2023. The nation that stands proud atop the winners' list in the women’s race is the Netherlands, who’ve won eight editions and podiumed a further 19 times.

With two wins, Lotte Kopecky is joint-top of the list of repeat winners at Flanders. Dutch women also join that list with two wins apiece, Mirjam Melchers-van Poppel and Annemiek van Vleuten. The German rider, Judith Ardnt, has also won two editions of the women’s Tour of Flanders. Both Arndt and Van Vleuten have won this race on the old finish into Ninove and the new finish into Oudenaarde.

Tour of Flanders route: Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg headline a cobbled climb-packed course

The cobbled bergs, or ‘Hellingen’, are the Tour of Flanders’ focal points and where the race is won or lost. They are steep, tricky to ride with the cobbles, and the back-to-back nature of the race’s climbs means they are severely leg-sapping. None of the climbs are particularly long, but that doesn’t matter when you’re going up and down them, constantly, at full race speed.

Read more: Average Joe vs Tour of Flanders: Can Cillian Kelly conquer the cobbles of Belgium?

The current finale of the race takes in the Kruisberg, the Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg before a flat finish into Oudenaarde. These climbs often prove decisive in the outcome of the race, but what comes before this final trio of bergs is just as important. Climbs like the Koppenberg, Taaienberg and Berendries all feature in this race, serving not only to chip away at a rider’s legs, but their morale too.

Tour of Flanders climbs:

• Oude Kwaremont
• Kapelleberg
• Marlboroughstaat
• Berg Ten Houte
• Nieuwe Kruisberg/Hotond
• Steenbeekdries
• Oude Kruisberg/Hotond

Recent history of the Tour of Flanders

Since 2012 and the implementation of the new finish in Oudenaarde, the men’s race has seen six solo winners, with the largest group ever reaching the finish only consisting of four riders, which happened in 2014 and 2022.

Lotte Kopecky has made a habit of winning 'De Ronde,' and will be back to defend her title this time around

The women’s race has also seen six solo winners in that time and, like the men’s, has tended to be decided by small groups of riders at the finish. One edition of the women’s race has come down to a sprint, however: the 2017 edition which was won by Coryn Rivera (now Labecki) in a reduced bunch finish between 16 riders.

In 2023, Tadej Pogačar and Lotte Kopecky were crowned champions in Oudenaarde, but only Kopecky will be back to defend her title – in fact to try to make it three in a row – whilst Pogačar is skipping Flanders with an eye towards the Giro d’Italia.

The big favourites in the men’s race will be Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, with the Belgian still chasing a maiden win here, whilst Kopecky will be up against riders like Marianne Vos, Elisa Balsamo and perhaps even her own teammate, Demi Vollering.

For the latest news, interviews and analysis from the world of professional cycling, be sure to check out the Racing tab on the GCN website and visit our essential guide to The Spring Classics to stay up to date with all of the action from cycling's most exciting season.

Lotte Kopecky

• Team Team SD Worx-Protime
• Nationality Belgium
• UCI Wins 41
• Height 1.71m

Coryn Labecki

• Team EF Education-Cannondale
• Nationality United States of America
• UCI Wins 20
• Height 1.55m

Tadej Pogacar

• Team UAE Team Emirates
• Nationality Slovenia
• UCI Wins 81
• Height 1.76m

Mathieu van der Poel

• Team Alpecin-Deceuninck
• Nationality Netherlands
• UCI Wins 53
• Height 1.84m

Annemiek van Vleuten

• Team Movistar Team
• UCI Wins 104
• Height 1.68m

Ronde van Vlaanderen

• Dates 31 Mar
• Race Length 163 kms
• Start Oudenaarde
• Finish Oudenaarde
• Race Category Elite Women

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Advantage Mathieu van der Poel and Lotte Kopecky at the Tour of Flanders

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Fans of the Tour of Flanders will be denied another showdown between Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike) this year, after the Belgian sustained multiple fractures in a heavy crash during Dwars door Vlaanderen.

It leaves Van der Poel as the clear favourite, with on-song Dane Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) stepping into the breach as the rider most likely to challenge the imperious Dutchman.

