The Tour of Flanders

In April, several Kingston Wheelers went to Belgium to sample the local beers and stumbled across a bike race. Naz Peralta tells all.

After an unnaturally early start to get to the ferry on time, the Wheelers got into training early by taking advantage of the more-than-reasonable ferry bar.

Once in Belgium we go for a quick training ride, which turned out to be not so quick when we realised we couldn’t remember where we had parked the van – it gave us comfort, when we eventually found it, that we had at least been looking in the right town.

Unfortunately the Wheelers’ sense of direction went further downhill when we couldn’t find our hotel for the evening – message for next year, get a map, Belgium may be small, but Ghent is a big place without many road signs. Luckily it all clicked into place when not only did we find the hotel but they let us store our bikes inside.

Though late in the day the Wheelers set out for a bit of entertainment and managed to find one bar in Ghent (that was open). Several Leffe’s and a dodgy omelette later, it was time for one for the road, then another for the road, then back to the hotel bar for a nightcap, followed by another nightcap, zzzz….



The big day. The Wheelers are feeling fighting fit and raring to go, until the hangovers kick in. Harv, the true professional, has a ready made cocktail of cognac and diet coke to numb the pain (is this how the pros do it Harv?). Ninove, which hosts the Tour of Flanders finish, is our start point today. We park the van at the side of the motorway amongst the hundreds of other cars, sideways, on the edge of a large ditch and to much amusement of the locals, before heading down to the depart.



Ahead lay 140km of the best Belgium has to offer. Long flats battling into the wind, the feared pavé and 18 sharp climbs including the dreaded Koppenberg and Muur. The ride started innocently enough, but once the paved climbs came along everything was turned on its head. Naz and Mackers both crashed trying in separate attempts to get off the cobbles onto the kerb. End result, two broken helmets, one broken rib, one gashed head – lesson learnt - don’t mess with the cobbles! A high point was going over the famous Muur de Grammont to the cheers of hundreds of locals who had come out to watch. Another high point was finding the van after the end of the ride, unclamped and not in the ditch.

Feeling elated/nauseous/in agony following the day’s riding, the Wheelers head back out into Ghent. Feeling adventurous, we visit the same bar as the night before for more liquid refuelling, at least this time feeling no nerves about what lay ahead the following day.

Sunday - Tour of Flanders day – the Wheelers manage to catch the peloton as the riders whizz past at about 40mph (round a corner!) in an early flat section, before moving onto the famous Koppenberg, where the pictures on this page were taken. There is nothing better than watching the world’s finest struggling up a steep, muddy, cobbled berg. We catch sight of the leaders as they ride past, before scaring the life out of Bradley Wiggins by shouting “Wiggy” at the top of our voices as he pedals by. All the favourites are there, Vandenbroucke, Museew, Bartoli, Tafi, Bettini, Wiggins , each one of them grinding up the climb as we had done 24 hours earlier. Once the riders have passed, we catch the end of the race on a TV in a makeshift bar, before setting off back to Calais to end what was a memorable weekend.