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

Katteberg

Flanders

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

Stats computed from OpenStreetMap and satellite elevation data — approximate.

Katteberg is a 0.8 km cycling climb averaging 5.4% (+41 m), rising from 14 m to 55 m in Flanders.

In the Ronde since Karel Van Wijnendaele's 1956 redesign, and its opener from 2020 to 2022: the first cobbles of the day for both the men's and the women's races, ahead of the Oude Kwaremont. One of the gentlest of the protected bergs, and one of the few you can safely descend.

Katteberg
Van der Linden, Geert
Katteberg
Van der Linden, Geert
Katteberg
Van der Linden, Geert
Katteberg
Schepens, Annelies
1 / 4

Loading rider experiences…

From riders

Download GPX

Navigate to the foot

Where it bites

Steepest 100 m: 15.4% (km 0.7–0.8).

Road: cobbled throughout

sectiontoavg
0–100 m15 m1.0%
100–200 m18 m3.2%
200–300 m27 m8.0%
400–500 m36 m5.0%
500–600 m40 m8.9%
600–700 m45 m2.8%

What it’s like to ride

Katteberg climbs straight out of the village of Ename on a wide cobbled street, no hairpins, the whole ramp in view from the bottom. The stones are small mosaic setts laid flat and even, so it buzzes under the wheels rather than bucking you: not much over 700 metres at around 6%, steepening gently toward the top and never turning savage. That makes it one of the easiest of the Flemish Ardennes bergs and one of the few you can safely ride down as well as up. Tall beeches line the road, protected as a landscape since 1985, and the cobbles themselves have been a listed monument since 1995. The Ronde has been over it six times; in 2020, 2021 and 2022 it opened the hills at around 100 km, the warm-up before the Oude Kwaremont. It is a normal through road with real traffic on it, so ride it as one.

History

Karel Van Wijnendaele brought the Katteberg into the Ronde van Vlaanderen in 1956, the year the organiser left the traditional route for smaller side roads to make the racing more exciting, and the Ename cobbles arrived alongside the Statieberg and the Eikenberg as the fifth and last climb of the edition Jean Forestier won on 2 April from Ghent to Wetteren. It returned in 1997 and 1998 as the second climb of the day, behind Den Ast, then had a modern run from 2020 to 2022 when it opened the Ronde for both the men and the women, the first cobbles of the day ahead of the Oude Kwaremont. Gent-Wevelgem used it once, in 1977, and it appears repeatedly in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and from time to time in Dwars door Vlaanderen, the E3 and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. The paving itself has been a protected monument since 30 March 1995 under the name Kasseiweg Katteberg, one of dozens of Flemish kasseiwegen listed together, and the road runs inside the protected landscape of Bos t'Ename. The recreational Ronde van Vlaanderenroute takes it the other way, as a descent on its yellow loop.

Worth stopping near the climb

Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Kerselarekapel2 kmStadhuis Oudenaarde3 kmSint-Walburgakerk3 kmPeloton Café3 kmKoppenberg6 km

More climbs in Flanders

Wolvenberg0.8 km · 4.8%Volkegemberg0.5 km · 6.6%Eikenberg1.0 km · 5.3%Boigneberg1.4 km · 4.1%Molenberg0.3 km · 6.5%

Common questions

How long and steep is Katteberg?
Katteberg is a 0.8 km cycling climb averaging 5.4% (+41 m), rising from 14 m to 55 m in Flanders.
Where is Katteberg steepest?
The steepest 100 m averages 15.4%, between km 0.7 and km 0.8 of the climb.
Is Katteberg cobbled, and for how far?
Yes. 0.6 km of Katteberg's 0.8 km are laid in sett or cobblestone (cobbled throughout), measured from OpenStreetMap surface tags along the climb.

Checked 13 August 2026

Part of: The cobbled bergs of Flanders

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

Places / Flanders / Katteberg

0.8 km · +41 m · 5.4% avg · ~8.3% max · 14 → 55 m

cobbles1%5%6%8%2%6%100200300400500600700m14 m55 m

Photo: Van der Linden, Geert · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Sources: OpenStreetMap