Which Spring Classic should I go to?

Hoping to get over to Belgium/Northern France to one of the classics next Spring and looking for some advice on travel, timings and anything else you think may be relevant.

Liege Bastogne Liege is great.

@sacredhart yes that is top of the list. Ideal plan would be out Friday, ride Saturday, watch/ride Sunday, travel back hungover Monday.

Pm me

I’d go for the Tour if Flanders ahead of any others. You get the best crowds, can see the race multiple times without stress and can usually find a spot to see the last 15 kms on a big screen.

Stay in somewhere like Gent, where there is plenty of accommodation plus hundreds of bars and restaurants.

I’ve been to Flanders, l-b-l and Amstel Gold.
Best day was on the Oude Kwaremont at Flanders. It was awesome. The atmosphere was great with big screen, bars with bbq if you choose the right bit and the peleton goes through more than one. Also the women’s race goes through earlier in the day.
We have done the short and full distance sportive at Flanders and would recommend the shorter distance only. The full distance is miles of flatness. And stay in Ghent and go to Amadeus restaurant with all you can eat ribs for €25.
Timings wise to do the sportive you need to register Friday in oudenaarde. It’s a 2 hour drive from Calais which means getting back to calais after the race on Sunday is easy.
Liege was nice but not as nice as Ghent and viewing was not as good. We found a big screen at st Nicolas 5k from the finish.
Anstel was ok. But restaurants were rammed in Maastricht but we did share our hotel with 2 pro teams which was cool.
This spring we are riding Ghent-Wevelgem. Planning to ride from Dunkirk to Kortrijk on Friday then back on Sunday.

Is it possible to DIY flanders as a 2 day tour and end it in watching it live? Don't want to do sportive.

One of the best weekends is the Het Nieuwsblad/Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne one. The races are less high profile, so you can chat to riders before the start, you get to see much more of the race as it’s easier to move between parts of the course, and you get two races instead of one.

Yes, dead easy.

Could you give me a rough-ish plan pls? Bonus points if all railway .. could take the bike that splits in half, leave the case at the first airbnb and collect on the way back ..

How about train from Calais to Lille then ride to Oudenaarde it’s 52k and for a tiny detour you could ride past the velodrome at Roubaix.

Eurostar to Brussels, then choose the starting point of your tour and get the train there (you get free onward travel to your destination in Belgium as part of the Eurostar ticket). Oudenaarde is the obvious destination but it gets very busy around the RVV weekend. Gent is probably a better option (and fuck Bruges, that is Disneyland Flanders for old people). There’s a canal side bike route out to Oudenaarde from Gent. The climbs made famous by the race are all a short distance from Oudenaarde. It’s easily rideable back to Brussels. So you could always overnight in Gent, ride out to see the race on Sunday, then ride back to Brussels to get Eurostar home again.

xoxo

also these are short and steep climbs right? 34x32 ok? I survived granon on 34x28 and Sierra Nevada on 34x25.

All are short, most are steep, some are cobbled. Climbing them is more about short bursts of high power, rather than the long, steady power required for long climbs. You'll be fine with those gears. The biggest challenge, especially on the sportive, is getting a clean run at the climbs, someone stopping and blocking the road will cause you to stop and it's really hard to get going again.

Good shout. Avoiding Brussels is worth it. That said, there’s no good reason to go to Roubaix unless you absolutely have to.

They're very similar to the steep Kent climbs, just with cobbles. No compacts required.

My regular trip is to head to the Oudenaarde area on the weekend of Paris-Roubaix. Empty roads as it's the weekend after RVV then a short trip over the border to watch PR on the Sunday. The sportive crowds suck as even if you're not doing it you will cross over a number of times if riding in the area...

@amey loads of the famous climbs are concentrated in a very compact area. You'll be amazed how many you can hit in a day.

I'd say doing the sportives would make the bergs quite a bit harder. You want to be able to see the ground. And of course you don't want ppl stopping in front of you.

Dredge.

Thinking of popping over next weekend for Omloop / Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.

The plan I have vaguely made in the last hour is Friday: train to Dover, ferry to Dunkirk, then ride to a hotel between Oudenaarde and Geraardsbergen where I have found decent prices.

Saturday and Sunday would be probably riding out to a couple of different spots to catch the racing: the Muur and somewhere else? Does anyone know restricted are we going to be here with bikes? Will we be able to ride the same roads as the pros beforehand? Is there a rolling roadblock or are roads closed for days before?

Then either somehow hurry back to London on the Sunday or stay another night and come back on the Monday.

Good choice, watching Het Nieuwsblad is a great way to start the season. I haven’t looked at the route but usually they include the Muur fairly early on so you can see it there and easily catch the race somewhere else later. Road closures are rolling in the main, but you can be caught out if you get the wrong side of it and aren’t able to get off the road that is closed.

I’d recommend catching Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne if you can, it’s an easy morning ride from Kuurne back to Calais or Dunkirk.

Thanks, this is really helpful.

I've booked a hotel (free cancellation!) between Oudenaarde and Geraardsbergen for Friday and Saturday, might have to extend it to Sunday night too (or find something in Kuurne).

You sparked my interest so I've found the route;

https://www.cyclingstage.com/omloop-het-nieuwsblad-2019/route-ohn-2019/

Looks like you couldn't have picked a better spot to stay as most of the route is between Oudenaarde and Geraardsbergen. I forgot they changed the finish last year, it now goes up the Muur as the penultimate climb, using the same finishing roads as the Ronde did for years - the Muur, the Bosberg then the run into Ninove.

Cheers for this. We've decided to stay in Oudenaarde now, mainly cos there will be shitloads of bars and if the weather's terrible it won't be much of an issue.

Pretty cool you can book this with only a week's notice.

Thursday we've got Dover's Travelodge, Friday we'll get a super early ferry to Dunkirk and ride to Oudenaarde, Saturday and Sunday are race days and then Monday cycle back to Dunkirk via Roubaix. Brilliant.

Nice trip. It’ll be a blast!! Enjoy.