2012 Spring Classics- 11 Day Trip

Featuring:
Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix

TRIP DETAILS:
Duration: 11 days, 10 nights
Dates: 30th March to 9th April, 2012
Start-Finish: Zaventem Airport
Accommodation: 4 nights Gent, 3 nights Ieper, 2 nights Compiegne, 1 night Brussels
Group Size: Maximum 12 people (3 Staff)
Cost: $AUD4990 per person twin share. Single Supplement $900
Deposit: $1000 AUD- Reserve your Place Now
Inclusions

Optional Extras:
Bike Hire: AUD$600
Pre or post tour accommodation to extend your stay
Travel Insurance (with a 15% Discount for Australian Clients)
Car Rental Email us for details

Highlights:

If you are a true Cycling Enthusiast then you have to see a Classic once in your life!
This trip will show you around all the famous sights of Belgium and Northern France, immerse you in its culture and take you along its famous roads. You will see Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix.
There’s also lots of cycling including the bone jarring but must do, Tour of Flanders Cycle Sport event and rides on the Paris Roubiax course including the Arenberg Forest and the Roubaix Velodrome. Included will be visits to the Tour of Flanders Museum.
We will also visit the WW1 battlefields around Ieper and the Menin Gates.

Friday, 30th March: Arrival at Bikestyle Tours Spring Classics Trip

Today we collect you from Zaventem airport in Brussels and go to our accommodation at our 3 star hotel in Gent.
There will be someone to meet you at the Airport and assist you to our vehicle.  After we collect everyone we will be on our way to Gent and our self contained apartment-hotel in the centre of town.

Unlike the typical hotel it offers comfortable, furnished apartments with full hotel service. These apartments consist of a living-room with sitting-area, dining table and office-desk, a kitchenette with a refrigerator, two hot plates and all the necessary kitchen utensils, a separate bedroom and a bathroom. Wireless broadband internet is available in all apartments.

Centrally located in Gent, it is ideal for visiting the historic city or to the other neighbouring Flemish Cities of Art (Bruges, Antwerp and Brussels are each within 30 minutes).

The first job will be to assemble your bike and Bikestyle staff will be on hand if you have mechanical problems or need any other assistance. The rest of the day is yours.

Depending on your arrival time there should be time for a shakedown ride. It will be possible to do a ride for those who have come in the morning.

Tonight a Welcome Dinner is provided at the Hotel Restaurant and there will be plenty of time to ask questions and meet the staff and of course the people who you will be spending your holiday with and maybe a Belgian beer or two!

Overnight: Gent
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Saturday, 31st March: Tour of Flanders Cycle Sport

Each year there is a special event for cycle tourists on the day before the real boys come out to play. There are 3 rides, one covering the whole course, one covering the last 140km and finally a shorter 60km ride. About 15,000 riders do this great event and you will have the opportunity to do either the 140km or the 60km event.

Our great location in Gent will help us this morning as the hotel prepares an early breakfast and we go to the start. We will be on our way while others will be searching for parking spots!

The 140km is the pick of the events as it gives you a true feel of the race as it traditionally goes over all the final (15 or so) climbs including the famous Molenberg, Oude Kwaremont, Koppenberg, Berendries, Valkenberg, Bosberg. It’s a great but hard day out and the growing popularity of the event now means that last year almost 20,000 people participated. You would think it might be chaotic and on the climbs it can be a little but all in all the day goes quite well considering the numbers.

The Tour of Flanders for Cyclists is the second trial on the Golden Bike calendar, an initiative of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) (International Cyclist Union) to promote bike races worldwide.

The Tour of Flanders (race) is without a doubt one of the biggest sporting events in Belgium. Today we will have the chance to get a sneak preview of the atmosphere at this biking event. Hopefully it’s a nice day! Fingers crossed.

