Ronde van Vlaanderen

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Ronde van Vlaanderen

Race details
Date	Early April
Region	Flanders, Belgium
English name	Tour of Flanders
Local name(s)	Ronde van Vlaanderen (Dutch)
Nickname(s)	De Ronde
Discipline	Road
Competition	UCI ProTour
Type	Monument one-day race
History
First edition	1913
Editions	92 (as of 2008)
First winner	Paul Deman
Most wins	3 times: Achiel Buysse Fiorenzo Magni Eric Leman Johan Museeuw
Most recent	Stijn Devolder

The Ronde van Vlaanderen (English: Tour of Flanders) is a road cycling race held in Flanders, Belgium. It is held every spring, exactly one week before Paris-Roubaix, and it used to be part of the UCI Road World Cup. It is now part of the UCI ProTour and is regarded as one of the 'Monuments' of the European professional cycling calendar. It is currently considered the most important cycling race in Flanders. The nickname of the race is Vlaanderens mooiste (Dutch for "Flanders's finest").

[edit] History

German road racer Steffen Wesemann climbing the Muur van Geraardsbergen in the 2004 edition of the Ronde van Vlaanderen.

The race was initiated in 1913 by Karel van Wijnendaele, a former cyclist. He cooperated on the creation of the Sportwereld newspaper and wanted a Flemish race to rival Liège-Bastogne-Liège of the Wallonia region of Belgium.^[1] Initially not a big success, the race had a length of 330 kilometres and only 37 race cyclists participated and the following year there were only 10 left. The race was interrupted by World War I, but continued in 1919. In the 1920s and 1930s, the race became more popular as hills like Oude Kwaremont were included in the course. In 1923, Heiri Suter was the first foreign winner of the tour.^[2]

The race was originally held 14 days before Easter but this was often the same day as Milan-Sanremo. Later on it was organized one week later, just before Paris-Roubaix. In 1947 the season-long Challenge Desgrange-Colombo was created as a road bicycle racing competition including the most important cycling races. Paris-Roubaix and Ronde van Vlaanderen became the cobbled classic of the North.^[3]

The town of Oudenaarde, through which the Ronde habitually passes, has a museum - the Centrum Ronde van Vlaanderen - dedicated to the race.

[edit] Course

Winners of Paris-Roubaix and
Ronde van Vlaanderen

Rider	Country	Year
Henri Suter	Switzerland	1923
Romain Gijssels	Belgium	1932
Gaston Rebry	Belgium	1934
Raymond Impanis	Belgium	1954
Fred De Bruyne	Belgium	1957
Rik Van Looy	Belgium	1962
Roger De Vlaeminck	Belgium	1977
Peter van Petegem	Belgium	2003
Tom Boonen	Belgium	2005

The course contains many steep hills, often paved with cobblestones. While it is often compared to the Paris-Roubaix race in that both contain many cobbled sections, the Ronde's inclusion of many steep, and often cobbled, short hills make racing different compared to the flat Paris-Roubaix, where cobbled sections are harder and more technical.

The route does not change much from year-to-year. A major change was the inclusion of the steep Koppenberg climb in 2003, having been refurbished from its previous disrepair. The 2007 edition saw another change with the Koppenberg being dropped once more, the inclusion of the Kluisberg and the Côte de Trieu, which were unavailable through roadworks in past years and the first ascent of the Eikenmolen.^[4] The 2008 edition will see the return of the Koppenberg as the city of Oudenaarde has renovated the climb.^[5]

Spectators try to watch the Ronde pass as many points as possible. The day before the race sees the cyclosportive (open) race version of the Ronde in which amateur cyclists participate in large numbers.

[edit] Hills

As of 2008, the 17 Ronde van Vlaanderen hills are:^[6]

[edit] Comments

Belgian cyclist Roger De Vlaeminck riding the Koppenberg in the Ronde van Vlaanderen. De Vlaeminck won the Ronde van Vlaanderen in 1977.

