How to Train for the Tour of Flanders Sportive

On the Saturday before the Tour of Flanders, about 15,000 riders take on the same hellingen the pros race the next day. The Oude Kwaremont, the Paterberg and the Koppenberg are short, but they are steep, many of them are cobbled, and they come one after the other.

The distance is rarely what breaks riders here. The repeated efforts are. This page turns the course into training decisions.

TL;DR: Pick your distance early and enter early, because the price goes up as the event fills. Train for many short, hard efforts, not for one long climb: two to five minutes above threshold, again and again, on tired legs. Ride cobbles before race day, set up your bike for them with wider tyres at lower pressure, and stay seated on the climbs. Start the day slower than it feels, eat from the first hour, and know the 19:00 closing time of the last feed station.

Which distance should you ride?

We Ride Flanders offers four distances. All but the longest start and finish in Oudenaarde, in the middle of the Flemish Ardennes, where the famous climbs are.

• 80 km is the shortest route through the hellingen, with about 1,000 metres of climbing. It suits riders who have done a few long rides but never cobbles.
• 130 km and 160 km add more climbs and more cobbled sectors. They are the routes most riders aim for.
• 240 km starts in Bruges and rides the flat run toward the hills before it reaches them, like the pros do. It needs a full day in the saddle and a 5:15 shuttle bus from Oudenaarde if you park there.

Choose the distance you can finish with something left for the last climbs. A 160 km where you still climb the Paterberg in the saddle beats a 240 km you survive.

How do you enter?

Entry opens months before the event and stays open until the event is full. The price is the same for every distance, but it rises with the number of entries: the first 1,000 riders pay less than the last ones. You can change your distance or name for free until mid-March, and the cancellation insurance only refunds you if you cancel by mid-January. The facts at the top show the dates and prices of the next edition.

What makes the Flanders course different?

• The climbs are short and steep. Most hellingen take between one and five minutes. That is exactly the duration where you go deep into the red, and with a climb every few kilometres in the hilly part, you have little time to recover between them.
• Many of them are cobbled. On the Oude Kwaremont, the Paterberg and the Koppenberg you climb over cobbles. Cobbles cost more power at the same speed, and they punish a rider who stands up and loses traction.
• The Koppenberg can stop you. It is narrow and very steep. When a rider ahead of you stalls, there is often no room to pass, and many riders end up walking a section. Expect it, keep your speed into the bottom, and look for your own line.
• The weather in early April changes fast. Rain, wind and cold mornings are normal. Wet cobbles are slippery, and a cold start makes the first hours harder than they look on paper.

How do you train for short, steep climbs?

The training for a sportive of 160 km is usually long and steady. For Flanders, add the efforts the course asks for.

1. Build your base through winter. Long, easy rides, with your weekly volume growing slowly. The event falls in early April, so most of your build-up runs through the coldest months. Plan some sessions on the indoor trainer.
2. From about eight weeks out, add repeated efforts. Intervals of two to five minutes above your threshold, with short recoveries, are the closest thing to a row of hellingen. Find a short climb near you and ride it again and again.
3. Put the hard efforts late in a long ride. On race day the Paterberg and the Kwaremont come after hours on the bike. Do your climbing repeats in the second half of your long rides, not when you are fresh.
4. Taper in the last ten days. Volume drops, a few short efforts stay, so your legs feel sharp on Saturday.

If you train with power, use it to keep the efforts honest: hard enough on the climbs, and easy enough between them that you can repeat them.

How do you ride cobbles?

• Ride them in training. If you live near cobbles, find a sector and ride it until it feels normal. If you do not, ride rough roads or gravel to get used to the vibration.
• Stay seated on cobbled climbs. Standing takes weight off your rear wheel and it slips, especially in the wet. Use a lower gear than you think and keep your cadence up.
• Hold the bars loosely, on the tops. A tight grip tires your arms and shoulders. Let the bike move under you.
• Choose the crown or the gutter. The middle of a cobbled road is often the smoothest, the edge sometimes has a strip of concrete or dirt. Take what is fastest, but watch the riders around you.

How do you set up your bike?

• Use wider tyres at lower pressure. Tyres of 28 to 32 mm, with a few tenths of a bar less than you run on smooth roads, give more grip and comfort on the cobbles. Ride that setup in training first.
• Go for low gears. A compact crankset with a large cassette lets you stay seated on the steepest ramps. On the Koppenberg you will use every tooth.
• Check everything that can come loose. Bottle cages, saddle bag, computer mount. Cobbles shake things off the bike; lost bottles are common on the Kwaremont.
• Bring double handlebar tape or gel pads if your hands go numb on long rides.

How do you pace and fuel the day?

• Start slower than the group. The first hour feels easy, the pace in a big group is high, and the climbs come later. Save your legs for the hilly part.
• Ride each climb at an effort you can repeat. It is tempting to sprint up the first helling. Ride it at the effort you can still hold on the tenth.
• Eat from the first hour. Plan 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, and practise that amount in training. The feed stations hand out drinks, bars, gels, fruit and biscuits, but the products change by edition; carry what you know works.
• Dress in layers. A cold morning in Oudenaarde can turn into a mild afternoon. Arm warmers, a vest and a rain jacket in your pocket let you adjust without stopping.

How does a coach help for a race like Flanders?

Flanders comes early in the season, so the whole build-up runs through winter, when rides get cancelled and the motivation dips. A coach plans that winter around your goal, moves sessions when the weather or your week falls apart, and decides with you which distance fits your training. A coach also adds the efforts that are easy to skip on your own: repeated climbing intervals, rides on rough roads, a long ride with the hard work at the end.

On Coachbox you can tell us exactly that. Choose “Help me find a coach” when you sign up, give the Tour of Flanders sportive as your goal, and we introduce you to a coach who fits.

Every fact on this page has a source

Date, distances, start and closing times, entry fees and the feed stations come from the organiser’s own pages and its rider guide, linked in the facts at the top. The climate figures come from the Belgian Royal Meteorological Institute. We checked them on the date shown there. The famous climbs stay; the routes, feed stations and prices change by edition, and we update the facts at the top when the organiser publishes the final routes.