While the classics season is in full swing, the Tour of Flanders which will take place this weekend is a real monument among the Belgian classics. Created in 1913 and only interrupted during the First World War, the race will have its 99th dition in 2015 and it saw all the big names among the classics riders win it, from Henri Suter to Fabian Cancellara via Walter Godefroot, Eddy Merckx, Roger de Vlaeminck or Johan Museeuw.

With 68 victories out of 99, Belgium is the record holder of number of victories in the Tour of Flanders but we'll see this Sunday whether the Tour of Flanders 2015 race route which you'll find below on Google Maps/Google Earth will again deliver a Belgian winner or not. With Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) and Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) being absent, Zdenek Stybar (Etixx-QuickStep) is one of the big favorites but the Belgian fans will no doubt hope for Sep Vanmarcke (Team LottoNL-Jumbo) to win the race.

The Tour of Flanders 2015 race route on Google Maps

There are quite some changes in the race route compared to 2014, mainly in the first part of the race route which brings the riders to Oudenaarde and to the mounts area from the start in Bruges (Brugge). This first part now contains the Tiegemberg, but there's also a new mount in the second part of the race, the Berendries, and with those changes the race route now gets to a distance of 264.2 kilometers compared to 259.8 in 2014 and 256.2 in 2013. We're not yet at the longest distance in the history of the race because the first edition in 1913 was 324 kilometers long, but with the two additional mounts the race now has 19 difficulties in the second part of the race route.

The finish will still be in Oudenaarde. Hereunder you'll find a comparison of the 2014 and 2015 race routes on one single map: the 2014 race route is depicted in yellow and the 2015 route in green.


The 19 mounts on the programme of the 2015 edition of the Tour of Flanders are thus:

1/ Tiegemberg - 750 m @ 5.6% (max 9%)
2/ Oude Kwaremont (Vieux Quaremont) - 2200 m @ 4% (max 11.6%) - of which 1500 m cobble stones
3/ Kortekeer
4/ Eikenberg - 1200 m @ 5.2% (max 10%) - completely cobble stones
5/ Wolvenberg - 645 m @ 7.9% (max 17.3%)
6/ Molenberg - 463 m @ 7% (max 14.2%) - of which 300 m cobble stones
7/ Leberg - 950 m @ 4.2% (max 13.8%)
8/ Berendries - 940 m @ 7% (max 12.3%)
9/ Valkenberg - 540 m @ 8.1% (max 12.8%)
10/ Kaperij - 1000 m @ 5.5% (max 9%)
11/ Kanarieberg - 1000 m @ 7.7% (max 14%)
12/ Oude Kwaremont (Vieux Quaremont) - 2200 m @ 4% (max 11.6%) - of which 1500 m cobble stones
13/ Paterberg - 360 m @ 12.9% (max 20.3%) - completely cobble stones
14/ Koppenberg - 600 m @ 11.6% (max 22%) - completely cobble stones
15/ Steenbeekdries - 700 m @ 5.3% (max 6.7%)
16/ Taaienberg - 530 m @ 6.6% (max 15.8%) - of which 500 m cobble stones
17/ Kruisberg / Hotond - 2500 m @ 5% (max 9%) - of which 450 m cobble stones
18/ Oude Kwaremont (Vieux Quaremont) - 2200 m @ 4% (max 11.6%) - of which 1500 m cobble stones
19/ Paterberg - 380 m @ 12.9% (max 20.3%) - of which 360 m cobble stones

A funny fact is that the Paterberg, which the riders now climb 2 times in the race since a few years, is part of the Tour of Flanders only since 1986. Indeed, that year, a farmer who was a big fan of the race invited the organiser to come visit a track which he paved himself across one of his fields and after this visit, this new mount was integrated in the race route of the Belgian classic.

Hereunder you'll find the time- and route schedule and the Tour of Flanders 2015 race route on Google Maps. Click on the images to open them. In order to make it easier to understand the map, the race route is broken up in 3 parts on the map (after the connection between the fictive start and the km 0 which is shown in black): the approach of Oudenaarde and the first visit of the mounts area in green, the second visit of the mounts area in blue and finally the third visit of the mounts area and the road towards the finish in red.

The Tour of Flanders 2015 race route in Google Earth

Do you prefer to see the race route of this Belgian classic in Google Earth, for example to do a virtual fly-over of the race? You can do so by downloading the following KML file:

>> Download the Tour of Flanders 2015 race route in Google Earth

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Classics | OpenStreetMap/Google Maps/Google Earth

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