Volkegemberg
Climb · Flanders
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Volkegemberg is a 0.5 km cycling climb averaging 6.6% (+30 m), rising from 35 m to 65 m in Flanders.
Seventeen Rondes between 1974 and 1996, and the hill where Omloop Het Volk's decisive move was often forced. The cobbles went in 1982 and the modern Ronde descends it instead; Dwars door Vlaanderen opened its climbing here in 2023 and again in 2026.
0.5 km · +30 m · 6.6% avg · ~11.8% max · 35 → 65 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: 13.0% (km 0.3–0.3).
Road: paved throughout
| section | to | avg |
|---|---|---|
| 0–100 m | 36 m | 0.8% |
| 100–200 m | 43 m | 13.7% |
| 200–300 m | 54 m | 7.4% |
| 300–400 m | 58 m | 11.8% |
What it’s like to ride
The Volkegemberg is the main street of Volkegem, a village of Oudenaarde, lifting out of a small valley into a centre that has been a protected village site since 1981: narrow and winding, framed by farmsteads, limited to 30 km/h over much of its length because of the primary school. The whole hill was cobbled until 1982 and it is asphalt now, with 200 metres of big modern setts left near the top, so the rough part comes at the end rather than the bottom. Nothing about it is savage, roughly 5% over the full kilometre with a steepest pitch near 12%, and the gradient gives up at the modest Sint-Martinuskerk and its enclosed churchyard on the summit, 84 metres. There is no summit sign, but Den Obus is up there, one of the last authentic village cafés in the Flemish Ardennes, named for a shell that landed here in the First World War, terrace out front, shut Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The Ronde van Vlaanderen used it 17 times between 1974 and 1996 and the Omloop Het Volk often had its race decided on it; today the Ronde descends it instead and turns right at the foot onto the Wolvenberg, while Dwars door Vlaanderen has opened its climbing here, in 2023 and again in 2026.
History
The Volkegemberg is the main street of Volkegem, and until 1982 it was cobbled over its whole length, with about 1,200 metres of gently rising cobbles leading into it; the resurfacing that year left asphalt and only 200 metres of cobbles at the summit. It was climbed 17 times in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, in every edition from 1974 to 1984 and again from 1991 to 1996, most often placed between the Eikenberg and the Varentberg. Omloop Het Volk took it in 1985 and then every year from 1996 to 2001, and the decisive move was often forced here; 2001 was its last appearance in that race. Dwars door België used it in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne opened its hills with it in 2019, and Dwars door Vlaanderen brought it back in 2023 as the first climb of the hilly zone and again in 2026. The Ronde van Vlaanderen now takes it the other way, descending the Volkegemberg and turning right at the foot onto the Wolvenberg.
Worth stopping near the climb
More climbs in Flanders
Common questions
- How long and steep is Volkegemberg?
- Volkegemberg is a 0.5 km cycling climb averaging 6.6% (+30 m), rising from 35 m to 65 m in Flanders.
- Where is Volkegemberg steepest?
- The steepest 100 m averages 13.0%, between km 0.3 and km 0.3 of the climb.
- What is the road surface like on Volkegemberg?
- Volkegemberg is paved throughout.