With reigning champion Tadej Pogačar from this year's startlist, the two men will feel more confident. But a Classics win is always reliant on a certain amount of luck, and Van der Poel and Pedersen certainly won't have it all their own way.

Meanwhile the women's race is also something of a clash of the titans, with two-time winner and defending champion Lotte Kopecky and her SD Worx-Protime team-mate forming a potent pairing who will nevertheless have to contend with the likes of Dwars door Vlaanderen winner Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease A Bike) and British hopeful Pfeiffer Georgi (dsm-firmenich PostNL) among others.

This year sees Antwerp take over from Bruges as the alternating host city of the race. The route remains broadly similar to previous years, with greater use of wider roads early on to help prevent crashes being the only change.

For the men, the first berg of 17 will be the Oude Kwaremont, tackled after 137km of racing, while the Wolvenberg at the 72km point is the first of 12 such tests in the women’s race. The Wolvenberg is where both men's and women's races converge, after which the climbs come thick and fast.

It's the final one-two punch of Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg that often proves the most decisive. Controversial when first devised in 2012, particularly as it meant the omission of the iconic Muur van Geraardsbergen, this finale has since won fans over with its own unique character, which is also influenced by the double punch of the long, gradual Kwaremont and the short yet ultra-steep Paterberg.

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Tour of Flanders 2024 Key Info

Date: March 31 2024 Location: Antwerp 2023 winners: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates, men); Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx, women) TV: Discovery+ / Eurosport Distance: 270km (men); 163km (women)

Tour of Flanders 2024 route

This year's men's race continues the annual trading game between Bruges and Antwerp, with the latter hosting the start on Sunday. Riders will find bigger roads than before waiting for them as they begin the long haul south-west towards berg country.

The fun begins with the first of three passes of the Oude Kwaremont, and the climbs come thick and fast after that as the race follows a spaghetti-like parcours around the hills of Flanders just south-east of the finish town of Oudenaarde. On the way they take in famous climbs including the Wolvenberg, Molenberg, Berendries and the Koppenberg on the way to a total 17 climbs, finishing with the one-two of the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg with 13 flat kilometres to the line.

The women begin in Oudenaarde, where both races finish. They first head north-east away from the city to complete a circuit of the flatter terrain around Zottegem, looping back towards Oudenaarde to begin the day's climbing at 72km with the Wolvenberg. A similarly serpentine route to that of the men sees them tackle a total 12 classified climbs, including the Molenberg, Berendries and the Koppenberg, along with that final Kwaremont/Paterberg one-two at the end.

Tour of Flanders 2024: Riders to watch

Mathieu van der Poel Alpecin-Deceuninck ***** The Dutch rider looks imperious this season – always at or near the head of affairs in every race he has ridden and with a win at the E3 Saxo Classic and second at Gent-Wevelgem under his belt already. He's had a mercurial last couple of seasons, but covered himself in glory in the Classics last year and seems to be set to repeat the feat this time around. The fact that Wout van Aert has now been ruled out – albeit in very unfortunate circumstances that VDP would not have wished for – won't exactly hurt his chances either.

Tiesj Benoot Visma-Lease A Bike *** With Benoot's team-mate and compatriot Wout van Aert recovering from a nasty crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen and other team-mates like Dylan Van Baarle having been ill, this could be Benoot's opportunity to step up from nearly man to winner at Flanders. He has been fifth here before – back in 2015 – and won Strade Bianche in 2018 . With a following wind and a bit of luck a podium, or even a win, here is not beyond him.

Mads Pedersen Lidl-Trek **** The Dane was third here last year and eighth the year before that. Considering that he seems to be in the form of his life – and the absence of one of his main Classics rivals, Wout van Aert – what's to say that Pedersen cannot finally achieve victory in what is one of the most revered one-day races of the season. Pedersen proves himself to be ever-more versatile, with overall wins in the Etoile de Bessèges and Tour de la Provence stage races, plus the more recent Gent-Wevelgem already this season.

