Flanders unravelled: a cycling guide

The Tour of Flanders is a race steeped in cycling history but it has a route that can often seem like a riddle come race day in early April; Paul Knott headed out to Belgium in an attempt to solve it - Photos by Daniel Gould

"If you’re going to do a Flemish ride, you’ve got to do it in proper Flemish weather.” Former British national champion Tim Harris’s words feel a tad extreme as the Tour of Flanders probably hasn’t taken place in the ‘Beast from the East’ conditions that we were being treated to on this late February morning.

But to hear Harris — a long-time resident of the area thanks in part to his links with the Dave Rayner Fund — say that he has never ridden in colder weather isn’t a surprise as weather reports suggest we braved conditions that ‘felt like’ minus 15°C.

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Paul Knott is a fitness and features writer, who has also presented Cycling Weekly videos as well as contributing to the print magazine as well as online articles.  In 2020 he published his first book, The Official Tour de France Road Cycling Training Guide (Welbeck), a guide designed to help readers improve their cycling performance via cherrypicking from the strategies adopted by the pros.