A Tour of Flanders short history lesson: This is the holy Flemish cycling week (really two weeks) and the 108th edition of the Tour of Flanders is on Sunday, following the Three Days of De Panne (now the Classic Brugge – De Panne), E3 Saxo Classic, Gent–Wevelgem and Dwars door Vlaanderen. The ‘Flemish World Championships’ are always hard fought for, whoever crosses that finish line first in Oudenaarde will be a star for the rest of his life.
*** You can see the PEZ 2025 Tour of Flanders Preview HERE. ***
Flanders first winner – Paul Deman
The first Tour of Flanders was on May 23, 1913. There were only 37 riders in that first event, which was run over 324 kilometres. After twelve hours, Paul Deman was the first to cross the line in Mariakerke. Karel Van Wijnendaele was the man behind the race, he was a journalist and was looking for something new to publicise his newspaper De Sportwereld, so organising the Tour of Flanders was perfect. The early editions were all on the exceptionally bad Flemish cobbles, which the organisers have tried to keep in the race as much as possible. In those early years, De Ronde was occasionally held on the same day as Milano-Sanremo.
Briek Schotte – The first Flandrien
Later the organisers wanted to make changes and moved towards the Flemish Ardennes for the climbs of the Kluisberg, Kwaremont and the Kruisberg. In 1950, after the dominance of Achiel Buysse, Briek Schotte and Fiorenzo Magni, the iconic Muur van Geraardsbergen added to the course. In the 1970s, the Oude Kwaremont and the Koppenberg were also added. These two climbs are still important. During that time Buysse and Magni both won the race three times and are joint record holders.
De Ronde – Where legends are made
Obviously, Belgians have won the Tour of Flanders the most times, sixty-nine. Eric Leman, Johan Museeuw and Tom Boonen, just like Buysse and Magni, have won three times. Fabian Cancellara joined the record holders list in 2014 after his wins in 2010 and 2013. The first Dutch victory came in 1953, when Wim van Est was the winner. He was joined by other men from the Netherlands: Jo de Roo, Evert Dolman, Cees Bal, Jan Raas (twice), Hennie Kuiper, Johan Lammerts, Adrie van der Poel, Niki Terpstra and Mathieu van der Poel (twice). The winners over the last ten years have all been top names: Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel, Kasper Asgreen, Alberto Bettiol, Niki Terpstra, Philippe Gilbert, Peter Sagan, Alexander Kristoff and Fabian Cancellara.
2022 Tour of Flanders
In the 2022 Tour of Flanders the race exploded on the Berendries. A counter-attack including Alberto Bettiol, Mads Pedersen and Ben Turner shook the race up. Then Tadej Pogačar came into action on the Berg Ten Houte, but it was on the Oude Kwaremont that Pogačar attacked for the first time. Kasper Asgreen was on his wheel, while Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock had to chase from further back. After the Oude Kwaremont, Dylan van Baarle escaped with Fred Wright, they were joined on the Koppenberg by Pogačar, Van der Poel and the Frenchman, Valentin Madouas. On the next climb of the Oude Kwaremont, Pogačar gave it another go. Van Baarle and Wright couldn’t hold on, Madouas followed not much later. On the Paterberg, Van der Poel had to grit his teeth to hold the Slovenian. The two raced on together to the finish in Oudenaarde, but Van der Poel and Pogačar started to play games in the last kilometre and Van Baarle and Madouas returned to the front from nowhere. Madouas and Van Baarle passed Pogačar in the sprint, behind second-time winner Van der Poel.
2023 Tour of Flanders
In 2023 Tadej Pogačar made up for the previous year. The Slovenian rode away from Mathieu van der Poel the last time up the Oude Kwaremont. He caught and passed Mads Pedersen and then soloed to his first victory in Flanders. A strong Van der Poel was second and Pedersen edged out Wout van Aert for third.
No mistakes for Pogačar in 2023
Last year, Tadej Pogačar didn’t ride and Mathieu van der Poel was expected to win the 2024 Tour of Flanders, but the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider took an epic Ronde with a solo effort in the Flemish rain, going solo from the Koppenberg. Surprisingly, Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) was second and Michael Matthews was third, but the Australian was declassed in favour of Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates).
2024 De Ronde highlights
Van der Poel to take the record in 2025?
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