Flanders - Routes

[S100HP]

A friend and I have booked a couple of days staying in Oudenaarde. We're both fairly experienced cyclists, and are taking our road bikes rather than gravel.

I'm looking for route recommendations please if possible. We have 3 days. Ideally a 30ish mile on day one, 100ish on day two, 30ish on day three. We want to take in the main climbs on the area, but also just experience the cycling culture in the surrounding area.

I have the Ronde van Vlaanderen route lined up for the big ride, but any better suggestions?

https://strava.app.link/gnJKneoCFQb

Thanks in advance cycling friends

[sunbeam alpine]

This might be worth a look - should be in English.

https://www.fietsroute.org/cycling/belgium.html

[Harpoon]

Cycling Flanders has a number of suggested routes if you've not looked at them already.

https://www.cyclinginflanders.cc/routes

Do you plan to get out to get out to Geraardsbergen on one of the shorter days?

If it's any use, this was the route for the Ride We Flanders sportive in 2023.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8815394505

[S100HP]

Thanks both. Really useful.

[markcp]

I've ridden there a few times with my club and its easy to plot a route to capture plenty of the iconic climbs. This is the route from last year which is similar to the one in your link, but also captures the loop down to Geraardsbergen:
https://www.strava.com/activities/11022577883

Make sure you check out the Flanders museum (https://www.crvv.be/en) which handily has a decent bar on site too

We've stayed at Hotel Leopold (https://www.leopoldhoteloudenaarde.com/en/) each time and they're really cyclist friendly and had pro teams staying there last time we visited.

All in all, its probably my favourite place to ride so I'm sure you'll love it

[Custerdome]

If you're there for 3 days have a go at The Flandrian Challenge:

https://www.cyclinginflanders.cc/flandrien-challen...

It covers just about every climb and stretch of cobbles in the region, - I did it last year and can recommend it, and you get your name on a piece of granite...

[olo tation]

I also did the flandrien challenge last year, whilst I would highly recommend it, it probably misses the brief a bit. To do it in 3 days you would have to do 3 long days of riding probably pushing well over 100km each day, also there is a fair amount of going round in circles to re-trace roads to get each climb in and less opportunity to take in some nice stops or villages.

It is probably a good basis to make sure you're covering the most iconic climbs a segments though.