Lotte Kopecky SD Worx-Protime ***** Of all the cards the Belgian team could play, right now Kopecky looks like the most likely to bring them success. She has been a playmaker in pretty much every race she has entered this season and already has four wins under her belt, including Strade Bianche . Riding alongside her, and even for her, will be at least four other potential victors – Demi Vollering, Marlen Reusser and Lorena Wiebes – ready to take over if Kopecky falters.

Elisa Longo Borghini Lidl-Trek **** The Italian has amassed a huge palmarès across Classics and stage races alike, despite spending most of her career riding in the company (under the shadow?) of greats like Annemiek van Vleuten and Anna van der Breggen. She has Lotte Kopecky to deal with these days, but that hasn't stopped the 32-year-old from putting in a solid shift so far this season already, with podiums at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Strade Bianche, and a win at Trofeo Oro in Euro.

Kasia Niewiadoma Canyon-SRAM **** The reigning gravel world champion was left heartbroken after missing out on a podium spot at Strade Bianche earlier this month. That was her most recent result, and one she may be eager to atone for at the Tour of Flanders this weekend. She was fifth here last year – the latest in a litany of top-10s stretching back 10 years. The Polish rider looks to be on form, with five top-seven finishes out of six race days this season, though there is of course the small matter of the SD Worx team standing between her and a win at Flanders.

Tour of Flanders 2024 men's start list

Alpecin-Deceuninck VAN DER POEL Mathieu PHILIPSEN Jasper BALLERSTEDT Maurice GROVES Kaden KRAGH ANDERSEN Søren DILLIER Silvan VERMEERSCH Gianni

Intermarché-Wanty GIRMAY Biniam DE POOTER Dries PAGE Hugo PETIT Adrien REX Laurenz TEUNISSEN Mike ZIMMERMANN Georg

Soudal Quick-Step ALAPHILIPPE Julian ASGREEN Kasper LAMPAERT Yves MOSCON Gianni PEDERSEN Casper VANGHELUWE Warre WARLOP Jordi

Team Visma-Lease a Bike AFFINI Edoardo BENOOT Tiesj JORGENSON Matteo VAN DIJKE Mick VAN DIJKE Tim TRATNIK Jan VAN BAARLE Dylan

Arkéa-B&B Hotels SÉNÉCHAL Florian GRONDIN Donavan ALBANESE Vincenzo MCLAY Daniel MOZZATO Luca SCOTSON Miles

Astana Qazaqstan Team BOL Cees BRUSSENSKIY Gleb FEDOROV Yevgeniy GAZZOLI Michele GIDICH Yevgeniy GRUZDEV Dmitriy SYRITSA Gleb

Bahrain-Victorious MOHORIČ Matej GOVEKAR Matevž GRADEK Kamil MIHOLJEVIĆ Fran PASQUALON Andrea WRIGHT Fred BURATTI Nicolò

BORA-Hansgrohe KOCH Jonas MEEUS Jordi HALLER Marco HERZOG Emil LÜHRS Luis-Joe DENZ Nico MULLEN Ryan VAN POPPEL Danny

Cofidis ALLEGAERT Piet DE GENDT Aimé DEBEAUMARCHÉ Nicolas MAHOUDO Nolann NOPPE Christophe RENARD Alexis ZINGLE Axel

Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale GAUTHERAT Pierre BOASSON HAGEN Edvald NAESEN Oliver DE BONDT Dries DE PESTEL Sander POLLEFLIET Gianluca TOUZÉ Damien TRONCHON Bastien

EF Education-EasyPost BETTIOL Alberto BISSEGGER Stefan DOULL Owain HONORÉ Mikkel Frølich POWLESS Neilson RUTSCH Jonas VALGREN Michael

Groupama-FDJ KÜNG Stefan ASKEY Lewis BYSTRØM Sven Erik LE GAC Olivier MADOUAS Valentin RUSSO Clément WATSON Samuel

INEOS Grenadiers TARLING Joshua NARVÁEZ Jhonatan ROWE Luke SHEFFIELD Magnus SWIFT Ben SWIFT Connor TURNER Ben

Lidl-Trek HOOLE Daan PEDERSEN Mads DECLERCQ Tim KIRSCH Alex MILAN Jonathan SKUJIŅŠ Toms STUYVEN Jasper THEUNS Edward

