Cobbles and Lions
If you ride here long enough you’ll probably see him. It is none other than Johan Museeuw
Oudenaarde is the kind of place you can find anywhere in Flanders – a mix of olden-day charm and industrial bustle. A large square dominated by a gothic town hall faces off against blocky apartments and a swing bridge over the Schelde river. It is in many ways just another unremarkable rural town.
The average tourist wouldn’t dally here long, perhaps taking in a visit to the Adriaen Brouwer exhibition that honours the town’s most famous son (he was a painter, if he’s not famous enough for you to have heard of him) before returning to the N60 and heading up to Ghent or to the coast. For cyclists, however, Oudenaarde is the gateway to a two-wheeled theme park. Just hop over the river and ride south and you’ll be in the heart of Tour of Flanders territory.
While a visit to the Alps or Pyrenees may see a welltrodden agenda of loops and cols, the Flemish Ardennes offers near limitless combinations of steep bergs, cobbled farm roads and underrated scenery. The wow factor here isn’t in rock formations or valley views, it’s in flying round a slippery corner and suddenly recognising where you are from years of watching the Spring Classics on TV; of realising how tightly packed together all these set pieces are and that you’re riding a route that is, for one
