With this in mind, I began building the route in Komoot. What a wonderful activity. Experiences, highlights, street view and especially map reading are the basic ingredients. Just like when painting, you'll always have to put your route down a number of times. Adding improvement upon improvement to finally create your masterpiece.
The concept is simple. I want to connect the roads and climbs of the most important spring classics with the most beautiful backroads I can find. Day 1 consists of the Amstel Gold Race, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, La Flèche Wallonne, Brabantse Pijl and Omloop het Nieuwsblad. We’ll finish with the Muur van Geraardsbergen after 245 kilometers and about 3000 meters of elevation.
'Flanders' best' define the start of day 2. Flemish names such as the Haaghoek, Eikenberg, Koppenberg, Taaienberg, Paterberg and Oude Kwaremont will be the first tests. Then there is the long road to Ypres that will take us through the area of the E3 Prijs' final part. However, here I bypass the bigger and wider roads at all costs. Instead, I look for meandering roads through Flanders’ fields. Ypres makes its debut as the start of Ghent-Wevelgem in this edition. A race with all the allure of a monument. Who doesn't remember the stormy, echelons rich edition won by Luca Paolini, with riders being blown into the ditches next to the road? This region is beautiful for cycling but has a dark past as one of the bloodiest battlegrounds of the First World War. The Menin Gate in Ypres, monuments and military cemeteries are therefore also essential parts of the route.
Just like last year, Paris – Roubaix will be the apotheosis, as the Hell of the North is regarded as the mother of all classics. We’ll cross over from the Westhoek riding narrow backroads and plugstreets, but we'll also cut straight through Lille. Contrasts like these only make a route more beautiful and interesting. The finish is of course in the mythical Vélodrome André-Pétrieux. I can't imagine a better place to end 'the one classic to rule them all'.