Movistar LAZKANO Oier CANAL Carlos CAVAGNA Rémi GARCÍA CORTINA Iván JACOBS Johan MILESI Lorenzo ROMEO Iván

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL DEGENKOLB John BEVIN Patrick BITTNER Pavel EDDY Patrick EEKHOFF Nils FLYNN Sean MÄRKL Niklas

Team Jayco AlUla MATTHEWS Michael DURBRIDGE Luke JANSEN Amund Grøndahl MEZGEC Luka O'BRIEN Kelland REINDERS Elmar WALSCHEID Max

UAE Team Emirates WELLENS Tim OLIVEIRA Ivo BJERG Mikkel COVI Alessandro HIRSCHI Marc MORGADO António POLITT Nils

Israel-Premier Tech FUGLSANG Jakob BOIVIN Guillaume HOULE Hugo NEILANDS Krists STEWART Jake TEUNS Dylan VAN ASBROECK Tom

Lotto-Dstny BEULLENS Cedric CAMPENAERTS Victor DE BUYST Jasper EENKHOORN Pascal GRIGNARD Sébastien VAN MOER Brent BERCKMOES Jenno

Uno-X Mobility KRISTOFF Alexander ABRAHAMSEN Jonas HOELGAARD Markus BLUME LEVY William RESELL Erik Nordsæter TILLER Rasmus WÆRENSKJOLD Søren

Bingoal-WB DE MEESTER Luca DE TIER Floris DESAL Ceriel VAN BOVEN Luca VAN ROOY Kenneth VAN DER BEKEN Aaron VERMOOTE Jelle

Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team CHRISTEN Fabio DEVRIENDT Tom LUDVIGSSON Tobias STEIMLE Jannik ZUKOWSKY Nickolas

Team Flanders-Baloise CLAEYS Arno COLMAN Alex DE VYLDER Lindsay DE WILDE Gilles DEWEIRDT Siebe VAN HEMELEN Vincent VANHOOF Ward VANDENSTORME Dylan

Tudor Pro Cycling Team TRENTIN Matteo BOHLI Tom ERIKSSON Jacob KELEMEN Petr KRIEGER Alexander MAYRHOFER Marius PLUIMERS Rick

Tour of Flanders 2024 women's start list

Team SD Worx-Protime VOLLERING Demi KOPECKY Lotte BREDEWOLD Mischa REUSSER Marlen MAJERUS Christine WIEBES Lorena

AG Insurance-Soudal Team BOOGAARD Maaike BORGSTRÖM Julia GOOSSENS Marthe (LE COURT) PIENAAR Kimberley PLUIMERS Ilse RIJNBEEK Maud

Canyon//SRAM Racing NIEWIADOMA Katarzyna CROMWELL Tiffany CHABBEY Elise DYGERT Chloe PALADIN Soraya TOWERS Alice

CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling Team ARZUFFI Alice Maria BERTON Nina FIDANZA Arianna JASKULSKA Marta KERBAOL Cédrine LACH Marta

FDJ-SUEZ GUAZZINI Vittoria ADEGEEST Loes CURINIER Léa KRAAK Amber VERHULST-WILD Gladys WIEL Jade

Fenix-Deceuninck PIETERSE Puck CANT Sanne COUZENS Millie DE WILDE Julie KASTELIJN Yara KUIJPERS Evy SCHWEINBERGER Christina

Human Powered Health CORDON-RAGOT Audrey EDWARDS Ruth GROSSETÊTE Maëlle KASPER Romy WILLIAMS Lily RAGUSA Katia

Lidl-Trek LONGO BORGHINI Elisa BALSAMO Elisa BRAND Lucinda DEIGNAN Elizabeth HANSON Lauretta VAN ANROOIJ Shirin

Liv AlUla Jayco HOWE Georgie KOREVAAR Jeanne MANLY Alexandra PATE Amber PATERNOSTER Letizia SMULDERS Silke

Movistar SIERRA Arlenis BIANNIC Aude NORSGAARD Emma GUTIÉRREZ Sheyla MACKAIJ Floortje RUIZ PÉREZ Lucía

