| Race details | |
|---|---|
| Date | Early April |
| Region | Flanders, Belgium |
| Local name(s) | Ronde van Vlaanderen (Dutch) |
| Nickname(s) | De Ronde Vlaanderens mooiste Flanders' finest |
| Discipline | Road |
| Competition | UCI World Tour |
| Type | Monument one-day race |
| History | |
| First edition | 1913 |
| Editions | 95 (as of 2011) |
| First winner | Paul Deman (BEL) |
| Most wins |
|
| Most recent | Nick Nuyens (BEL) |
The Tour of Flanders (Dutch: Ronde van Vlaanderen, French: Tour des Flandres) is a Flanders Classics road cycling race held in Belgium every spring, a week before the Paris–Roubaix road race. It is part of the UCI World Tour and one of the so-called monuments of the European professional calendar. It is the most important cycling race in Flanders. Its nickname is Vlaanderens mooiste (Dutch for "Flanders' finest").
Contents |
The Tour of Flanders was conceived of in 1913 by Karel Van Wijnendaele, co-founder of the sportspaper 'Sportwereld'. In that era it was customary for publishers of newspapers and magazines to organise cycling races as a way of promoting circulation.
Prior to WWII the race was usually held on the same day as the Italian Milan–San Remo competition. Prominent Italian and French racers preferred the latter which explains why there was only a single non-Belgian winner before WWII. After WWII the race grew in importance when it became a part of the Challenge Desgrange-Colombo which was a precursor to today's UCI ProTour. Since the 2005 inception of the ProTour, the Tour of Flanders has been a major component.
Record holders are the Belgians Achiel Buysse, Eric Leman and Johan Museeuw and the Italian Fiorenzo Magni, each with three victories.
Cycling was in a poor state across Belgium at the start of the 20th century. Velodromes were closing and there were no longer national championships on the road or track.[1][2] The one big Belgian race, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, was in the French-speaking south. As the gloom increased, Odile Defraye became the first Belgian to win the Tour de France, in 1912.[3] He was 20 years old and, even if he was riding for a French team, Alcyon, he symbolised a potential rise for Belgian cycling. His victory inspired August De Maeght, director of the Société Belge d'Imprimerie, to publish a weekly sports magazine called Sportwereld.[1][4]
Sportwereld 's most prominent cycling writer was Carolus ("Karel") Ludovicus Steyaert,[5] who wrote as Karel van Wijnendaele, the name by which he became best known. [n 1][6][7] Van Wijnendaele was the fifth of 15 children of a family in the hamlet of Wijnendaele (Wijnendale),[8] near Torhout. His father, a flax worker, died when Karel was 18 months old.[6] He wrote in 1942: "Being born into a poor family, that was my strength. If you're brought up without frills [sober opgekweekt wordt] and you know what hunger is [door een mager leven gaat], it makes you hard enough to withstand bike races." He left school at 14 and worked for a baker, looked after cows, washed bottles and delivered parcels. He worked for French-speaking families in Brussels and Ostend and felt humiliated by the way they treated him.[5]
He tried cycle-racing, won a few prizes but made little impression. He turned instead to writing about cycling as regional correspondent, first for De Thourentenaer, his local paper, then from 1909 for Onze Kampioenen in Antwerp and Sportvriend in Izegem.[9] It was then that he adopted his pen-name.[5] That attracted the attention of De Maeght and his collaborator, the race organiser Len van de Haute, with whom van Wijnendaele had collaborated at Sportvriend.[9] The two travelled to Torhout and asked van Wijnendaele if he would join a new paper to be called Sportwereld. Van Wijnendaele said he replied "Could be [misschien wel]."[9] The first issue appeared in time for the Championship of Flanders on 12 September 1912. Van Wijnendaele became its editor on 1 January 1913. He said:
We thought there was a lot we could do in the area. We also wanted to publish a paper to speak to our own Flemish people in their own language and give them confidence as Flandrians. We conducted a 10-year war, for instance, with the French-speaking management of the national cycling federation in Brussels. And we won it.[10]
On 25 May the same year he organised the first Tour of Flanders, crossing Dutch-speaking Belgium because "all Flemish cities had to contribute to the liberation of the Flemish people".[5] It finished on the track at Mariakerke, now a suburb of Ghent, and ran through Sint-Niklaas, Aalst, Oudenaarde, Kortrijk, Veurne, Ostend, Torhout, Roeselare and Bruges.[11] It covered 330 km, all on bad roads with just the occasional cycle path. There were 27 riders.[2] The race finished on a wooden track that circled a lake in Mariakerke, where ticket sales covered only half the prizes.[2]
