In normal circumstances you’d be sitting down to watch the Tour of Flanders this weekend. But as with so many other races — and sports events around the globe — this year’s Tour of Flanders has been cancelled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
But just because there’s no racing this weekend doesn’t mean we can’t be entertained by Belgium’s biggest race. The gallery you can see below is a collection of memorable moments from past editions of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, courtesy of the Cor Vos archives and Kristof Ramon. And if you’re particularly in the mood to watch some bike racing, allow us to direct you to the collection of highlights videos we’ve assembled below, featuring the past 11 editions of the race.
Oh, and if you’re looking for a bit of fun, we can highly recommend our Tour of Flanders “Choose Your Own Bike Race” where you’re the hero and you decide how the race will unfold!
Happy Flanders weekend everybody.
Video highlights
Photo gallery
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- Roger De Vlaeminck, Eddy Merckx and Freddy Maertens do battle in the 1977 edition of the Tour of Flanders which De Vlaeminck would go on to win.
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- Eddy Merckx (right) won the Tour of Flanders twice, in 1969 and 1975.
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- Local hero Roger de Vlaeminck (nicknamed “The Gypsy”) won the Tour of Flanders in 1977.
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- Gregor Braun (right) and Francesco Moser during the 1981 Tour of Flanders.
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- Francesco Moser gets a helping hand from a teammate on the Koppenberg.
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- Rene Martens celebrates his win in 1982.
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- In 1985 Dutch rider Jan Raas was angry with a photographer who was in his way on the Koppenberg and subsequently punched him. Eric Vanderaerden won that edition of Flanders, but Raas won it twice, in ’79 and ’83.
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- The Koppenberg climb is one of the most famous cobbled climbs in Belgium and was first added to the Tour of Flanders in 1976.
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- Jan Raas, Phil Anderson and Marc Sergeant ride a wet and muddy course during the 1983 Tour of Flanders. Only two riders – Phil Anderson and Jan Raas – got up the Koppenberg without walking. Raas would go on to win the race.
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- Steve Bauer and Ludo Peeters pictured during 1987 Tour of Flanders
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- Claude Criquielion was the first French-speaking Belgian rider to win the Tour of Flanders and the only one until Philippe Gilbert won in 2017. Criquielion broke away from the elite group just after the Bosberg, the last climb of the day, and powered on solo to the finish.
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- Sean Kelly was unstoppable in the Classics, but never managed to get better than 2nd at Flanders. Here in 1987 he won the sprint for second place before Eric Vanderaerden.
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- Eddy Planckaert (left) was the winner of the 1988 edition and Michele Bartoli (right) took out the 1996 edition.
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- Allan Peiper sports a helmet that was much more fashionable than those worn today. Notice Phil Anderson in the Motorola kit close behind. Peiper’s best result at Flanders was 7th in ’89, and 10th in ’87. Allan is basically a “Flandrian” himself and still lives in Gent. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend reading his book, “A Peiper’s Tale”
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- Andrei Tchmil and Johan Museeuw climb the Bosberg in the 2000 edition of the race which Tchmile won. Check out those quads – they don’t build ’em like they used to…
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- Michele Bartoli and Andrea Tafi lead the peloton in the iconic Mapei colours during the 2000 Tour of Flanders.
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- Peter van Petegem (Lotto) and Tom Boonen (Quick Step) during the 2005 Tour of Flanders — the first of Boonen’s victories.
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- Tom Boonen, Filippo Pozzato (Quick Step), Alessandro Ballan (Lampre), Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) and George Hincapie (Discovery) ride the 2006 Tour of Flanders.
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- World Champion Tom Boonen leads Leif Hoste while on his way to a second consecutive Ronde van Vlaanderen victory in 2006.
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- The horn jingle of the Rodania car is iconic at Belgian races. Rodania is a Swiss watch company.
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- Stijn Devolder on his way to the first of two consecutive Flanders victories in 2008.
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- Filippo Pozzato (Katusha) and Tom Boonen (Quick Step) lead a strung-out peloton up the Koppenberg in 2009.
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- Stijn Devolder (QuickStep) climbs the Muur van Geraardsbergen on his way to winning a second consecutive Tour of Flanders in 2009.
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- Stijn Devolder (Quick Step) celebrates after winning the 2009 Tour of Flanders.
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- We’ve seen riders walk up the Koppenberg many times in the past. It’s not that it’s an extremely steep climb, but rather the cobbles and technical nature of negotiating the roughness and steepness at the same time. The climb is only 600m long with an average gradient of 11% (max 22%). In pre-2012 editions of Flanders, strategically, the Koppenberg had little importance: it was too far from the finish (70-80km). Even if a breakaway forms on the Koppenberg it is difficult for riders to hold off the peloton. But in 2012 the changes to the course made the Koppenberg only 60km from the finish which made the climb more decisive.
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- Lance Armstrong last raced the Tour of Flanders in 2010, and did so a few times in his career. He never came close to winning — this wasn’t a race for him.
