Koppenberg
Climb · Flanders
Checked
part of: The cobbled bergs of Flanders
Koppenberg is a 0.4 km cycling climb averaging 8.6% (+32 m), rising from 38 m to 69 m in Flanders.
The Ronde's most notorious cobbles: 600 sunken metres at up to 22%, where in 1976 even Eddy Merckx walked. Struck from the route for fifteen years after a commissaire's car ended Jesper Skibby's race on it in 1987, rebuilt, and in every men's edition since 2008. The berg that decides who rides and who walks.
0.4 km · +32 m · 8.6% avg · ~18.3% max · 38 → 69 m
Stats computed from OpenStreetMap and satellite elevation data — approximate.
Download GPX ↓Navigate to the foot ↗
Gradient by colour: ● <3% ● 3–6% ● 6–9% ● 9%+
Where it bites
Steepest 100 m: 13.2% (km 0.2–0.3).
Road: cobbled throughout
| section | to | avg |
|---|---|---|
| 0–100 m | 46 m | 9.8% |
| 200–300 m | 66 m | 10.4% |
What it’s like to ride
Turn off the main road in Melden, past the brick houses and a small brown sign, and the Koppenberg goes from village lane to wall: the gradient rises from about 12% to 20% inside the first 200 metres. The cobbles are big, uneven and widely spaced, worn nearly glass-smooth, and the best line is the strip where the stones are laid across the road rather than along it. Partway up, the lane sinks into the hillside, tree-lined banks closing in over roughly 600 metres of pavé the trees never let dry, with run-off and mud washing down off the farmland to narrow the road further. Stay seated, because standing up spins the back wheel, and once a foot goes down on a 22% ramp you are walking. Farm buildings and a brick wall mark the top, and the tarmac that restarts there feels like velvet. There is nothing at the summit to stop for: the nearest cyclists' stop is the Tour of Flanders visitor centre down in Oudenaarde.
History
The Koppenberg is a sunken cobbled lane climbing out of Melden, near Oudenaarde, and its stones have been listed as a protected monument since 30 March 1995. Walter Godefroot, twice a winner of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, is credited with pointing the organisers to it once he had stopped racing, and the Ronde first came this way in 1976, when only the leading few riders stayed on their bikes and Eddy Merckx was among those who walked to the top. In 1987 Jesper Skibby, alone in front after a long move, wobbled to a halt on the cobbles and was hit by the race commissaire's car, which ran over his back wheel and ended his race. The climb was struck from the route on safety grounds for fifteen years, returned in 2002 after the road was rebuilt and widened, was left out again in 2007 while smoother, better fitting cobbles were laid, and has appeared in every men's edition since 2008. The women's Ronde has climbed it since 2022, and every All Saints' Day the Koppenbergcross sends its riders up the same cobbles eight times.
Worth stopping near the climb
More climbs in Flanders
Common questions
- How long and steep is Koppenberg?
- Koppenberg is a 0.4 km cycling climb averaging 8.6% (+32 m), rising from 38 m to 69 m in Flanders.
- Where is Koppenberg steepest?
- The steepest 100 m averages 13.2%, between km 0.2 and km 0.3 of the climb.
- Is Koppenberg cobbled, and for how far?
- Yes. 0.4 km of Koppenberg's 0.4 km are laid in sett or cobblestone (cobbled throughout), measured from OpenStreetMap surface tags along the climb.