The first race (1913) was won by Paul Deman, a 25-year-old who went on to win Bordeaux–Paris in 1914. His career almost ended with the First World War. He joined Belgium's espionage underground war effort and smuggled documents, via bicycle into the neutral Netherlands. After many trips he was arrested by the Germans, jailed in Leuven and was held for execution. The Armistice saved him.[n 2] He started racing again and won Paris–Roubaix in 1920 and Paris–Tours in 1923.[12]
The Ronde van Vlaanderen of 1913 had 27 riders, followed by five cars. In 1914 the field was 47. A disappointed van Wijnendaele said later:
Sportwereld was so young and so small for the big Ronde that we wanted. We had bitten off more than we could chew (verder springen dan zijn stok lang is). It was hard, seeing a band of second-class riders riding round Flanders, scraping up a handful of centimes to help cover the costs. The same happened in 1914. No van Hauwaert,[n 3] no Masselis, no Defraeye [sic], no Mosson, no Mottiat, no van den Berghe, all forbidden to take part by their French bike companies.[2]
However, there were hints of the growing status of the race as a symbol of Flemish nationalism. Marcel Buysse insisted on taking part even though his Alcyon team had ordered Belgian riders not to participate.[13] The race was interrupted by World War I[14] By the 1930s, there were 116 riders and seven times as many cars and motorbikes following them, said Het Nieuwsblad. The historian, Fer Schroeders said:
In the previous years, De Ronde had been above all an affair for Flandrians. For a long time ridden on the same day as Milan – San Remo, the Tour of Flanders had, until 1948, just one sole foreign winner, the Swiss Henri Suter. And so it wasn't until after the Second World War that the race became international, the organiser changing the date to meet the needs of the new Challenge Desgrange-Colombo[n 4] That said, the Flandrians never stopped thinking that 'their' Ronde was a private affair, giving little chance to the foreign opposition to show itself.[15]
Above all, he said, the northern Belgians came into their own on the repeated hills and recovered quickly after them. He quoted the Walloon writer, Paul Beving, and his tribute to his northern countrymen's race:
La Ronde is as much part of the heritage of the Flemish people as the processions of Veurne and Bruges, the festival of cats at Ypres[n 5] or the ship blessing at Ostend. This cycle race is the most fabulous of all the Flemish festivals [kermesses]. No other race creates such an atmosphere, such a popular fervour.[15]
Prizes for the first race came to 1,100 francs. By 1935 they had grown to 12,500 francs, with 2,500 for the winner down to 125 francs for the 19th place finisher (at a time when a newspaper cost 40 centimes).[16] In 1938 there was a bonus of 100 francs for any rider who led by 30 minutes. Prizes during the war years were whatever the organisers could find, including boxes of razors, a stove, bottles of wine and cycling equipment. There were 100 francs in 1948 "for the last rider to reach Eeklo. The last four riders in 1949 were given bottles of massage oil.
The Ronde, in its first decades, followed the general rule that each individual racer was responsible for their own problems. Help from others was banned and riders carried spare tyres looped round their shoulders to cope with punctures. It could take two or three minutes to change and inflate a tyre, longer it if was cold or there were other problems. Tyres weighed around 500g (compared to currently around 200g). A rim or any other part of the bike that broke spelled the end of the race and still left the rider with the further problem of getting to the finish.
Conditions became easier in the 1930s and riders were allowed to accept a rain jacket, a spare tyre and a pump, but only in an emergency and at the referees' discretion. A change of bike was allowed if a frame, wheel or handlebar broke but riders were still expected to ride with spare tyres and a pump. Riders in the 1940s were required to hand their bikes to officials the day before the race to have them identified with a lead seal, later with a ring similar to that fitted to racing pigeons. In that way the referees, or commissaires could see if a rider had illegally changed bikes.
