Tour of Flanders 2024: Route, start lists, how to watch, history and all you need to know

The 2024 men’s and women’s Tour of Flanders, the second Monument of the season, is set to take place on Sunday 31st March.

Defined by its steep cobbled climbs and also known as Ronde van Vlaanderen, the Tour of Flanders this year will, as usual, be largely played out in a small part of Belgium known as the Vlaamse Ardennen, or Flemish Ardennes. Over the years it has developed a reputation as a favourite for both spectators and riders alike, such is the atmosphere that accompanies the race as it winds its way through the lanes of Flanders.

A major course change now sees the route centred around the town of Oudenaarde, which, after Peter Sagan was crowned victor there in 2016, has hosted the finish each year since. A bigger change in 2017 was the reintroduction of the famous Muur van Geraardsbergen, although its distance from the finish meant it wasn’t the decisive berg. However it has since been removed from the route again and the climb is now saved for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

For 2024, Antwerp returns as the men’s start town, where it has departed from since 2016, the only exception being last year’s start in Bruges. The race covers 270.8km and will finish in Oudenaarde once more. A few changes have been made as ‘safety-related choices’, with race director Scott Sunderland mentioning wider roads after the first ascent of the Paterberg that will make it easier for the peloton to build up speed with. The approach to the Koppenberg has also been altered, with no sharp bend and descent just prior to the climb. The Kortekeer and Kanarieberg climbs have been removed but the Kapelleberg is a new addition.

The women’s peloton scales the cobbled bergs of Flanders on the same day, although on a shorter course of 163km, starting and finishing in Oudenaarde. Like the men’s race, it’s still the one-two punch of the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg that will shape the finale of the race.

Tour of Flanders 2024: Key information

Date: Sunday 31st March 2024
Start: Men’s – Antwerp, Belgium; Women’s – Oudenaarde, Belgium  
Finish: Oudenaarde, Belgium  
UK live TV coverage: Discovery+, Eurosport
Distance: Men’s – 270.8km; Women’s – 163km

Men's Tour of Flanders 2024: The route

The Tour of Flanders routes have been altered for safety reasons. The start in Antwerp features a neutralised ride through the city centre and then heads towards Oudaen and goes along the Meir. The official start comes after a neutralised 10km at the Galgenweel on the Linkeroever. In the first 100km, the peloton will head through Tour villages such as Sint-Niklaas, Herzele and Zottegem. 

The first cobbled sector is the 1.3km Lippenhovestraat that arrives 104km into the day, immediately followed by the Paddestraat. The first climb of the race is the Oude Kwaremont (2.2km, max 11.6%). It will be tackled three times with the final just under 20km to go.

There are 17 cobbled hellingen (climbs) in total, including the famous Wolvenberg, Valkenberg, Koppenberg, Taaienberg and Kruisberg to soften the legs and split the race to pieces before we head into the finale. 

Shorter than Oude Kwaremont but viciously steep with gradients of up to 20%, the Paterberg is tackled first at 219km and is the race's final climb at 13km to go, with a flat run-in to that iconic finishing straight after its cresting. 

Women's Tour of Flanders 2024: The route

The women’s route is similar to the men’s, albeit over 100km shorter and both starting and finishing in Oudenaarde, with the same Kwaremont/Paterberg one-two punch headlining the action.

The women’s peloton will tackle 12 bergs including Wolvenberg, Valkenberg. Koppenberg, Taaienberg and Kruisberg before the Kwarement/Paterberg finale and flat run-in from there.  

Tour of Flanders 2024: TV and streaming guide

The Tour of Flanders 2024 races will be available to watch in the UK on Discovery+ for £6.99 per month with the basic package, which includes cycling and all other Eurosport programmes. It will also be shown on the TV channel Eurosport 1 in the UK.

If it’s not being shown in your country, you may be able to watch coverage using a VPN – Virtual Private Network – which allows users to mask their IP address and watch geo-blocked content, provided they don’t need to pay for a subscription. This is also helpful for watching paid-for coverage while travelling abroad in countries without access.  