Don’t forget to pack all the appropriate gear as it will be cold and could be wet. After the event we will gather everyone and head back to Aalst for a well deserved shower and maybe some frites and mayo with a Belgian beer to wash it down along the way!

Overnight: Gent
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Sunday, 1st April: Tour of Flanders

I don’t think there is anything quite like seeing a big Classic race live. The crowds are getting bigger every year. All of Flanders comes out to celebrate as if it is their National Day. To me this is the real heart of cycling. If you are a cyclist you have to see this race once in your life.

The Tour of Flanders is a living monument to cycling thanks to its past winners and demanding parcours. Hard men shine through this race typically hit with snow, wind and/or rain. Men like Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx, Roger De Vlaeminck, Tom Boonen and Johan Museeuw.

In 2012 the Ronde will move to a new finish town, Oudenaarde. Oudenaarde with its historic centre, its wonderful Town hall and its unique museum, The Tour of Flanders Centre lies in the centre of this new route. For recreational riders and cycling lovers Oudenaarde exudes a passion for cycling.

The final section of the race contains the traditional ingredients of the Tour of Flanders: leg snapping hills and cobbled roads, all set in the heart of the Flemish Ardennes.

It will include a final section of 75 kilometers built around three loops on the Oude-Kwaremont and Patersberg in combination with the Koppenberg and Kruisberg. This provides a new concept concentrated around four crucial hills in the Flemish Ardennes, all within a stone’s throw of each other. The ultimate final, being ten climbs and two cobbled sections followed by a straight line to the finish in Oudenaarde, will see the only the strongest survive to battle out the finish.

One hundred thousand cycling fans make the Tour of Flanders what it is today so the atmosphere on this final circuit will be amazing!

Our Day:

We will first go to the start in Brugge where we have a VIP pass into the riders enclosure where we can see the riders signing on and getting ready. Once the race has started we will be on our way to see them again in Roeselare before we go to the Oude Kwaremont and our VIP area to see the firstly the womens race pass and then the final 3 circuits of the mens race, culminating in the finish at Oudenaarde.

Our VIP area is provided by the organisation of the race and will have all the ingredients for a fantastic Belgian atmosphere: The Ronde live in front of you on the Oude Kwaremont, beer, frites, lots of proud Belgians and a TV!

After seeing the finish we will return to Gent for an evening free in the town. Our hotel is situated in the centre of Gent so the restaurants are only a short walk away.

Brief History of the Ronde Van Vlaanderen

The Ronde is one of the most prestigious of the Spring Classics, or of any cycle race. It’s an endurance race in the true sense. 270 kms with more than a dozen climbs it varies year to year. There are no Alpine or Pyrenean mountains, but most of the climbs are narrow and steep, and several are cobbled. Although they are tough in their own right, they also raise the tempo in between since everybody wants to be in a good position when they start.

Overnight: Gent
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Monday, 2nd April: Tour of Flanders Museum

Today we will drive to Oudenaarde for a visit of the Tour of Flanders Centre and Museum in Oudenaarde, followed by lunch in the beautiful town square.  After lunch we will ride from Oudenaarde to Geraardsbergen and then to Gent. We will do some of the famous cobbled climbs from earlier editions including the much feared and famous Muur van Geraardsbergen, the Kapelmuur and maybe the Bosberg before continuing back to Gent along the canal.

The Tour of Flanders Centre is located in the historical heart of Oudenaarde near the Market Square. Oudenaarde is the gateway to the Flemish Ardennes, with the slopes and cobbled roads of the Tour of Flanders.

It is much more than an interactive museum. It also consists of an auditorium, an exhibition hall, a conference room, a lobby, a theme cafe and a great shop where they sell good quality clothing including original wool jerseys. The Tour plays an important role in the Flemish social life. Discover the glorious moments of your heroes and feel the emotions of the most beautiful classic in Flanders.