The Ronde moved towards modern rules in 1951, with riders allowed limited help from team cars and to combine with others from the same team on the road. By 1955 they could accept a replacement bike from a team-mate but not from a car. The rules changed from year to year until they resembled those of today by the end of the 1950s.
Van Wijnendaele's magazine, Sportwereld, merged, in 1939, with Het Nieuwsblad, a daily newspaper first published in 1918. Sportwereld was turned into the sports section of Het Nieuwsblad and its sister paper, De Standaard. War broke out that year and, in May 1940, German troops occupied Belgium.[17] The government escaped to London and the king, Léopold III, was held under house arrest.[17] Het Nieuwsblad changed its name to Het Algemeen Nieuws-Sportwereld and it continued to organise the Ronde.
The Ronde is the only classic to have been held on German-occupied territory during the Second World War,[18] in agreement with the German command. The Germans, says the writer Gabe Konrad, "not only allowed and enjoyed the race but helped police the route as well."[19] That led to accusations of collaboration.[20][21] De Standaard and Het Algemeen Nieuws-Sportwereld were sequestered by the state when peace returned and several general journalists, although largely not sports reporters, were punished for collaboration.[22] Van Wijnendaele was forbidden to work as a journalist for the rest of his life, a ban lifted when he produced a letter of support from General Bernard Montgomery, confirming that van Wijnendaele had hidden downed British pilots in his house.[23]
A rival newspaper, Het Volk started a rival race in 1945, the Omloop van Vlaanderen, in contrast to what it saw as the Ronde's closeness to the Germans.[21] The Ronde's organisers protested that the name was too close to their own - in Dutch there is little difference between ronde and omloop - and the Belgian cycling federation told Het Volk to change their name. That race became the Omloop Het Volk.[n 6]
Van Wijnendaele could count the spectators at the end of the first Rondes, and the same went for those along the road. By the 1930s things had changed enough that the writer, Stijn Streuvels,[n 7] wrote to Sportwereld in 1937 that the Ronde as seen from his house in Ingooigem was "more a procession of cars than of riders." The historian Rik Vanwalleghem speaks of a "wild rodeo" of spectators driving behind the race and seeking short cuts across the course to see the race pass several times. He said the police estimated the crowd for early races at 500,000. They followed the race, overtook it when they could, or stood so thick by the roadside in villages and especially at control points that the riders sometimes had trouble passing.
Van Wijnendaele involved the gendarmerie in 1933 but to limited effect. The 1937 race was chaotic. On 30 March 1938, van Wijnendaele wrote in Sportwereld:
The influence of spectators never ended. In 1963, Louis De Lentdecker wrote in Het Nieuwsblad:
The start was in Ghent until 1976, first from the Korenmarkt, then close to St-Pieters train station, when riders signed on at the Albert hotel in Clementinlaan. The race was neutralised as far as Mariakerke. A mass was held for riders before the start in the 1950s.
The race moved to the market square at Sint-Niklaas in 1977, mainly because it had more space for the growing number of spectators. Race briefings were held in the town hall. The square was administered by the chief of police, Roger Schepens. By 1988 the start had grown into a two-day affair with a spectacle presented by BRT television the previous night.
The contract with St-Niklaas ended in 1998 and the race moved to Bruges, where the mayor, Patrick Moenaert, saw the move as part of a campaign to bring life to the centre of the city. Bruges, or Brugge as it is known in the north, is a small city dependent on tourists attracted by its history and architecture; Moenaert wanted to make it less dependent on celebrating its past.[25][n 8]
The finish in 1913 was on a track around a lake in Mariakerke (see above). It moved in 1914 to the Deeske Porter velodrome at Evergem where, van Winendaele recounted, "there were a good 20 more spectators than the previous year."[2]
On Sep 16, 2011, it was announced that Oudenaarde signed a contract to organize the finish for the next two years.
The course has changed considerably. For the first 30 years it was a loop starting and ending in Ghent, although the finish moved every few years.
In 1913 the race at first went inland to St-Niklaas before turning a clockwise circle through Aalst, Kortrijk, out to the coast at Ostend and then back to Ghent with a detour to Roeselare. The course stayed the same in 1914 but without the leg to the coast.