Roland CHRISTOFOROU Antri COLES-LYSTER Maggie COLLINELLI Sofia DRONOVA-BALABOLINA Tamara NGUYỄN Thị Thật PIRRONE Elena

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL GEORGI Pfeiffer BARALE Francesca KOCH Franziska NELSON Josie SMITH Abi CIABOCCO Eleonora

Team Visma-Lease a Bike VOS Marianne ACHTEREEKTE Carlijn NOOIJEN Lieke RIEDMANN Linda VAN EMPEL Fem VIGIE Margaux

Uno-X Mobility CONFALONIERI Maria Giulia ANDERSEN Susanne BARKER Elinor BERG EDSETH Marte BOILARD Simone KOSTER Anouska 

Cofidis ALZINI Martina BERTEAU Victoire FORTIN Valentine KERN Špela ROY Sarah VAN HAAFTEN Kirstie

Arkéa-B&B Hotels CLAES Lotte COLJÉ Maaike DRUMMOND Michaela FAHLIN Emilia MORICHON Anais SQUIBAN Maëva

Chevalmeire BEX Nathalie ERIKSEN Malin DOBBELAERE Jana KIEKENS Cleo NILSSON Hanna WATTS Emily

EF Education-Cannondale KESSLER Nina BORGHESI Letizia JACKSON Alison LABECKI Coryn RÜEGG Noemi FAULKNER Kristen

Lifeplus-Wahoo BURLOVÁ Kristýna FRANZ Heidi GONZÁLEZ Alicia HARRIS Ella RICHARDSON Kate RYSZ Kaja

Lotto Dstny Ladies DE JONG Thalita AINTILA Wilma DE KEERSMAEKER Audrey BASTIAENSSEN Fauve DOCX Mieke VAN DE GUCHTE Quinty

Proximus-Cyclis CT AERNOUTS Amber BOSKAMP Lente DE GROOT Marieke LÓPEZ Marga MEERTENS Lone VEERMAN Deborah

Team Coop-Repsol RÅNES BYE Camilla GRANGIER India GREENWOOD Monica HAUGSET Sigrid Ytterhus JØRGENSEN Tiril TACEY April

VolkerWessels DEMEY Valerie DIJKSTRA Anneke JANSEN Eline MEERT Marieke SOUREN Scarlett VANPACHTENBEKE Margot

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After cutting his teeth on local and national newspapers, James began at Cycling Weekly as a sub-editor in 2000 when the current office was literally all fields. 

Eventually becoming chief sub-editor, in 2016 he switched to the job of full-time writer, and covers news, racing and features.

A lifelong cyclist and cycling fan, James's racing days (and most of his fitness) are now behind him. But he still rides regularly, both on the road and on the gravelly stuff.

The bike ridden by Lidl-Trek riders at the Tour de France warm-up race features both model names

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How to watch the 2024 Tour of Flanders | Global options for live TV, streaming and highlights

How to catch the women’s and men’s racing in the second monument of the season

POOL JAN DE MEULENEIR/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images

The 2024 men's and women's Tour of Flanders takes place on Sunday 31 March.

The second monument of the season, the Ronde van Vlaanderen is defined by its steep cobbled climbs.

The 270.8km men's race starts in Antwerp and finishes in Oudenaarde, which has hosted the finish since Peter Sagan's win in 2016. The men's route features 17 cobbled climbs in total, including the Koppenberg, Valkenberg, Wolvenberg and others.

The women's race is 163km, starting and finishing in Oudenaarde. The women's route includes 12 bergs, finishing with a double-headed ascent of the Kwaremont and Paterberg.

Here's how to see the action live on TV, streaming online or on catch-up.

2024 Tour of Flanders race schedule

The women’s race starts in Oudenaarde at 1.24pm CEST and is expected to finish around 5.55pm.

The men's race starts at 10am CEST and is due to finish around 4:45pm.

How can I watch the 2024 Tour of Flanders live in the UK?

Eurosport 1 and Discovery+ will show live coverage of the men's and women's editions of the 2024 Tour of Flanders.

