Paterberg
Climb · Flanders
Checked
part of: The cobbled bergs of Flanders
Paterberg is a 0.4 km cycling climb averaging 10.0% (+37 m), rising from 35 m to 71 m in Flanders.
The last climb of the Ronde since 2012, 360 metres at up to 20% taken minutes after the Oude Kwaremont, and in every edition since 1986, a run only the Kwaremont matches. It exists because a farmer had cobbles laid on his own track so the race would pass his house. Cancellara, Sagan and van Vleuten all settled their Rondes on it.
0.4 km · +37 m · 10.0% avg · ~14.7% max · 35 → 71 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: 16.0% (km 0.3–0.4).
Road: cobbled throughout
| section | to | avg |
|---|---|---|
| 0–100 m | 38 m | 5.6% |
| 100–200 m | 49 m | 8.0% |
| 200–300 m | 59 m | 10.6% |
What it’s like to ride
Three kilometres after the Oude Kwaremont, a 90-degree right-hand turn dumps you onto the cobbles at the foot of the Paterberg and takes away every bit of speed you carried off the descent. From there it runs about 360 metres, straight, with no bend to break it up and nothing that flattens: the steepest stretch holds around 20 percent for more than 100 metres, and on the cobbles every pedal stroke is a fight to keep momentum. A 60 cm rainwater gutter runs all the way up the left-hand side, which is where the smooth line is. The road is here because a local farmer had the old unpaved track laid in cobbles in 1986, wanting the Tour of Flanders to pass his house, and in 1993 that surface was classified as a protected monument. At the top a left turn puts you back on smooth tarmac, roughly 13 km out from the race finish in Oudenaarde.
History
Paterberg was an unpaved farm track above Kluisbergen until the mid-1980s, when the municipality planned to surface it in concrete and Paul Vande Walle, who lived at the top, argued for cobbles instead on the grounds that the Ronde van Vlaanderen would then come over it. He was right: the Ronde first climbed it in 1986 and has used it in every edition since, a run matched only by the Oude Kwaremont, and the cobbles were listed as a protected monument in 1993. The 2012 redesign of the race around a finish in Oudenaarde made it the last climb of the day, taken straight after the Oude Kwaremont with about 13 km to ride, so the two hills now settle both the men's and the women's race. Fabian Cancellara dropped his last companion here on the way to winning in 2013, Peter Sagan did the same to Sep Vanmarcke in the rainbow jersey in 2016, and Annemiek van Vleuten went clear on it to win the women's Ronde in 2021. E3 and Dwars door Vlaanderen use the climb as well.
Worth stopping near the climb
More climbs in Flanders
Common questions
- How long and steep is Paterberg?
- Paterberg is a 0.4 km cycling climb averaging 10.0% (+37 m), rising from 35 m to 71 m in Flanders.
- Where is Paterberg steepest?
- The steepest 100 m averages 16.0%, between km 0.3 and km 0.4 of the climb.
- Is Paterberg cobbled, and for how far?
- Yes. 0.3 km of Paterberg's 0.4 km are laid in sett or cobblestone (cobbled throughout), measured from OpenStreetMap surface tags along the climb.