In 1919 the direction turned to counter-clockwise, turning south at Brugge. The route extended to the coast in 1920 and stayed that way until 1938, heading out through Eeklo and Brugge to reach the North Sea between Ostend and Blankenberge. Van Wijnendaele included the coast through his sentimental vision of Flanders.[26][n 9] The ride there was often into a strong wind that inhibited attacks but spelled the end for those left behind the shelter of the main field. Turning left at the sea meant the wind blew from the side, producing the diagonal line of riders, each sheltering the other, characteristic of the Ronde and other Belgian races.[n 10]
It changed with the outbreak of war because access to the coast was restricted. The wartime route was a circle within the heart of Flanders but the return of peace brought the race back to its pre-War route in 1946. It stayed much the same until 1952, when the ride to the coast was abandoned and the route turned off in Brugge. The stretch to and along the coast came back in 1961 only to disappear again in 1964. From 1973 the race was no longer a loop. It started in Ghent and finished in Meerbeke, still not taking in the sea. Then Ghent was abandoned in 1977 and the start was moved to the neighbouring city of Sint-Niklaas. The race now curved only around inland Flanders, going no further west than Eeklo or Roeselare. Only the move of the start to Bruges brought the race back along the North Sea, although avoiding almost all the long windy ride to get there. The move from Sint-Niklaas to Bruges brought criticism unrelated to the route change. Until then it had been a tradition that spectators could mix and meet with riders before the start. Fer Schroeder said:
"On the Grote Markt at St-Niklaas, at the foot of the magnificent town hall, the start of the Ronde was always a privileged moment. The riders came there to sign their papers for the race before happily going to meet their fans, giving autographs, posing for a souvenir photograph with a young admirer. So far as that is concerned, times and customs have changed since 1998 and the five-year agreement with the city of Bruges. Now there are railings to hold back the public from mixing with the riders. The start of the Ronde van Vlaanderen has manifestly lost, in its new configuration, everything that made it charming."[27]
The strategic part of the race comes after it has turned back inland, running just north of the French border. The course goes into the only short, sharp hills in the otherwise flat Flanders countryside. The route twists and turns to ride as many as possible. Some of the hills are cobbled and one - the Koppenberg - has been dropped some years because of its danger and difficulty. It is hard for riders to take all the climb while still riding. A fall by one rider can bring down many others and, in turn, halt those behind. The stopped and fallen often have to continue to the top on foot. In 1984 only two riders - Phil Anderson and Jan Raas - got up without walking.
The Koppenberg returned in 2003 after its surface was improved. It was then dropped again in 2007, replaced by the Kluisberg and the Côte de Trieu, which had roadworks in previous years, and the first ascent of the Eikenmolen.[28] The Koppenberg came back in 2008 after the city of Oudenaarde renovated it.[29]
In post-war Belgium only the intercity roads were smooth. The Ronde had never set out to purposefully use poor roads - cobblestoned roads were all that were available if the race were to be long enough in a geographically small area. Belgium began picking itself up from devastation from the early 1950s and provinces began asphalting roads. But, for a while bad roads existed and the race used them because increasing car traffic made them convenient. But alarms started when the first classic hills were surfaced. Van Wijnendaele could no longer draw a circle round Flanders and call that the course. He had to buy maps of tracks and local footpaths. His staff talked in bars to men who knew the roads. "It was either that or risk the race ending in a mass sprint, and that's the last thing they wanted," said the historian Tom van Laere. Most back roads happened to be in the low hills between Ronse and Geraardsbergen. The mileage of cobbles decreased but the number of cobbled hills rose.
