Tag Archives: Scheldeprijs

From Het Nieuwsblad to Paris – Roubaix: how to watch the spring classics

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There’s nothing like the opening weekend of the spring classics to kick me out of my blogging hiatus and get me excited about my impending trip to Belgium to see the Tour of Flanders live from the roadside.

The Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are the climax of over a month’s worth of racing over the cobbles and hellingen of West Flanders. A week’s cycling holiday bookended by these two monuments is a must for all professional cycling fans, and one that my husband and I undertook in 2014.  However, visiting races earlier in the season offers the opportunity to see many high-profile riders battle it out over the same gruelling cobbles and climbs that will be used in the Tour of Flanders but without the crowds. Neither the riders nor the fans are as invested in these races as they are in the upcoming Ronde, so you have a better chance of seeing star riders up close and personal. We discovered this for ourselves when we stopped by the start of Scheldeprijs that takes place rather discreetly midweek between Flanders and Roubaix.

Scheldeprijs

Up close and personal with Wiggo

Although I’ve yet to visit the early season races myself, I’ve spent enough time in the region to know how I’d go about it in the best way possible – by bike.

Opening weekend

I may not have been to see the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad but I have had the pleasure of visiting glorious Ghent, which hosts the start of this race on the last Saturday of February. If you want to catch any race live, the starting point is always worth a visit to grab photos of the riders signing in before the action kicks off. The neutralised start of this race is in the Citadel Park to the south of the city centre and conveniently close to Sint Pieters train station if you want to move on to catch the race live again at a later point. The park is also home to the legendary Kuipke veldodrome, venue for the Six Days of Ghent each November and the pre-race team presentations on the day of Het Nieuwsblad.

't Kuipke velodrome

Sculpture on the Kuipke velodrome

The rest of the race is not as long as the Tour of Flanders but takes in many of its famous climbs and has shamelessly co-opted its pre-2011 finale over the Muur Van Geraardsbergen and Bosberg before finishing in Ninove. As this part of Belgium is obsessed with cycling you will have no trouble finding a bar or café in Ghent to settle in and watch the race on TV, but if you want to see the race live I recommend taking the train to Geraardsbergen, which is under an hour away. To my knowledge none of the races in Flanders have official fanzones with big screens etc except the Ronde itself, but hanging out in Geraardsbergen is the next best thing. The numerous cafes along the agonising kilometre-long climb of the Muur will all be showing the race, so you can settle in with a Mattentaart and beer before the race zooms past.

Some of the same riders will be in action again the next day in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne if you fancy negotiating the bus network to get to the start line. Again, the race goes through Geraardsbergen (but not up the Muur), which might be an option for seeing the race live, but no-one will blame you for spending the day in Ghent and taking a bike ride to take in its impressive medieval sights and the largest car-free centre in Europe.

St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent

St Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent

The build up to the Tour of Flanders

Things are quiet for the next month until a flurry of races in the week leading up to the Tour of Flanders. Again, Ghent would make a good base for seeing any of these races, as most of them start or finish in towns less than an hour away by train.

The E3 Harelbeke  is on the Friday of the weekend before the Ronde and takes in many of its most famous climbs such as the Oude Kwaremont, Paterburg, Taaienberg and Eikenberg. This is an easy race to enjoy live as it starts and finishes in Harelbeke and events are held by the finish zone throughout the day, including musical acts of the Belgian persuasion and, this year at least, a giveaway of 500 bags of chips!

Two days later Gent – Wevelgem, a race with a long and noble history in its own right, kicks off not in Ghent but in nearby Deinze. It really does end in Wevelgem which again is under an hour from Ghent by train. If you can hang about until the following Wednesday you could also catch Dwars door Vlaanderen, which starts in Roeselare around lunchtime and finishes in Waregem, taking in climbs like the Taaienberg and Kruisberg along the way.

't Velootje, Ghent

Still in Ghent? Try ‘t Velootje for a unique drinking experience

The Tour of Flanders and Paris – Roubaix

On the first Sunday of April comes the race we’ve all been waiting for, the Tour of Flanders itself. Until last year the race started in Bruges, where we have enjoyed watching the pre-race sign-in many times.

Peter Sagan signs in to the Tour of Flanders

World champion Peter Sagan signs in at the 2016 Tour of Flanders before going on to win

The start has now moved to the historic town square (or Grote Markt) of Antwerp, where we intend to base ourselves this year having only visited briefly before. As we’ll have our three year old with us we’re going to settle for heading to the official fanzone in nearby Groenplaats square later in the day to watch the race unfold on the big screen and enjoy some beer and friet. In a former life however we headed over to Oudenaarde  and got the free shuttle bus from the station to the Oude Kwaremont. This is by far the best way to experience the race live;  you see the race pass by three times, often at a really crucial point, and can follow what happens in between on a big screen.

