Wednesday - Arrival

• Arrival at Brussels or Charleroi airport or Lille Flanders train station. Depending on time between flight arrivals at different airports, we transfer our clients, luggage and bikes to a Bed & Breakfast in the Flemish Ardennes. Travel time from Brussels to B&B +/- 1h and from Charleroi to B&B  +/- 1h30
• Check-in & bike setup
• Dinner served between 18h00 & 19h00 and from 20h00 to 21h00 a welcome meeting to “Flanders Cycling Tours”  with a Belgian beer. The week schedule will be presented by Kortweg.

Thursday - 1st ride: 114km of Flanders + visit CRVV

For our 1st day we’ll take breakfast between 8h15 and 8h45, at 9h00 group meeting for the daily short briefing & supply. Start at 9h15 and depending on the location of the B&B we will ride the following hills : Achterberg (1300 m long  max 11 %), quickly followed by Varentberg, Foreest and Steenberg (all of them max 13% but hard to climb.
We have little time for recuperation because the real first cobblestones of this ride 'The Haaghoek' is in front of us, 2000m of though riding and 4 stars rated in the Tour of Flanders. This is the 3rd section where riders makes the difference in the Tour of Flanders for pros.
A little stop at the end of the Haaghoek in Zegelsem, drinking isotonic drinks and eat some fruit.
We start climbing again Leberg, Berendries, Valkenberg (all max 12,5%) and Ten Bossestraat (8,7%).
After these 4 hills we’ll race towards Geraardsbergen where the famous 'Muur van Geraardsbergen' (the Wall) waits for us.1100m climbing on cobblestones with a max of 20%.
At the top of the Kapelmuur we’ll stop for a quick break, Performance supplies, drinks and eat a delicious Mattentaart in café “Hemelryck”.
After the break we’ll ride towards the Bosberg (400m in cobblestones and max 11%), very difficult after all these hills.  The legs will be feeling tired right now ….  but slightly downhill we’ll fly towards Ninove (where the finish is for the Tour of Flanders), you feel no pain anymore in this section.
We’ll cross the finish line and we’ll ride back towards Oudenaarde, on our tour we climb Eikenmolen (610m long and max 12%) and Rekelberg (580m long and max 11%).
In Rozebeke or Sint Maria Horebeke we’ll stop for a short supply break before we have to do half the cobblestone section of Kerkgate and we finish in Oudenaarde at the CRVV, normally around 3PM.
We visit the reality museum Centrum Ronde Van Vlaanderen with Freddy Maertens and drink a typical Belgian Beer in the pub. Afterwards we go by car to visit a brewery (bikes are transported to B&B) in Oudenaarde or Gavere. Dinner in B&B or restaurant nearby will be served around 20h00.

Friday - 2nd ride: 80km of Flanders + track racing

We will start with breakfast between 8h30 and 9h30. At 9h45 we meet for the daily short briefing & supply and at 10h00-10h15 the 1st Tour of Flanders loop starts. Depending on the location of the B&B we ride on the following cobblestones sections: Paddestraat (2400 m), Lippenhovestraat (1300m), Kerkgate (3000 m), Doorn (1600m) and the cobblestone section in Wannegem Lede (1500 m).
Around noon, we stop at the Bostmolen in Roborst. It's a lovely small town with an old mill. There we will take our daily Performance supply (Performance biscuits, gels, candy bars, fruit and isotonic drinks).
After this sugar break we’re ready to climb the Molenberg (max 14%, 450m long) and Wolvenberg hill (max 17% 800m long)  
These are mostly the 1st hills in the real Tour of Flanders (TOF), where the riders hit the pedals like lightening!
On our tour we will stop in the small town of Mullem (probably for a coffee break). In the pub of CRVV we take an early evening meal around 17h00 and after a shower we ride by minivan to the velodrome Eddy Merckx in Ghent, where we switch to track bikes and have an introduction in track racing for almost 2 hours.
Afterwards transport by minivan to our B&B where we arrive before midnight.

Saturday - 3rd ride: 130km to Roubaix + visit Ghent

Today we will ride on the 'real' cobblestones, those from the end section in Paris-Roubaix.  After a nitricious breakfast we will start around 9h30 from the B&B towards Schorisse. From this point we’re riding through the 'Pays des Colines' (French-speaking part of the Flemish Ardennes).
This road never feels flat and meanwhile we’ll climb 'La Houppe' and 'Hameau Des Papins' riding towards Frasnez Les Anvaing where we take the Performance supply break.
From this point we’ll go directly to Camphin en Pévèle (3 stars rated and 1800 m long) & Carrefour de l’Arbre (4 stars rated in Paris Roubaix and  2100 m long), Gruson  (2 stars rated and 1100 m long). After these real cobblestones (please do not think that the Flemish cobblestones are just as hard) we ride towards the famous Vélodrome, finishline in Paris-Roubaix.  Before we finish we have to ride over the new cobblestones in Hem and those of Roubaix (both 1 star rated) .
Crossing the finish line probably after a nice sprint, we will take a refreshing and cold shower in the old Vélodrome building. This is exceptional, normally, only professional riders are allowed to do this. 
Very tired we’ll return home with our minivan and bike transport and take diner in the B&B.
Around 18h  we go to the historical  center of Ghent, called “De Kuip” for a cultural, touristic and historical walk with dinner at different locations, taking about 3,5 hours.
We will arrive back at the B&B  before midnight.

Sunday - 4th ride: 80km of Flanders + celebration dinner

The last cycling day of the Tour of Flanders Cycling Tour has arrived!  Many of the riders have already heard about, the Koppenberg, Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg.  Today we will hit them! We’ll start around 10AM and ride from the B&B towards Tiegem where we climb the Tiegemberg.  Following we’ll ride smoothly towards the heart off the Flanders cycling tour. No less than 11 hills will be climbed, all of them very steep or in cobblestones. We ride the cobblestones of Oude Kwaremont (3 stars  & 1500 m long) + Steenbeekdries (3 stars  & 800m long) and climb also the following hills : the famous Koppenberg (max 20% 680 m long) + Kluisberg (max 14,5%  925 m long) + Oude Kwaremont (max 11%
2500 m long) + Paterberg (max 21%  360 m long) + Taaienberg (max 15%  530 m long) + Eikenberg (max 10%  1250 m long). In the TOF the best riders will always be in the first rows of the group when this section appears. We’ll finish on the market place in Oudenaarde where we’ll drink a beer to celebrate our almost  550 km long Flanders ride. After this stop we’ll ride towards the B&B, where the group has an afternoon off. Around 8 PM we’ll take a celebration dinner at a typical Flemish restaurant in Oudenaarde.

Monday - Return

Depending on the flight schedule we have an early airport/train station transfer or a last breakfast in the B&B and check-out.

Exhausted but very satisfied we’ll return back home!

In total:

In total we’ll have climbed around 35 km and we will have approx 1800 positive altitude meters. The total length of the cobblestoned sections will be around 30 km and we will overcome 450 km in 4 days on mainly Flanders roads.

Price

Minimum 4 persons required
4 bikers:   € 1.039,00    per person in double room
From 5 to 6 bikers:   €    939,00    per person in double room
From 7 to 8 bikers:   €    889,00    per person in double room
From 9 to 10 bikers:  €   859,00    per person in double room

When and how to pay will be submitted with the confirmation of your booking.

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