Two championships and a Flandrien Challenge
Flanders eagerly looks forward to cycling during an Olympic year. Cycling simply makes our hearts beat faster – that’s all there is to it. How so? Experience it in Flanders during the Gravel World Championships in Brussels’ surroundings, the European Road Cycling Championships, and your very own Flandrien Challenge.
The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, or so the well-known saying goes. What that folk wisdom doesn’t tell us is that love also consistently moves on two wheels – because Flanders loves cycling. This summer will be no different, with the opportunity to savor the sport of cycling as part of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. Along with cycling hero Wout van Aert and world champions Lotte Kopecky and Remco Evenepoel, Flanders is sending three absolute top favorites to Paris. They will be making a bid for glory there.
This focus on cycling will come as no surprise. Flanders is the birthplace of cycling, after all. Its undulating landscape with demanding bergs and cobbles is traditionally the backdrop for the Flemish spring classics, a series of races that are a cycling highlight every time. Cycling culture lives in Flemish blood and cycling heritage is forever in the Flemish heart. This boundless love will spread both during the Olympics and afterwards.
In early September, Flanders welcomes the UEC Road European Championships. The beautiful province of Limburg will be the scene of the battle for the European title during no fewer than 14 championships over five days. Zolder’s famous car circuit is the starting point. From there, participants will explore challenging hills, cobblestone roads and the undulating landscape of the Haspengouw fruit region – a delightful course that is sure to make for a wonderful sporting battle.
Just under a month later, the peloton heads off to the National Parc Forests of Brabant for the 2024 UCI Gravel World Championships. During this event, riders make their way along all sorts of gravel roads through the varied natural settings of this national park. This is a special marriage of elite sport and pristine nature.
In summary, you will certainly be able to have a great time enjoying cycling in Flanders in the coming months – and you don’t have to do so passively. You can test yourself on the Gravel World Championships circuit, or discover the epic Flandrien Challenge. This quest sets a specific goal for you: Hit 59 iconic berg and cobble segments, marked on the road and tracked online, in less than 72 hours. If you succeed, you’ll become a legend: with your own personalized stone on the wall of fame at the Centre Ronde van Vlaanderen in Oudenaarde.
Flanders’ bergs and cobbles await!