Tour of Flanders - Oude Kwaremont

The Tour of Flanders hammers up the Oude Kwaremont

There are also fanzones at Geraardsbergen, the Koppenberg, the Kruisberg , the Paterberg and the finish line, the last three being accessible by shuttle bus. Also, the town square of Oudenaarde itself, surrounded by cafes and bars showing the race, has a party atmosphere and is home to the wonderful Tour of Flanders museum which you must visit if you have time.

Oudenaarde town square - Tour of Flanders

Hijinks in Oudenaarde town square

Note that if you want to see both the start and finish of the race, it’s a two-hour train journey from Antwerp to Oudenaarde, via either Brussels or Ghent. Once again this suggests Ghent as an ideal place to base yourself for this race, being an hour from Antwerp and half an hour from Oudenaarde by train.

If you want to stay on in Belgium in order to see Paris-Roubaix the following Sunday(which apparently takes place in France but to all intents and purposes still feels like a Flemish classic), there’s plenty of great cycling in the area. If you’re staying in Ghent then you could ride the reverse of the route we cycled in 2014 out to Bruges and spend a day or two there that won’t disappoint. You could also break up your week with a trip to see Scheldeprijs, which is held on the intervening Wednesday (the start has moved from Antwerp to Terneuzen in the Netherlands since we visited, but the finishing circuit remains in the Antwerp suburb of Schoten). When it’s time to head on to see Paris – Roubaix you cycle south along a very scenic route beside the Sheldt river back to Oudenaarde and then on from there alongside the canals to Lille.

Cycling along the Scheldt from Ghent to Oudenaarde

Traffic-free cycling along the scenic Sheldt to Oudenaarde

Why Lille? Roubaix itself is not a particularly pleasant place where you’d like to linger but it’s essentially a suburb of Lille which itself has plenty of places stay, visit and eat and drink.  So it’s worth staying here for a day or so and just heading out to the Roubaix velodrome for the day of the race.

Paris - Roubaix - Velodrome

See cycling superstars in the flesh at the Roubaix velodrome

And then it’s time to go home on the all-too-convenient Eurostar from Lille. Unless you want go east and push on into Ardennes week of course, but that’s another story…

Getting there

Eurostar runs from London St Pancras International to Lille Europe and Brussels-Midi and you can take your bike with you as luggage if you take it in a bike bag. Alternatively you can book your bike on as luggage in advance for £30 each way which means you can simply ride off when you get to the other end (although if there isn’t enough room on board you will need to take the wheels off with Eurostar-provided tools and put it in a box).  You can also turn up and register your bike on the day but there’s no guarantee your bike will travel on the same train as you – more details about bikes on Eurostar here.

Your Eurostar ticket will cover you for a journey on to any other station in Belgium, and bikes can be taken on board Belgian trains for EUR 5 per trip (or EUR 8 for an all-day pass).

 

How to watch Scheldeprijs (and enjoy a day out in Antwerp)

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Schelde – who? Even for ardent cycling fans the mention of this race rarely quickens the pulse and many won’t even have heard of it.

Which is actually rather strange; the race dates back to 1907, making it the oldest race in cycling-mad Flanders. It features stretches of cobbles and former winners read like a who’s who of cycling royalty (Eddy Merckx, Rik Van Looy, Roger de Vlaeminck and Mario Cipollini to name a few). By all accounts you’d expect it to be considered a fully fledged Classic.

Occupying an anonymous mid-week slot between The Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix and taking place over a largely flat course, it is inevitably overshadowed by its more famously gruelling neighbours. But this scheduling is exactly why it’s worth a visit: many of the star riders taking part in both Monuments will appear at Scheldeprijs to keep their legs turning over between these races, but the lower-key nature of the event means they are more relaxed and visible at the sign-on.

Fabian Cancellara swigs by after winning the Tour of Flanders

Fabian Cancellara swings by after winning the Tour of Flanders

The flat course suits sprinters and attracts big names in its own right – Marcel Kittel and Mark Cavendish have each won the race three times in recent years.

Three time winner Marcel Kittel in front of the trophy he would go on to win

Marcel Kittel in front of the trophy he would go on to win for the third time

How to visit

Another reason to go and see the race is that it starts in Antwerp, Belgium’s second city and well worth a visit on any occasion. We went on a day trip from Ghent, catching a train from Gent-Dampoort station to the spectacular neo-Gothic Antwerp Centraal station, which takes about 50 minutes.

