Kapelmuur removed from Flanders route

Slated for October 18, 2020, the Tour of Flanders will skip the cobbled Kapelmuur ascent this year.

The Ronde will still traverse the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg — often proving to be decisive ascents — and will also take on the Valkenberg which has been added to the race circuit.

Flanders Classics, which hosts the Tour of Flanders, changed the parcours for several races this year, in consideration to rider and teams trying to manage a packed, late-season calendar.

In a statement, Flanders Classics indicated it wants to, “provide the teams and riders with enough opportunity to rest between the races that will follow each other in rapid succession in October.” The race host continued, “This amounts to a limited reduction in the total distance of De Brabantse Pijl, Gent-Wevelgem, the Scheldeprijs, and the Tour of Flanders,” while maintaining some of the notable features of each of the respective routes.

De Brabantse Pijl, on October 10th, will see the Moskesstraat take the place of the Ijskelderlaan, in both men’s and women’s races. Both fields will ride one round — including the ascent of the Bruine Put, Menisberg, and Lotsestraat.

Gent-Wevelgem, on October 11, has been slightly modified, removing a hilly section of the course that dipped into France, replacing it with a third ascent of the Kemmelberg.

The Scheldeprijs, slated for October 14, will cross the border to the Netherlands, with the start still in Terneuzen. The passage through Zeeland has been altered, so the route will then head in the direction of Schoten, and complete the traditional finish, and after the third, local loop, finish on the Churchillian.

At the Tour of Flanders, the men’s field will start from Antwerp, while the women’s race will roll from Oudenaarde.

From the second ascent of the Kwaremont, the men’s field will take on an unchanged final 50 kilometers, including the Koppenberg climb, and then the cobblestones of the Mariaborrestraat, Steenbeekdries and Taaienberg.

The women will also compete along the same final section as the men; after the Paterberg ascent, just 13km remain before the finish in Oudenaarde.