Cycling stops in Flanders

33 places · 24 routes · Belgium

Flanders is where road cycling keeps its liturgy: the Ronde in April, the cobbled bergs of the Flemish Ardennes, the Zesdaagse filling Ghent's Kuipke velodrome in winter.

The bergs themselves are tiny. The Paterberg is 370 metres, the Koppenberg the same, the Muur climbs less than a hundred metres above the Dender. They are famous because they are paved in squared granite blocks, and because a hundred years of racing has arranged them into an afternoon.

Between them sit the cafés, and in Ghent the velodrome. De Karper beside the Kuipke is the Keisse family's brown café, and has been the Six Days' living room for as long as anyone can remember.

Cafés

't Juiste VerzetCafé · KluisbergenA cycling café built into a farmhouse on the Oude Kwaremont, run for over two decades by Annie Vermeulen.Brouwerij De Halve MaanCaféBrouwerij De Halve Maan is a family-run brewery on Bruges' Walplein, brewing since 1856 and still producing the city's own Brugse Zot beer.Café BoutiqueCaféCafé Boutique is a cyclists' bar at the foot of the Kemmelberg, run by former amateur racer Pieter and home to the local cycling club De Vlammers.Café d'Oude HoeveKoers Cafe · KwaremontAn authentic mid-19th-century café on the Ronde van Vlaanderenstraat in Kwaremont, close to the top of the Oude Kwaremont climb on the Tour of Flanders course.Café De KarperCafé · GhentCafé De Karper is a traditional brown café on Gent's inner ring, a short ride from Het Kuipke where the Zesdaagse van Vlaanderen is raced.Café FringaleCafé · ZoerselCafé Fringale is a specialty espresso bar in Zoersel, opened in 2021 by Kris Boeckmans, the retired Lotto-Soudal sprinter who took eight UCI wins in 2015 inc…Café VlissingheCaféCycling HubCafé · GeraardsbergenA cycling café, bike shop and training centre a few hundred metres from the Muur van Geraardsbergen, opened in 2024 by four cycling enthusiasts.Flandrien Hotel ClubhouseCaféThe Clubhouse is the social heart of Flandrien Hotel, a boutique cycling-themed hotel in the Flemish Ardennes near Brakel.In de VredeCaféIn de Vrede is the café and visitor centre of Sint-Sixtus Abbey in Westvleteren, the only place in the world licensed to serve Westvleteren Trappist beer.KOERSkaffeeMuseum cafe · RoeselareThe café of KOERS.NOIR CoffeeCaféNoir Coffeebar is a specialty coffee bar and roastery on Naamsestraat in central Leuven, run by Kris van Guyse of the Tāne Roasters Collective along with Mur…Peloton CaféCafé · OudenaardeThe house café of the Centrum Ronde van Vlaanderen, the Tour of Flanders museum on Oudenaarde's Markt, in the modern race's finish town.VELO Food & DrinksCafe · BaalEetcafe on the first floor of the Sven Nys Cycling Center on the Balenberg in Baal, run personally by the retired cyclocross champion and his partner Anneke …Vitesse Coffee & CyclingCaféVitesse Coffee & Cycling is a cycling-themed coffee and lunch bar in central Antwerp, near the Antwerp Zoo and a short walk from Central Station.

Climbs, views & nature

Begijnhof Ter HoyeProtected areaThis walled beguinage, founded in 1235 by the Countess of Flanders, is considered the best-preserved beguinage from before the French Revolution.KemmelbergPeak · 154 mKemmelberg is the highest point in West Flanders at 154 metres, and its cobbled climb through the woods above Kemmel village has become the showpiece of Gent…KoppenbergPeak · 77 mThis 600-metre cobbled climb averages 11.6 percent and hits 22 percent near the top, rising 64 metres through a narrow, grass-banked corridor.OudebergViewpointThe Oudenberg is a witness hill in the Flemish Ardennes, its western slope cut into a deep valley by the Dender river while the eastern side falls away more …PaterbergPeak · 80 mThis 360-metre cobbled climb averages 13 percent, with pitches over 20 near the top, making it the shortest and steepest of the Tour of Flanders' bergs.RaspaillebosNature reserveRaspaillebos is a 50-hectare forest reserve on the slopes of the Bosberg in the Flemish Ardennes, protected as a landscape since 1980 and recognized as a Nat…