Remember where you parked your bike at any of Ghent's stations!

Remember where you park your bike at train stations in Ghent!

From the station head west towards the river Scheldt (or Schelde in Dutch, hence the name Scheldeprijs). This allows you to take in the sights of the old heart of Antwerp, that centres around the impressive Grote Markt and features everything you’ve come to expect from a medieval Flemish market town (impressive guild houses? Town hall?  Church with belltower (which in this case is a magnificent cathedral)? Tick, tick, tick). The square also features the Brabo Fountain, which depicts the legend which allegedly gave Antwerp its name ( a plucky Roman warrior by the name of Silvius Brabo killed and cut off the hand of a greedy giant who forced passing ships to pay a toll, and threw it in the Scheldt.  Hand werpen means “hand throwing”).

The Grote Markt and Brabo fountain

The Grote Markt and Brabo Fountain

Antwerp's amazing cathedral

Antwerp’s amazing cathedral

Once at the river you need to head north into a regenerated docklands area called ‘t Eilandje. The race starts outside MAS (Museum aan de Stroom), a museum of various exhibits relating to Antwerp, which is very easy to spot:

MAS

MAS

It’s in the square outside here that you can see all those aforementioned famous riders sign in before the race, getting far more up close and personal than is possible at the Tour of Flanders – many of the same riders but a tiny crowd of fans in comparison.

The lower-key feel of the race might explain why when we went to watch the race in 2014 Bradley Wiggins, who had been painfully curt when interviewed at the Tour of Flanders three days earlier, was on charming and hilarious form when interviewed by the same guy before this race. The more even tempered Tom Boonen patiently gave autographs to starstruck kids who wandered onto the stage without being challenged by security.

Wiggo turns on the charm

Wiggo turns on the charm

Peter Sagan keeps his hand in between Monuments

Peter Sagan keeps his hand in between Monuments

Where next?

The race heads out to Schoten, just a few kilometres to the northeast of Antwerp, and takes a 150km loop into the surrounding area before returning to Schoten to complete three 17km circuits through the town. So if you head out to Schoten for the finish, you should get to see the riders pass by at least three times. The most straightforward way to get there seems to be to take bus number 621 from Franklin Rooseveltplaats in the east of the city, not far from the Centraal train station.

After seeing the riders off, we chose instead to spend a few hours in Antwerp.  It’s free (and highly recommended) to go up to the panoramic viewing platform on the roof of MAS. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’ll get a great view of the race from up here, as it starts too close to the building, but there’s a great view of the team buses if that sort of thing floats your boat!

The team buses on their way to Schoten

The team buses on their way to Schoten

Perhaps more impressive are the views over the old town and the contrasting one on the other side over the modern day port that stretches for miles along both banks of the Scheldt, a reminder that you are in the second biggest port in Europe.

The old town from the roof of MAS

The old town from the roof of MAS

There’s more to see in Antwerp than can possibly be covered in a single day. There’s history, art, fashion and more, and handily there’s a city bike rental scheme to help you cover more than you could on foot.  The red and white bikes are available to hire from docking stations throughout the city and on both sides of the Scheldt. You sign up via the website to subscribe to the service then pay according to how long you hire the bike for, up to four hours. Rates are very reasonable (and the first thirty minutes are free).

A fun place to go for a spin is to take the St Annatunnel under the Scheldt, which is for cyclists and pedestrians only.  Coming from MAS you can find the entrance by walking south along the riverbank until a little way past the cathedral.

The easiest (and most fun) way to cross the river

The easiest (and most fun) way to cross the river

On the other side is the Linkerover (literally Left Bank), which is mostly parkland with great views back across the river to central Antwerp.

The view from Linkeroever

The view from Linkeroever

Antwerp is famous for its nightlife but even looking for a quick watering hole on the way back to the station we were spoilt for choice. We ended up in ‘t Elfde Gebod (the 11th Commandment), superbly located in an ivy-clad building on a cobbled lane in the shadow of the cathedral. Its website doesn’t do it justice but, in keeping with its ecclesiastical neighbour, the inside is adorned  with dozens of statues of angels and saints, staring down disapprovingly as we supped on our end-of-day beers.

It was back to Ghent for us, to pick up our bikes and continue on the next leg of our journey to Oudenaarde, the capital of the Tour of Flanders. We didn’t really have enough time to do Antwerp justice in a day, which I suppose means we’ll just have to go back and visit another time.