The short, sharp hills are a defining feature of the Ronde. The race has offered prizes to the first on many of them for more than half a century. There were 500 francs offered in 1940 for the first rider up the Kwaremont, Edelare and Kruisberg. A combined prize for performances on all the hills came in 1950, when Maurits Blomme won bedroom furniture as the best climber. The prize at the top of the Kruisberg in 1953 was a washing machine. The first up the Wall of Geraardsbergen won 18,000 francs. In 1950 Fiorenzo Magni won 30,000 francs in primes during a long breakaway, enough to buy a house.[30][n 11]
In 2008, the 17 hills - hellingen in Dutch - were:[31]
| Number | Name | Kilometer | Pavement | Length (in m) | Average climb (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kluisberg | 99 | asphalt | 1250 | 5,3 |
| 2 | Nokereberg | 118 | cobbles | 375 | 5,9 |
| 3 | Molenberg | 157 | cobbles/asphalt | 463 | 7 |
| 4 | Wolvenberg | 167 | asphalt | 645 | 7,9 |
| 5 | Oude Kwaremont | 185 | cobbles/asphalt | 2200 | 4 |
| 6 | Paterberg[n 12] | 189 | cobbles | 360 | 12,9 |
| 7 | Koppenberg | 195 | cobbles | 600 | 11,6 |
| 8 | Steenbeekdries | 200 | cobbles | 700 | 5,3 |
| 9 | Taaienberg | 203 | cobbles | 530 | 6,6 |
| Number | Name | Kilometer | Pavement | Length (in m) | Average climb (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Berg Ter Stene | 213 | asphalt | 1300 | 5 |
| 11 | Leberg | 216 | asphalt | 950 | 4,2 |
| 12 | Berendries | 222 | asphalt | 940 | 7 |
| 13 | Valkenberg | 227 | asphalt | 540 | 8,1 |
| 14 | Tenbosse | 233 | asphalt | 455 | 6,4 |
| 15 | Eikenmolen | 239 | asphalt | 610 | 5,9 |
| 16 | Muur-Kapelmuur | 249 | cobbles | 475 | 9,3 |
| 17 | Bosberg | 252 | cobbles/asphalt | 980 | 5,8 |
Kluisberg: Buissestraat, Bergstraat, Kluisbergen-Ruien. Climbs 66m from 27m to 93m. Maximum 11 per cent. First climbed 1955
Molenberg: Molenberg, Zwalm. Climbs 32m from 24m to 56m. Maximum 17 per cent. First climbed 1983.
Oude Kwaremont: Broekstraat, Kwaremontplein, Schilderstraat, Kluisbergen. Climbs 93m from 18m to 111m. Maximum 11 per cent. First climbed 1974.
Koppenberg: Steengat, Koppenberg, Oudenaarde-Melden. Climbs 64m from 13m to 77m; Maximum 25 per cent at inside of bend, otherwise 22 per cent. First climbed 1976.
Taaienberg: Taaienberg, Maarkedal-Etikhove. Climbs 45m from 37m to 82m. Maximum 18 per cent. First climbed 1974.
Berg ter Stene: Stene, Horebeke. Climbs 68m from 32m to 100m. Maximum 9 per cent. First climbed 1957
Leberg: Leberg, Brakel-Zegelsem. Climbs 39m from 60m to 9m. Maximum 15 per cent. First climbed 1977
Berendries: Berendries, Brakel-Sint-Maria-Oudenhove. Climbs 65m from 33m to 98m. Maximum 14 per cent. First climbed 1983
Valkenberg: Valkenbergstraat, Brakel-Nederbrakel. Climbs 53m from 45m to 98m. Maximum 15 per cent. First climbed 1959
Muur-Kapelmuur: Abdijstraat, Ouderbergstraat, Oudeberg, Gerardsbergen. Climbs 77m from 33m to 110m. Maximum 20 per cent. First climbed 1950
Bosberg: Kapellestraat, Geraardsbergen-Moerbeke. Climbs 40m from 65m to 105m. Maximum 11 per cent. First climbed 1975.
Tenbosse: Olifantstraat, Brakel. Climbs 28m from 45m to 73m. Maximum 14 per cent. First climbed 1997
In 2008 the retired Belgian professional, Peter Van Petegem, rode some of the course with a journalist and gave his reactions.[32]
The Molenberg: "Everyone wants to sit right at the front at the start of this hill. It's a real battle and then there's one big explosion. Those who don't manage to start the narrow climb smoothly risk getting blocked and having to put their foot down. In my prime, I did this climb three or four times in a row during training. That was the best way to train my legs for the explosion. [But] the Molenberg is only a test. It's far too early in the race to be decisive."