• "Only those who are in top condition can say that the Ronde is not hard. For everyone else, it's the Way of the Cross." -Andrea Tafi^[7]

[edit] Winners

Rider Team 1913 Paul Deman 1914 Marcel Buysse 1915 No race 1916 No race 1917 No race 1918 No race 1919 Henri van Lerberghe 1920 Jules van Hevel 1921 René Vermandel 1922 Léon De Vos 1923 Heiri Suter 1924 Gérard Debaets 1925 Julien Delbecque 1926 Denis Verschueren 1927 Gérard Debaets 1928 Jan Mertens 1929 Jef Dervaes 1930 Frans Bonduel 1931 Romain Gijssels 1932 Romain Gijssels 1933 Alfons Schepers 1934 Gaston Rebry 1935 Louis Duerloo 1936 Louis Hardiquest 1937 Michel D'Hooghe 1938 Edgard de Caluwé 1939 Karel Kaers 1940 Achiel Buysse 1941 Achiel Buysse 1942 Briek Schotte 1943 Achiel Buysse 1944 Rik van Steenbergen 1945 Sylvain Grysolle 1946 Rik van Steenbergen 1947 Emiel Faignaert 1948 Briek Schotte 1949 Fiorenzo Magni 1950 Fiorenzo Magni 1951 Fiorenzo Magni 1952 Roger Decock 1953 Wim van Est 1954 Raymond Impanis 1955 Louison Bobet 1956 Jean Forestier 1957 Fred De Bruyne 1958 Germain Derijcke 1959 Rik van Looy 1960 Arthur De Cabooter 1961 Tom Simpson 1962 Rik van Looy 1963 Noel Foré 1964 Rudi Altig 1965 Jo De Roo Televizier 1966 Edward Sels Solo Superia 1967 Dino Zandegu Salvarani

Rider Team 1968 Walter Godefroot Flandria 1969 Eddy Merckx Faema 1970 Eric Leman Flandria-Mars 1971 Evert Dolman Flandria 1972 Eric Leman Bic 1973 Eric Leman Peugeot (cycling team) 1974 Kees Bal Gan Mercier 1975 Eddy Merckx Molteni 1976 Walter Planckaert Mars Pils 1977 Roger De Vlaeminck Brooklyn 1978 Walter Godefroot Ijsboerke 1979 Jan Raas TI-Raleigh 1980 Michel Pollentier Splendor Admiral 1981 Hennie Kuiper DAF Trucks 1982 René Martens DAF Trucks 1983 Jan Raas TI Raleigh 1984 Johan Lammerts Panasonic Raleigh 1985 Eric Vanderaerden Panasonic-Raleigh 1986 Adri van der Poel Kwantum 1987 Claude Criquielion Hitachi Marc Rossin 1988 Eddy Planckaert AD Renting 1989 Edwig van Hooydonck Superconflex 1990 Moreno Argentin Ariostea 1991 Edwig van Hooydonck Buckler Colnago 1992 Jacky Durand Castorama 1993 Johan Museeuw GB-MG 1994 Gianni Bugno Team Polti 1995 Johan Museeuw Mapei (cycling team) 1996 Michele Bartoli MG Maglifico 1997 Rolf Sørensen Rabobank 1998 Johan Museeuw Mapei (cycling team) 1999 Peter van Petegem TVM Farm Frites 2000 Andrei Tchmil Lotto-Adecco 2001 Gianluca Bortolami Vini Caldirola 2002 Andrea Tafi Mapei (cycling team) 2003 Peter van Petegem Lotto-Domo 2004 Steffen Wesemann T-Mobile Team 2005 Tom Boonen Quick Step 2006 Tom Boonen Quick Step-Innergetic 2007 Alessandro Ballan Lampre-Fondital 2008 Stijn Devolder Quick Step

[edit] Victories per country

#	Country	Victories
1.	Belgium	65
2.	Italy	10
3.	Netherlands	9
4.	France	3
5.	Germany	2
6.	Denmark	1
6.	United Kingdom	1
6.	Switzerland	1

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Cyclosportive - ride the course the day before
• The Centrum Ronde van Vlaanderen website (English)
• 2008 Tour of Flanders video, photos and results