Discovery+ coverage of the men's race kicks off at 8.30am UK time, finishing up at 3.45pm. Eurosport 1 starts at 9.45am, wrapping up at 4.45pm.

For a full bumper day of racing viewing, you can tune in at 2pm on Discover+ for the women's race, or 4.45pm on Eurosport 1. Coverage ends at 5.50pm and 6.30pm respectively.

If you fancy a Sunday lie-in, don't forget the clocks change on Sunday 31 March.

A standard Eurosport/Discovery+ subscription costs £6.99 per month and is available on a range of platforms, including tablet, mobile, TV with Chromecast or AirPlay, Android TV and Apple TV.

How can I watch the 2024 Tour of Flanders live in the US?

FloBikes will show the Tour of Flanders in the US. Coverage starts for the men's race at 3.55am EST and the women's race at 9am EST. FloBikes requires a subscription.

How can I watch the 2024 Tour of Flanders live in Australia?

SBS will be covering the women’s and men’s racing live and on-demand. Coverage starts at 9.55am AEDT for the men's race and 3pm AEDT for the women's event.

How else can I watch the 2024 Tour of Flanders?

There’s live terrestrial coverage in many European countries.

Italian national broadcaster RAI will be broadcasting the race live and on-demand. RTBF and VRT will be showing the race in full in Belgium. ESPN will also show the event in many territories outside of Europe.

If you’ve got a VPN, you may be able to register, log in to its website and watch live.

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Tour of Flanders winners 1913-2023

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Five things to look out for ahead of the Tour of Flanders

A fter his display of supreme dominance at the E3 Classic on Friday , much of the talk going into Gent-Wevelgem was around whether or not Mathieu van der Poel was beatable. Last year, the question was how do you disrupt the winning machine that was Visma-Lease a Bike. This year, it's the Classics winning double act of Jasper Philipsen and the reigning world champion. 

Mads Pedersen and his teammates answered that question in some style last weekend. It had been evident that Lidl-Trek had a battle plan in place for the Classics. Signs of it coming to life were clear at Milan-San Remo, it was fine tuned at E3, and it came together perfectly on Sunday . 

One rider's, or team’s, dominance in any field of racing can make for a somewhat dull affair for those watching on. Fortunately, Lidl-Trek seem to have grabbed their newfound status with both hands and look capable of upsetting the proverbial apple cart in both the men’s and women’s pelotons in the weeks and races to come. 

Elisa Balsamo has already underlined her status as chief SD Worx disruptor and it looks like Pedersen and Jasper Stuyven are set to follow suit in the men’s field in the coming weeks too. 

As well as this, we have picked out some other plotlines to follow in the coming fortnight once the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix arrive. 

Visma-Lease a Bike weakened by Laporte absence

The reigning European champion, Christophe Laporte, proved himself to be instrumental in much of his team’s Classic success last year. Since joining from Cofidis, Laporte has become a vital cog in the Visma-Lease a Bike machine and a key ally to the likes of Wout van Aert as they go in search of Flanders and Roubaix victory. 

The team announced on Monday that Laporte has been ruled out of Dwars door Vlaanderen, a race he won last year, and the Tour of Flanders this week in what will come as a hammer blow to Van Aert’s big plans. 

According to Visma-Lease a Bike, Laporte is suffering with a stomach bug as well as a problematic saddle sore. 

Since winning Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Opening Weekend , the team has struggled to reassert its dominance in the races that followed. A spate of illness and injury affecting key riders has been the main issue and Laporte’s condition will only add to their woes. 

The Frenchman will have been one rider earmarked to be last man standing alongside Van Aert in terms of teammates when the sharp end of both upcoming Monuments arrives. 

Laporte’s absence will only add to the expectation already on the shoulders of recently crowned Paris-Nice champion, Matteo Jorgenson . He’s the man that we predict will be highlighted as Van Aert's potential right hand man instead. 

Lidl-Trek continue to flex their tactical muscles

Numbers is the key, according to Lidl-Trek, combined with experience if you want to isolate and ultimately beat Van der Poel in his own backyard this Spring. 