History & landmarks

Bijlokehospitaal en Bijlokeklooster van CisterciënMonasteryFounded in 1204 by Ermentrude Utenhove, this Cistercian hospital and abbey relocated here around 1228 and served as Ghent's main hospital for 750 years, once…Commandobunker KemmelHistoric site · HeuvellandIn the flank of the Kemmelberg, Flanders' highest hill, lies a 20-meter-deep Cold War command bunker built by the Belgian army between 1951 and 1953 as an ai…GravensteenCastleThe Gravensteen, or Castle of the Counts, is a moated medieval fortress built in 1180 by Philip of Alsace, possibly inspired by crusader castles he had seen …Het PandMonasteryHet Pand began as a hospital in 1201 before Dominican friars took it over in 1228, building it into a monastery beside the Leie river in Ghent's Onderbergen …LakenhalleBuilding · IeperThis vast Gothic cloth hall in Ieper's market square was built between 1200 and 1304 as the trading center of Flanders' medieval wool industry, its 70-metre …Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van KerselarekapelChapelThis brutalist concrete chapel crowning the Edelareberg near Oudenaarde marks a pilgrimage site dating to 1452, when a healing Marian statue was hung on a ch…Oude KwaremontAttractionThis 2.2-kilometre cobbled climb is the longest in the Tour of Flanders, gaining 92 metres at an average 4 percent but pitching to 11.6 percent partway up.Sint-HermesbasiliekChurchRonse's Sint-Hermesbasiliek is a late-Gothic church whose 79-metre tower was rebuilt after English soldiers burned the town in 1424, finished by 1526.Sint-MaartenskerkHistoric church · IeperSint-Maartenskerk, Ypres's towering former cathedral, rises 102 meters over the market square, among the tallest buildings in Belgium.Sint-WalburgakerkHistoric church · OudenaardeOudenaarde's Sint-Walburgakerk is a collegiate church honoring the city's patron saint, its 88-meter tower (built 1498-1624) a landmark visible for miles aro…SpanbroekmolenkraterMine craterThis water-filled crater is what remains of the largest of 19 British mines detonated at 3:10 am on 7 June 1917 to launch the Battle of Messines, when 41,000…Stadhuis OudenaardeTownhall · OudenaardeOudenaarde's town hall was built in Brabantine late-Gothic style between 1526 and 1537 by architect Hendrik van Pede, echoing the grand town halls of Leuven …

Climbs

Berendries0.9 km · 6.8%Boigneberg1.4 km · 4.1%Bosberg1.3 km · 4.7%Buikberg1.2 km · 2.1%Eikenberg1.0 km · 5.3%Kanarieberg1.1 km · 8.1%Katteberg0.8 km · 5.4%Kemmelberg1.1 km · 6.6%Knokteberg (Côte de Trieu)1.9 km · 4.9%Koppenberg0.4 km · 8.6%Kruisberg1.2 km · 3.3%Leberg0.9 km · 3.2%Molenberg0.3 km · 6.5%Muur van Geraardsbergen0.9 km · 6.6%Oude Kwaremont1.8 km · 4.5%Paterberg0.4 km · 10.0%Rekelberg0.5 km · 4.8%Stationsberg0.8 km · 2.1%Steenbeekdries0.7 km · 2.9%Taaienberg0.7 km · 5.3%Tiegemberg0.9 km · 4.4%Valkenberg0.8 km · 3.5%Volkegemberg0.5 km · 6.6%Wolvenberg0.8 km · 4.8%
CLIMB

Boigneberg

Flanders

Gradient by colour: under 3% 3–6% 6–9% 9%+

Stats computed from OpenStreetMap and satellite elevation data — approximate.