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- Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) monsters the cobbles on this way to winning the 2010 Tour of Flanders by 1:15 over Tom Boonen.
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- Tom Boonen loses contact with Cancellara on the Muur during the 2010 Tour of Flanders. This is where Cancellara made his move and went on to win Paris-Roubaix the following weekend.
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- Cancellara’s first of three wins at the Tour of Flanders.
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- Gilbert attacks the breakaway group at the Bosberg in 2011. Alessandro Ballan is there gritting his teeth behind him. Ballan won the race in 2007.
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- Nick Nuyens on the Muur in 2011. He wasn’t the strongest rider in the race, but he was able to follow wheels until the end and eventually won the bunch sprint. We haven’t seen much from him since.
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- Nick Nuyens outsprints and outwits Fabian Cancellara and Sylvain Chavanel in 2011. He wasn’t the strongest rider in the race, but he was the smartest.
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- It’s said that the first ever “Manneken Pis” famous statue is found in Brussels, however we’re told that this statue in the town next to the Muur van Geraardsbergen is the original. The only time he has stopped peeing was for 2 days of mourning when the Muur was “decapitated” from the Tour of Flanders in 2012. “Spectator access” was the reason cited for this change.
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- In 2012 Judith Arndt (GreenEDGE-AIS) became only the second rider to win two editions of the Women’s Tour of Flanders since it began in 2004. The other dual winner was Mirjam Melchers-Van Poppel, who won in 2005 and 2006.
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- The peloton heads off out of the start town of Brugge. The race originally started from Gent, but moved to Sint-Niklaas from 1977-1997. It was held in the beautiful town center of Brugge since from 1998 until 2017 when it moved to Antwerp.
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- Spectators line the course at the 2012 Tour of Flanders.
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- Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma – Quickstep) Filippo Pozzato (Team Farnese) and Alessandro Ballan (BMC) climb the Paterberg climb in 2012 which replaced the Muur.
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- Tom Boonen outsprints Filippo Pozzato (and Alessandro Ballan in the background) to win the 2012 Tour of Flanders.
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- Few people in the sport have been quite as dominant as Marianne Vos. The Dutchwoman has won just about every important race there is to win, but it took her until 2013 before she could add the Tour of Flanders to her palmares. She had previously managed two third places (in 2007 and 2011) and a second in 2010. In this shot she is seen winning ahead of Ellen van Dijk and Emma Johansson.
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- Ever since the finish of the Tour of Flanders was moved to Oudenaarde in 2012, it’s been the Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg (pictured here) that have served as the final climbs.
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- The moment the 2013 Tour of Flanders was won. Fabian Cancellara had softened Peter Sagan up on the Oude Kwaremont and on the Paterberg he punched hard, gapping Sagan as the top of the climb approached. He rounded the corner with only about 10 metres on Sagan, but it was enough for the former world time trial champion who soloed to a comprehensive victory.
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- Cancellara would win again the following year, following a move from Sep Vanmarcke on the Paterberg before the pair joined Greg Van Avermaet and Stijn Vandenbergh up the road.
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- It came to a sprint from the four riders with Cancellara taking his third Flanders victory in 2014.
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- Ellen van Dijk won the 2014 women’s race solo by more than a minute. Lizzie Deignan (nee Armitstead) was second while Emma Johansson was third. Johansson finished on the Flanders podium four times in her career but never won it.
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- In 2015 Niki Terpstra and Alexander Kristoff broke clear of the bunch in the closing kilometres, heading to the finish together.
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- Despite making Kristoff do most of the work in the run-in to the line, Terpstra wasn’t able to outsprint the Norwegian fastman who took his second Monument win.
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- A solo move from Elisa Longo Borghini led to victory in the 2015 edition. Here she is cresting the Paterberg before going on to win by nearly a minute.
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- In 2016, the world champions won both the women’s race (Lizzie Deignan) and men’s race (Peter Sagan).
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- In 2017 when Philippe Gilbert attacked on the Oude Kwaremont, 55km from the finish, it looked like a move designed to give teammate Tom Boonen a free ride in the group behind. Few, if any, would have thought the 2012 world champion hold on all the way into Oudenaarde.
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- It was an unusually large group that sprinted for the win in the 2017 women’s edition. The USA’s Coryn Rivera (Sunweb) got the win just ahead of Australia’s Gracie Elvin (Orica-Scott).
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- In 2018, Niki Terpstra attacked from the bunch, caught the break, passed them (including Mads Pedersen, pictured here), then rode away to a solo victory.
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- Anna van der Breggen made it look easy in 2018, riding away from the rest of the field to win the 2018 Ronde van Vlaanderen by over a minute.
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- The 2019 women’s Tour of Flanders came down to a group of three where European champion Marta Bastianelli took out a comfortable sprint win.
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- The 2019 men’s race had a surprise victor: 25-year-old Alberto Bettiol who attacked solo on the Oude Kwaremont and rode solo all the way to the finish.
Note: This is an updated and refreshed version of a post we first published in 2013.
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