The Oude Kwaremont: "The run-up to this climb is a race within a race. It's nervous, and elbows and shoulders are the order of the day to secure the best spot at the front. You really need to be a nasty bastard to defend and keep your position, but I had no problem with that. I had guts. The Oude Kwaremont is not a climb where you just stretch your legs. It's very important to be in the first two rows in order to get in the right position. If you have to chase from the foot of the Oude Kwaremont, you've lost already."
The Paterberg: Out training, you can avoid the cobbles, but "this wouldn't be possible in the Tour of Flanders, since the gutter would be blocked with fences keeping the fans away from the road."
The Koppenberg: In 2006, "someone got his front wheel stuck in one of the grooves and it caused a chain reaction. Everyone had to climb on foot! The Koppenberg needed restoring again. They did a great job. The grooves are gone now, but if it rains, riders still have problems. It's incredibly steep and in wet conditions your rear wheel spins easily. Those kinds of hills spice up the race."
The Taaienberg: "I once saw Laurent Jalabert accelerating hard - really hard - on the Taaienberg. Right then, everyone thought the race was over, because Jalabert was like Superman. But on the Berendries, a few hills later, he completely collapsed. If you want to win the Tour of Flanders, you have to be cool, relaxed and attentive. The last thing you should do is throw your powers away too fast, too soon."
The Berg ter Stene replaces the Eikenberg. "It's a pity they've struck the Eikenberg from the course. It's a cobblestone climb and I'm in favour of leaving all those on the route.We don't have so many we should cherish the few we have. I like those kinds of climbs since they make the difference in the closing stages. It's possible for weaker riders to survive on a Tarmac climb, but not on a cobbled one. You get a far more nervous approach to the climb and only the fittest survive on the climb itself. The Berg ter Stene is a Formula One track compared to a cobbled hill."
The Leberg: "From the Leberg on, after the 2km cobblestone section of the Haaghoek, you can't afford to be outside the first 10 riders. That's the 200km mark. From that moment on, once you're in Brakel you need to be aware that it can happen at any time. This where the best of the race come forward."
Gabe Konrad writes: "The 1919 winner, van Lerberghe, showed up on the line in full racing attire but, for some reason, without a bike. He borrowed one from the brother-in-law of another competitor and, prior to the starting gun, threatened the pack that he was going to drop them all at their own front doors on the way to victory. Van Lerberghe hadn't had, and would never have, an impressive career, and all the cyclists laughed as he pulled away immediately - never to be caught. Just prior to entering the velodrome for the finish, van Lerberghe stopped off at a pub to take in a few beers. His manager, worrying that he would miss a chance at victory, had to track him down and get him back on the bike. After he had crossed the line and done his lap of honour, van Lerberghe stood in front of the crowd and, in all seriousness, told them 'to go home; I'm half a day ahead of the field.'"[19][n 13]
Karel Kaers, the youngest man to win the world road championship, also won the Ronde in 1939 - without intending to. For him, it was training for Paris–Roubaix.[33] He drove to the Kwaremont hill near Kluisbergen, parked his car, then rode 40 km to the start in Ghent. His plan was to ride round the course with his usual training partner, stop when he got to his car, then drive home.[34] Knowing he wasn't riding the whole distance, Kaers jumped clear of the field - again as training - and rode up the Kwaremont with a minute's lead. But his car wasn't there. He pressed on instead and won the race. His manager had driven the car away to save Kaers from temptation.
Rik van Steenbergen said: "When I turned pro, I couldn't ride it straight away. There were three categories of rider: road-riders A, road-riders B, and track riders. I was registered with the federation as a track rider. At first they wouldn't let me ride the national championship. But Jean van Buggenhout, the manager, got me reclassified on the Wednesday before the race. I won it and became an 'A' rider. Then I could start the year in the Tour of Flanders. I was 19 and I'll probably stay the youngest person ever to win." Van Steenbergen was in the break when several riders fell on the cinder track to the track in Ghent. Van Steenbergen rode round the fallen and won. Next year he decided not to ride. Van Wijnendaele was offended. But Van Steenbergen had realised why he'd turned pro: to make a living. "I could probably win more money elsewhere," he said. "The Tour of Flanders didn't have the attraction that it does now, especially not internationally."