Boigneberg is a 1.4 km cycling climb averaging 4.1% (+57 m), rising from 29 m to 85 m in Flanders.

Seven Rondes between 1978 and 2007, always the connective tissue between the Eikenberg and Het Foreest, and a regular in E3. Riders take it today as the pavé-free way into the Flemish Ardennes: old concrete slabs that run badly enough to make the hill harder than its average suggests.

Boigneberg
FrDr
Boigneberg
Lord P
Boigneberg
FrDr
Boigneberg
FrDr
1 / 4

Loading rider experiences…

From riders

Download GPX

Navigate to the foot

Where it bites

Steepest 250 m: 10.3% (km 0.3–0.4).

Road: paved throughout

sectiontoavg
0–250 m35 m3.4%
250–500 m56 m8.6%
500–750 m69 m4.3%
750–1000 m78 m3.4%
1000–1250 m84 m2.4%

What it’s like to ride

Boigneberg climbs out of the Maarkebeek valley on a narrow concrete road and tops out on the N8. It was a poor, narrow cobbled lane when the Ronde van Vlaanderen first used it in 1978 and was concreted the year after, so what you ride now is old slabs, and riders say those slabs run badly enough to make the hill harder than its modest average suggests. The start is where the work is, the steepest hundred metres averaging around 11%, and once that is behind you it opens into a long false flat to the top, the place to empty the tank if you held something back at the bottom. Traffic is close to nothing and the surroundings are good, which is why riders who want the Flemish Ardennes without pavé take this one instead of the Eikenberg just to the west. The Ronde used it seven times (1978, then 2002 to 2007, in the later years always between the Eikenberg and Het Foreest), and it turns up regularly in E3.

History

The Boigneberg climbs out of the Maarkebeek valley in Maarkedal to the N8, and when the Ronde van Vlaanderen first sent the race over it in 1978 it was a narrow cobbled road in poor condition, resurfaced the following year as the narrow concrete strip riders still meet. In that 1978 edition, won by Walter Godefroot, it came after the Volkegemberg and led on towards the Muur van Geraardsbergen. The Ronde then left it out for more than two decades before bringing it back in the 2000s, for seven appearances in all and a last one in 2007; in the later editions it always sat between the Eikenberg (swapped for the Ladeuze in 2003 because of roadworks) and Het Foreest, with the unlisted Kapelleberg and a descent to the foot in between. The 2007 route dropped Het Foreest and the Steenberg and ran straight off the Boigneberg onto the Haaghoek towards the Leberg. E3 Harelbeke has used the climb more often than the Ronde has, and it stood between the Taaienberg and the Eikenberg on the 2026 E3 Saxo Classic route.

Worth stopping near the climb

Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Kerselarekapel2 kmPeloton Café4 kmSint-Walburgakerk4 kmStadhuis Oudenaarde4 kmKoppenberg6 km

More climbs in Flanders

Eikenberg1.0 km · 5.3%Volkegemberg0.5 km · 6.6%Wolvenberg0.8 km · 4.8%Buikberg1.2 km · 2.1%Steenbeekdries0.7 km · 2.9%

Common questions

How long and steep is Boigneberg?
Boigneberg is a 1.4 km cycling climb averaging 4.1% (+57 m), rising from 29 m to 85 m in Flanders.
Where is Boigneberg steepest?
The steepest 250 m averages 10.3%, between km 0.3 and km 0.4 of the climb.
What is the road surface like on Boigneberg?
Boigneberg is paved throughout.

Checked 13 August 2026

Elevation from SRTM (NASA) · Road line + coordinates © OpenStreetMap contributors · Story adapted from Wikipedia and cycling-media reporting, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited per image · Wikidata

Places / Flanders / Boigneberg

1.4 km · +57 m · 4.1% avg · ~8.6% max · 29 → 85 m

4%8%5%3%2%10020030040050060070080090010001100120013001400m29 m85 m

Photo: FrDr · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Sources: OpenStreetMap