Taaienberg
Climb · Flanders
Checked
part of: The cobbled bergs of Flanders
Taaienberg is a 0.7 km cycling climb averaging 5.3% (+35 m), rising from 46 m to 80 m in Flanders.
The Boonenberg: Tom Boonen made the decisive move here in four of his five E3 wins and attacked it so often the name stuck, and since 2023 a bronze cast of his legs stands at the summit. In every Ronde but one since 1974.
0.7 km · +35 m · 5.3% avg · ~12.2% max · 46 → 80 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: 14.3% (km 0.3–0.3).
Road: cobbled throughout
| section | to | avg |
|---|---|---|
| 0–100 m | 49 m | 3.3% |
| 100–200 m | 61 m | 11.7% |
| 200–300 m | 71 m | 10.2% |
| 300–400 m | 77 m | 5.8% |
| 400–500 m | 78 m | 11.1% |
| 500–600 m | 80 m | 1.1% |
What it’s like to ride
A concrete lane rises to the cobbles and the changeover is abrupt, the paving switching exactly where a tunnel of woodland canopy closes over the road; a block of grain silos on the approach is the cue, and a small sign names the hill. The stones are rideable but slow, so the real decision is the gutter, the smooth strip at the road edge: both sides have one, the left collects more dirt and ends sooner, so the right is the default. What bites is the gradient, which rears to 12–14% and holds there for 250 metres, long enough that riding the gutter turns into a tunnel-vision job of staying in the channel while dodging stones and sticks. The slope eases and the view opens out, a field on the right and glimpses south between farm buildings, and near the summit stands the Boonen Beenen, a pair of bronze legs cast from Tom Boonen and put up in 2023 on the climb he attacked so often that it is known locally as the Boonenberg. The usual route turns left at the junction, where the road carries on climbing gently, and that is what makes it hard in a race: the effort goes on after the steep part is done.
History
Cobbles carry the Taaienberg up out of Etikhove in Maarkedal, and the Flemish heritage authorities protected the road itself as a monument on 30 March 1995, listing it among the last surviving examples of a paving technique that runs back to Roman military roads. The Tour of Flanders first climbed it in 1974 and has used it in every edition since except 1993, when reconstruction work closed the street and the cobbles were relaid with the original stones. It is also a fixed feature of E3 Harelbeke and the Tour of Flanders for Women, and turns up in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Dwars door Vlaanderen. Tom Boonen made the decisive move here in four of his five E3 wins and attacked on it year after year in the Omloop, until fans and commentators started calling it the Boonenberg. In January 2023 the municipality of Maarkedal set a bronze cast of Boonen's own legs at the summit, a work by artist Thomas Huyghe titled Boonen Beenen, and at the unveiling Boonen said the Taaienberg had become his hill without him realising it.
Worth stopping near the climb
More climbs in Flanders
Common questions
- How long and steep is Taaienberg?
- Taaienberg is a 0.7 km cycling climb averaging 5.3% (+35 m), rising from 46 m to 80 m in Flanders.
- Where is Taaienberg steepest?
- The steepest 100 m averages 14.3%, between km 0.3 and km 0.3 of the climb.
- Is Taaienberg cobbled, and for how far?
- Yes. 0.6 km of Taaienberg's 0.7 km are laid in sett or cobblestone (cobbled throughout), measured from OpenStreetMap surface tags along the climb.