Ronde van Vlaanderen

The Tour of Flanders is a men's one-day bike race, one of cycling's five Monuments, normally held in early April in Belgium. The route crosses Flanders over short, steep and often cobbled climbs. First run in 1913, it finishes in Oudenaarde after a closing circuit over the Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg.

The Tour of Flanders, in Dutch the Ronde van Vlaanderen, is Belgium’s cobbled Monument, first raced in 1913 by a newspaper that wanted a race for Flemish readers. Its finale has moved from the Muur van Geraardsbergen and Meerbeke to the Oude Kwaremont, the Paterberg and Oudenaarde, and eight riders share the record of three wins.

What is the Tour of Flanders?

The Tour of Flanders, officially the Ronde van Vlaanderen, is a one-day professional bike race in Belgium, held in spring on the short, steep and often cobbled climbs of the Flemish Ardennes. It is the second of the season’s five Monuments, the one-day races that have each been run for more than a hundred years: Milano-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia.

How long is the Tour of Flanders?

The men’s Tour of Flanders is about 270 kilometers long, roughly 168 miles, and finishes in Oudenaarde. The 2026 route measured 271 kilometers from Antwerp, with 16 climbs and six flat cobbled sections.

Karel Van Wijnendaele and the first Ronde in 1913

The newspaper was Sportwereld, which first appeared in September 1912 under the editorial direction of Leon Van den Haute and Karel Van Wijnendaele. Van Wijnendaele was born Karel Steyaert in 1882 and had named himself after his birthplace. They published in Dutch, which had been an official language of Belgium only since 1898, and Van Wijnendaele later explained why: “We wanted to publish a paper to speak to our own Flemish people in their own language and give them confidence as Flandrians.” In February 1913 they announced a race of their own for that May.

The first Ronde was a 324-kilometer loop through East and West Flanders that started and finished in Ghent. Thirty-six Belgians and one Frenchman started, and Paul Deman won in a little over 12 hours. The roads were cobbled, but the route had no hills. The Tiegemberg and the Kwaremont were added in 1919, when the race returned after the First World War, and in 1950 Van Wijnendaele put the Muur van Geraardsbergen on the route.

Magni’s three in a row and Merckx’s 1969 solo

In that first year of the Muur, Fiorenzo Magni attacked on it and won alone, more than two minutes ahead of Briek Schotte. The Italian had also won in 1949 and won again in 1951, and he is still the only rider to take the Ronde three years running.

Eddy Merckx won in 1969 after about 70 kilometers alone in cold rain, 5 minutes 36 seconds ahead of Felice Gimondi. He won once more, in 1975. Eric Leman won in 1970, 1972 and 1973, and Merckx finished third behind him in the first and last of those.

The Muur van Geraardsbergen and the Meerbeke finish

From 1973 to 2011 the Ronde finished in Meerbeke, a district of Ninove, with the Muur and the Bosberg as its last two climbs. Leman was the first winner there. Local fans said of the Muur, also called the Kapelmuur, that it chooses the winner.

On April 7, 1985, in cold rain, Eric Vanderaerden and his teammate Phil Anderson caught Hennie Kuiper at the foot of the Muur. Vanderaerden rode clear on the climb, covered the last 20 kilometers alone and reached Meerbeke less than a minute ahead of Anderson. Only 24 riders finished. In 2010 Fabian Cancellara dropped Tom Boonen on the same climb and won alone.

Why the finish moved to Oudenaarde in 2012

The organizers moved the finish to Oudenaarde because the crowds were in the Flemish Ardennes and the road to Meerbeke led away from them. “On the long and straight roads there were seldom any spectators,” said Wouter Vandenhaute, head of the organizing company, when he presented the route. A closing circuit let fans see the riders three times in the last 90 minutes, kept spectators from moving around the course as much, and gave the organizer room for VIP areas on the Oude Kwaremont with tickets sold at a premium.

The Muur and the Bosberg no longer fit the route and were dropped. Stijn Devolder, the winner in 2008 and 2009, said: “This is no longer the Ronde van Vlaanderen.” Vandenhaute called the new finale a trial to be judged after two years. The race still finished in Oudenaarde in 2026.

The Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg circuit

The Oude Kwaremont is the longest cobbled climb of the race: 2.2 kilometers at an average of 4 percent, with a steepest stretch of 11.6 percent in the middle. The Paterberg is 360 meters long at an average of 12.9 percent and reaches 20.3 percent near the top. In 2026 the men climbed the Kwaremont three times and the Paterberg twice, the last time 13.3 kilometers from the finish.

The first Oudenaarde edition ended in a three-rider sprint, which Boonen won from Filippo Pozzato and Alessandro Ballan. A year later Cancellara left Peter Sagan and Jürgen Roelandts behind on the Paterberg. Sagan did the same to Sep Vanmarcke in 2016 and won alone.

Who has won the Tour of Flanders most often?

Nobody has won the Ronde more than three times, and eight riders have done that. Achiel Buysse was the first, with wins in 1940, 1941 and 1943, and Magni and Leman followed. Johan Museeuw won in 1993, 1995 and 1998, Boonen in 2005, 2006 and 2012, and Cancellara in 2010, 2013 and 2014. Mathieu van der Poel joined them in 2024 and Tadej Pogačar in 2026.

Van der Poel and Pogačar from 2020 to 2026

Van der Poel and Pogačar won six of the seven editions from 2020 to 2026, and Kasper Asgreen took the other, in 2021, with Van der Poel second. Van der Poel’s first win, in 2020, came by a bike throw over Wout van Aert after the two had ridden the last 35 kilometers together. In 2024, in the rain, he attacked on the Koppenberg with 45 kilometers left and won by 1 minute 2 seconds. He finished on the podium in all seven of those editions.

Pogačar won in 2023 by dropping Van der Poel on the last ascent of the Oude Kwaremont and finishing 17 seconds ahead of him. He became the third rider to win both the Tour de France and the Ronde, after Louison Bobet and Merckx. In 2025, as world champion, he went clear on the same climb and won by 1 minute 1 second over Mads Pedersen.

In 2026 he attacked on the second ascent of the Kwaremont with about 55 kilometers left, and only Van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel, in his first Ronde, could follow. Evenepoel was dropped on the Paterberg and Van der Poel on the last Kwaremont. Pogačar won by 34 seconds, his third victory in four years, and Evenepoel finished third.

A closing circuit over the Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg lets spectators see the riders three times in the last 90 minutes. Four editions in a row, from 2023 to 2026, were won alone. Eight riders share the record of three wins, the latest of them Mathieu van der Poel in 2024 and Tadej Pogačar in 2026.