The interactive museum looks for the spirit and the heroes of the Tour. The museum has a multi-media approach with magnificent audiovisuals, projections and computer simulations. Every visitor gets the chance to experience the Tour himself. You can feel the excitement, the suffering and the happiness. You can cycle next to Schotte, Merckx or Museeuw and you can feel the cobbled stones and hills.

Every theme has an installation with text, photographs, films, graphic creations, sounds and objects. Once again, you feel the atmosphere of Flanders’ finest classic. You learn everything about the evolution and the history. The computers show you additional and statistic information.

Overnight: Gent
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Tuesday, 3rd April: Ieper and the Flanders Fields

You can’t visit Belgium without going to Brugge! So this morning we will head off after breakfast by vehicle to Brugge where we will spend the morning and early afternoon. After a lunch we will head to Ieper by bike. It will be approximately a 70 kilometre ride and we will arrive in time to spend the evening in Ieper.

Walking around Brugge is like taking a step back in time. From its 13th-century origins as a cloth-manufacturing town to today, Bruges has changed little. As in a fairy tale, swans glide down the winding canals and the stone houses look like they’re made of gingerbread. Brugge has made the transition from medieval to modern with remarkable grace. In the Middle Ages, Brugge was among the wealthiest cities of Europe. Unlike so many European cities that have had been ravaged by war, Bruges has remained unscathed with its monumental buildings intact. UNESCO has recognized the cultural importance of the historic center by awarding it World Heritage status.

After lunch we will begin our ride to Ieper arriving in time for dinner.

On our way we will ride through the Flanders Fields which were the scene of some of the most fierce battles of World War 1. Included in our ride will be a visit to the Tyne Cot Cemetery where there is an interesting display of the battles fought in this area and the resting place of many Australians and British soldiers.

The cemetery grounds were assigned to the United Kingdom in perpetuity by King Albert I of Belgium in recognition of the sacrifices made by the British Empire in the defence and liberation of Belgium during the war. It is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world, for any war.
The name “Tyne Cot” is said to come from the Northumberland Fusiliers seeing a resemblance between the German concrete pill boxes, which still stand in the middle of the cemetery, and typical Tyneside workers’ cottages – Tyne Cots.

Our ride will finish at our hotel in Ieper where we can shower and head to dinner which is provided tonight. The very beautiful and grand Main Square is full of life with restaurants and cafes flanked by the museum and town hall on one side.

Overnight: Ieper
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Wednesday, 4th April:

This morning we will see the second of the great races in our week at the Classics, the semi classic Grote Scheldeprijs. Being midweek between Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix it is expected that the top riders will come out to contest this, the oldest race in Belgium.

We will go to the start in beautiful Antwerp this morning with hopefully a little time to look around before we head off to see the race on one of the cobbled sections. This will be followed by a ride around the final circuit of the race and lunch before the race passes through the finish in Schoten for the first of 4 times. we will stay in Schoten until the finish and return to the hotel afterwards.

The Grote Scheldeprijs is a Belgian semi classic cycling race which starts in Antwerp and finishes in Schoten. The event is seen as a race for sprinters, held on flat roads over roughly 200 kilometres. The race is one circuit of 155 kilometres into the countryside of Antwerp province followed by three circuits of 15 kilometres based on Schoten. The route includes seven cobbled sections varying between 1300 and 3000 metres.
The race start is in the centre of Antwerp at the Grote Markt outside the City Hall. Racing begins in Schoten, a few kilometres north east and the finish is outside Schoten town hall.

The first Scheldeprijs was organised by the Antwerp branch of the Belgian cycling federation (BWB) on July 8 1907 making it the oldest cycle race in Flanders. In its early years it started and finished in Antwerp, concluding at the now demolished Zurenborg velodrome.

Overnight: Ieper
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Thursday, 5th April: Kemmelberg

We will leave the hotel and head out and ride some of the interesting parts of the course from the famous Gent-Wevelgem race, including the famous Kemmelberg which is about 12km from Ieper.