One such example is ExpressVPN, which is very well reviewed, helps users to find way to watch cycling without having to pay for broadcasters services, and costs £5.36 per month, with three months free. Other options include NordVPN, Surfshark and Kapersky.

Full list of broadcasters

• RTBF & VRT: Belgium
• RAI: Italy, San Marino, Vatican City
• NOS: Netherlands
• Czech TV: Czech Republic
• RTVS: Slovakia
• SRG: Switzerland
• TV2 Denmark: Denmark
• TV2 Norway: Norway
• FloBikes: USA, Canada, Australia
• ESPN: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Brazil, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Mexico, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Barbuda, Bermuda, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Falkland Islands, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Saba, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Eustatius, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands
• Sky: New Zealand
• SBS: Australia
• Supersport: Angola, Burundi, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Mali, Mauritania, Namibia, Nigeria, Niger, Réunion, Rwanda, South Africa, Eswatini, Sao Tome and Principe, Saint Helena and Ascension, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Seychelles, Socotra, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia
• Eurosport/Discovery: Pan-Europe, Asia-Pacific (excluding China, Australia, and New Zealand), Japan & Indian subcontinent

TV schedule below in UK time and subject to change by the broadcasters.

Men’s Tour of Flanders 2024

Discovery+: 08:30 - 15:45
Eurosport 1: 09:45 - 16:45

Women’s Tour of Flanders 2024

Discovery+: 14:00 - 17:50 
Eurosport 1: 16:45 - 18:30

Men's Tour of Flanders 2024: Start list

Women's Tour of Flanders 2024: Start list

Tour of Flanders: Previous men's winners

• 2023 - Tadej Pogačar (SVN) UAE Team Emirates
• 2022 - Mathieu van der Poel (NED) Alpecin-Fenix
• 2021 - Kasper Asgreen (DEN) Deceuninck-QuickStep
• 2020 - Mathieu van der Poel (NED) Alpecin-Fenix
• 2019 - Alberto Bettiol (ITA) Education First
• 2018 - Niki Terpstra (NED) QuickStep Floors
• 2017 - Philippe Gilbert (BEL) QuickStep Floors
• 2016 - Peter Sagan (SLO) Tinkoff
• 2015 - Alexander Kristoff (NOR) Katusha
• 2014 - Fabian Cancellara (SUI) Trek Factory Racing
• 2013 - Fabian Cancellara (SUI) RadioShack-Leopard
• 2012 - Tom Boonen (BEL) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
• 2011 - Nick Nuyens (BEL) SaxoBank-Sungard
• 2010 - Fabian Cancellara (SUI) Saxo Bank
• 2009 - Stijn Devolder (BEL) Quickstep-Innergetic

Tour of Flanders: Previous women's winners

• 2023 - Lotte Kopecky (BEL) SD Worx
• 2022 - Lotte Kopecky (BEL) SD Worx
• 2021 - Annemiek van Vleuten (NED) Movistar
• 2020 - Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (NED) Boels–Dolmans
• 2019 - Marta Bastianelli (ITA) Virtu
• 2018 - Anna van der Breggen (NED) Boels-Dolmans
• 2017 - Coryn Rivera (USA) Team Sunweb
• 2016 - Lizzie Deignan (GBR) Boels-Dolmans
• 2015 - Elisa Longo Borghini (ITA) Wiggle Honda
• 2014 - Ellen van Dijk (NED) Boels-Dolmans
• 2013 - Marianne Vos (NED) Rabobank-Liv Giant
• 2012 - Judith Arndt (GER) Orica-AIS
• 2011 - Annemiek van Vleuten (NED) Nederland bloeit
• 2010 - Grace Verbeke (BEL) Lotto Ladies Team
• 2009 - Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (GER) Team Colombia Women

The following contains contributions from the wider Cyclist team

Tour of Flanders 2024: Key climbs

Oude Kwaremont

The Oude Kwaremont is an important climb at the Tour of Flanders, as it appears three times over the course of the race. The final appearance is 16km from the finish, so serves as the perfect place to grind out an attack.