The American team had both in abundance last weekend and the core of the squad will almost certainly stay the same for both Flanders and Roubaix. 

In Stuyven and Pedersen, Trek have two riders as in sync as Alpecin-Deceuninck's Van der Poel and Philipsen and who are both just as willing as the Alpecin duo to bury themselves for one another, a quality not all teams are lucky to possess. 

Expect to see their tactical plan continue to gather momentum as the Classics roll on. It was evident that it was starting to build at San Remo, and has all the qualities to reach the perfect crescendo in the Roubaix velodrome soon. 

FDJ-Suez and Movistar look to upset the favourites

After watching Lidl-Trek of late in the women’s peloton, Sunday showed that other teams are starting to take note of where the likes of SD Worx-Protime may be fallible. 

The general consensus seems to be to go long in order to put them under pressure, or ignite the final kilometres as SD Worx look to assemble their sprint train for Lorena Wiebes. Both Movistar and FDJ-Suez threw caution to the wind and did just that in the closing stages of Sunday’s women’s edition of Gent-Wevelgem. 

Wiebes got the win, but ultimately she was made to work for it. Firstly Emma Norsgaard and Floortje Mackaij got up the road in a bid to shake things up and force some of the favourites teams to chase. Once they were brought back in, FDJ did similar and launched Grace Brown on the attack with just under three kilometres to the line.  

Brown is a strong time triallist, capable of going early and making a move stick. Her attack will have set alarm bells ringing amongst the SD Worx leadout train. Ultimately, it wasn’t to be, but even if it's not Brown, others will have been buoyed by Movistar and FDJ’s tactics last weekend and may try similar to stop Kopecky in both Flanders and Roubaix. 

Laurence Pithie continues to grow in confidence

Even before he pulled on the race leader’s yellow jersey at Paris-Nice , Kiwi Laurence Pithie was already being talked up as a potential Classics future star. 

At the race to the sun, the Groupama-FDJ rider backed up his abilities on the bike with his eloquence off it and similarly to the likes of Remco Evenepoel at an early age, he already seemed perfectly comfortable in the spotlight of elite level bike racing. 

Pithie backed that up last weekend at Gent-Wevelgem, getting amongst it and chucking his weight around against the likes of Van der Poel and Pedersen as they looked to contest the win. He looked right at home too and not at all fazed by the calibre of rider he was up against. 

The New Zealander faded as the race reached its conclusion but will be high on confidence after such a performance. Groupama FDJ appear to have found their ideal Classics man to sit alongside Stefan Küng as their best hope of victory in these settings on the cobbles. 

Alongside up and coming British pro Sam Watson, the French team could have quite some firepower in the races to come. 

Puck Pieterse takes aim at Monument victory

Off-road star Puck Pieterse is still relatively new to road racing, but is already showing herself to be quite the match for some of the disciplines biggest names. 

The Dutch rider finished seventh at Gent-Wevelgem, her longest road race to date, and has already started to talk herself up as a potential Flanders winner. Pieterse has already podiumed this season against Lotte Kopecky, Elisa Balsamo and Wiebes and shown that she is well at home on the WorldTour. 

Flanders is set to be her last appearance of the Classics season before she switches her focus to the Paris Olympics and she told Cyclingnews that she has her eye on the top step of the podium for her final outing this year. 

“With how it’s going now, of course, you have to dream of the highest and I think we have a really good team,” she said. 

“We worked really well together here at Gent-Wevelgem, so I think even winning is possible.”

1998 Tour of Flanders (Q2048107)

Identifiers, wikipedia (8 entries).

• arwiki طواف فلاندرز 1998
• cawiki Tour de Flandes 1998
• dewiki Flandern-Rundfahrt 1998
• enwiki 1998 Tour of Flanders
• eswiki Tour de Flandes 1998
• frwiki Tour des Flandres 1998
• itwiki Giro delle Fiandre 1998
• nlwiki Ronde van Vlaanderen 1998

Wikibooks (0 entries)

Wikinews (0 entries), wikiquote (0 entries), wikisource (0 entries), wikiversity (0 entries), wikivoyage (0 entries), wiktionary (0 entries), multilingual sites (0 entries).

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