The Tour of Flanders (Dutch: Ronde van Vlaanderen, French: Tour des Flandres) is a road cycling race held in Flanders, Belgium. It is held every spring, a week before Paris-Roubaix. It is part of the UCI ProTour and one of the so-called monuments of the European professional calendar, and contributes to the UCI World Ranking points. It is the most important cycling race in Belgium and along with Paris-Roubaix the world's most important cycling ra...
more
The Tour of Flanders (Dutch: Ronde van Vlaanderen, French: Tour des Flandres) is a road cycling race held in Flanders, Belgium. It is held every spring, a week before Paris-Roubaix. It is part of the UCI ProTour and one of the so-called monuments of the European professional calendar, and contributes to the UCI World Ranking points. It is the most important cycling race in Belgium and along with Paris-Roubaix the world's most important cycling race held on a single day. Its nickname is Vlaanderens mooiste (Dutch for "Flanders' finest").
The Tour of Flanders was conceived of in 1913 by Karel Van Wijnendaele, cofounder 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.
Before WWII the race was often held the same day as Milan-San Remo. Prominent Italian and French racers usually prefered the latter which explains why there was only a single non-Belgian winner before WWII....
less