Although it’s not especially steep (average 4%), it is 2.2km long and has ramps up to 12%.

Paterberg

The Paterberg appears twice in the Tour of Flanders, just 3km after the Oude Kwaremont and is the final climb in the race just 13km before the finish line.

Although the Paterberg is less than 400m long, it averages just under 13% and has ramps up to 20.3%. This is the final place for riders to make a big attack – Fabian Cancellara used the final few metres to gap Peter Sagan in 2013, before soloing away to claim victory.

Koppenberg

Despite its infamy, the Koppenberg only appears once at the Tour of Flanders, 226km into the race. The Koppenberg is steep (average 11%, max 22%) and narrow, but with 44.6km of racing to go is too far away from the finish to be a likely place to mount a race-deciding attack.

That said, the racing here is manic as riders do not wish to be caught at the back, where you usually end up walking, ending your race.

Tour of Flanders: History

The Tour of Flanders, or Ronde van Vlaanderen, the second of five Monuments in the professional racing calendar, can trace its history back to 1913. Most classic races were started to create headlines for a newspaper, and the Tour of Flanders is no different.

The race was first conceived by Léon van den Haute, who wrote for Sportwereld, as a celebration of the Flemish region as the other major Belgian race, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, was held in the French-speaking region of Belgium.

The first edition of De Ronde left Ghent at 6 am on the 25^th of May 1913 and wound its way to a wooden velodrome in Mariakerke through 330km of badly kept roads. The first winner was Paul Deman, aged 25, outsprinting a group of six after over 12 hours of racing.

Although the first few editions were successful, the race still struggled to attract a lot of entries, and financial sponsorship with it. The race really gained popularity in the 1930s, perhaps as a result of shortening the race to 264km, and by 1933 there was 164 riders on the start line.

The first 40 years of the Tour of Flanders is also famous for not allowing the riders any mechanical assistance. In the ‘30s the rules were changed so that a rider could accept a pump, or spare tyre, but only in an emergency and entirely at the commissaire's discretion. Bike changes were only permitted if the frame, wheel or bars broke while riding.

Over the course of the 1950s, the rules were changed to bring the Ronde more in line with other professional races.

The 1960s was the decade that cemented Flanders in cycling history. Tom Simpson became the first British winner in 1961, followed by a huge popularity surge in 1962 that saw the finish moved to Gentbrugge to cope with the spectators. 1969 marked the emergence of Eddy Merckx, who won the race by 5’ 36” over Felice Gimondi - the race’s largest ever winning margin.

Era of the ‘Bergs’ 

Flanders made more big changes in the 1970s – the race was known for its tough course but many of the original roads had been paved over, making the course considerably easier.

In 1973 the finish was moved again, this time to Meerbeke, close to the Muur van Geraardsbergen, which became a legendary part of the race. In 1976 the Koppenberg was included, feared by many due to its 22% cobbled ramps, and was the location of the beginning of Roger De Vlaeminck and Freddy Maertens' bitter rivalry.

The 1980s were characterised by complete domination by Belgian and Dutch riders, including the legendary 1985 edition that saw only 24 out of 174 finish.

The 1990s era of Flanders is best known for Johan Museeuw’s exploits that included three victories and eight podium finishes. So complete was his control of the race he was nicknamed the ‘Lion of Flanders’. 

Post-2000

In 2005 the Tour of Flanders was included in the inaugural UCI Pro Tour, establishing it as one of the five Monuments of cycling. In the 2000s a new star of Belgian cycling emerged, Tom Boonen, who won two consecutive victories in 2005 and 2006, with another following in 2012.

The big upset came in 2011, not from the riders but from the organising committee. The race was taken over by ‘Flanders Classics’, who moved the finish to Oudenaarde, much closer to the Koppenberg but also removing the Muur from the parcours to a great outcry from the fans. The Tour of Flanders celebrated its 100^th edition on 3rd April 2016.