Van Steenbergen returned in 1946 and won again. He said: "That was one of my best wins ever. I could do whatever I liked, ride better than anyone. In the end I was with Briek Schotte and Enkel Thiétard. They were happy just to follow me. We made an agreement. I said that they could stay with me until we got to Kwatrecht. I wouldn't drop them provided they'd do their best to work with me. They were happy with that. They didn't have a choice. Under the bridge at Kwatrecht I just got rid of them."
Fiorenzo Magni, a rare Italian in Belgian classics, won so many intermediate prizes during his long solo flight that they would have bought him a house (see above). He was one of nine to escape the field at Ingelmunster. The others cracked one by one until Magni was alone by Strijpen - the point where he made his winning move the previous year. He rode the last 75 km alone to win the Ronde for the third successive year. Magni won by almost eight minutes and the first five finishers were foreigners.
Such a gale blew in 1961 that the banner over the finish line blew down. The British rider Tom Simpson was clear with the better-known Italian champion, Nino Defilippis. Simpson, the weaker sprinter, accelerated for the line with a kilometre to go. It was too far and Defilipis came past him as he weakened. Simpson struggled to stay with him and was delighted when the Italian began freewheeling just before the finish. Defilippis said he didn't know where the finish was because the banner had blown down, but the two riders had already covered two previous laps of the finishing circuit. For the same reason, the Italian protest that the line on the road wasn't clearly marked also failed. Defilippis asked Simpson to agree to a tie, saying no Italian had won a classic since 1953. Simpson said:
| “ | "I replied that an Englishman had not won one since 1896!"[35] | ” |
Eddy Merckx dominated world racing in both classics and stage races but couldn't win the Ronde. By 1969 he had not only frustration to contend with but rising resentment of other riders unhappy that he won so many races. He attacked early and half the field never saw him again. The other half was reduced with each successive attack until he got clear alone. The chase was furious but ineffective and Merckx won by more than five and a half minutes over Felice Gimondi and more than eight minutes on the rest. The Ronde remained an unhappy race for him; it was another six years before he won again.
Bad weather has often hit the Ronde. In 1985, a storm broke in the second half of the race. The weather was so bad that only 24 made it to the finish. The race historian, Rik Vanwalleghem, said: "It was a legendary Ronde, one which wrote Sport with a capital S. It was as cold as Siberia all day and the rain fell in torrents [regende het pijpenstelen]. Of the 173 starters only 24 were counted in at the finish. In this apocalyptic background Eric Vanderaerden got back to the front after looking beaten to ride 20km at the head of the race alone. Impressive."[36]
The danger of the Ronde's narrow and badly surfaced hills came close to tragedy when the Danish rider, Jesper Skibby, lost his balance and fell on to a roadside bank, still strapped into his pedals. Having fallen, a race official's car tried to pass between him and a field of riders. The driver of the car continued moving forward and ran over Skibby's back wheel, narrowly missing his leg.[32][37] The hill was judged too dangerous and did not return until the surface had been improved in 2002. The race official continued driving to the finish, where he was met by mud, stones and cups thrown by spectators.[38] The incident overshadowed victory by the French-speaking Belgian, Claude Criquielion.
The town of Oudenaarde, through which the Ronde passes, has a museum - the Centrum Ronde van Vlaanderen - dedicated to the race. The curator is Freddy Maertens.
The women’s Tour of Flanders (Dutch: Ronde van Vlaanderen voor Vrouwen) has been held every spring since 2004 on the same day as the men's race. It is part of the UCI Women's Road World Cup. The race runs over a course that follows the last 55 km of the men's race to finish in Meerbeke. In 2008, the race featured three long flat cobbled sections: Paddestraat (2400m), Mater-Kerkgate (3000m) and Haaghoek (2000m), and 10 hills including the Molenberg, Eikenmolen, Muur-Kapelmuur and Bosberg.[43]
| # | Country | Victories |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Belgium | 67 |
| 2. | Italy | 10 |
| 3. | Netherlands | 9 |
| 4. | France | 3 |
| 5. | Germany | 2 |
| 5. | Switzerland | 2 |
| 7. | United Kingdom | 1 |
| 7. | Denmark | 1 |
| 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 |
| Fabian Cancellara | Switzerland | 2010 |
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