After a loop around the Flanders Fields we will return reasonably early for a relaxing afternoon in Ieper. We suggest you have an early dinner so you can see the last post at the Menin Gate.

Every evening (at 8 pm) since 1928, the Last Post has been sounded under the imposing memorial arches of the Menin Gate. The Last Post is the traditional salute to the fallen and is played in honour of the memory of the soldiers of the then British Empire, who fought and died in the ‘Immortal Ypres Salient’ between 1914 and 1918.

Overnight: Ieper
Meals: Breakfast

Friday, 6th April: Arenberg Forest

All the action today will centre round the famed Arenberg forest, The Wallers Forest and the section near Orchies. Friday is the traditional day for the teams to do a last reconnaissance of the important parts of the course and we usually see many of the teams out on the pave.

We’ll head down after breakfast and stop at Arenberg which is where the Arenberg Forest section starts and ride part of the course from there. Believe me at the end of this section you’ll be waving the white flag!

After some photos we will continue along the course completing another 3 or 4 sections before arriving in Orchies where we will stop for lunch.

From here we’ll go to the velodrome at Roubaix where you are free to do a lap of this famous track and then wash down the dust with a beer at the bar in the club house of the Velo Club Roubaix. Here we can soak up the atmosphere of years gone by and buy our very own piece of pave of perhaps some club clothing.

When we’re all done we will continue onto Compiegne where we will spend the next 2 nights on the outskirts of this famous town so we are ready for our Paris Roubaix weekend.

First used in 1968 the Trouée d’Arenberg, Tranchée d’Arenberg, (Trench of Arenberg), Trouee de Wallers Arenberg, has become the symbol of Paris–Roubaix. The 2400m of cobbles were laid in the time of Napoleon I and the road was proposed for Paris–Roubaix by former professional Jean Stablinski,who had worked in the mine under the woods of Arenberg. Although almost 100 km from Roubaix, the sector usually proves decisive and as Stablinski said “Paris–Roubaix is not won in Arenberg, but from there the group with the winners is selected.”

Overnight: Compiegne (France)
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Saturday, 7th April:

Today we will have a local ride, again taking in parts of the race course for tomorrow, returning to the hotel for a shower and some lunch.

After lunch we will head into Compiegne to visit a few team hotels and then go to the Teams Presentation. Traditionally Paris-Roubaix kicks off with a team presentation in the centre of Compiegne a day before the race, and this year will be no different. The market square outside the Place du Palais will be awash with cycling fans as the team buses on Saturday afternoon with an atmosphere of excitement.

Overnight: Compiegne (France)
Meals: Breakfast

Sunday, 8th April: Paris Roubaix

This morning we will head off to Paris Roubaix, the Hell of the North or l’enfer du nord as the French say.

There is no other race in the world like the Paris-Roubaix. The French race is known for its torturous pavé sectors and the many stories of pain and destruction that they hold.

Our own Stuart O’Grady has won this icon and dreams of riders like George Hincapie and Johan Museeuw have ended in tears along the roadside, but the risks make the victory in velodrome that much sweeter. After 260 kilometres and around 50 of pavé, the race ends with one and a half laps on Roubaix’s outdoor track.

Win in Roubaix, the third of cycling’s five Monuments, and you are considered a god. Riders like Roger De Vlaeminck, Fausto Coppi, Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx, Francesco Moser, Sean Kelly and Tom Boonen have tamed Paris-Roubaix’s pavé for the well-earned status.

We start early from our hotel and go to the start in Compiegne. The start of Paris Roubaix is special. You can feel the energy in the air. We will see the riders presented for the sign on and meet back at the vehicles as soon as they have gone. Through the afternoon we will visit several sections of pavé along the route where we’ll see up close the difficult conditions that take their toll on the riders as the day wears on.

Then our chase begins and goes something like this:

10h50 : Start of the Race.
After the start we will drive to the cobble stone area at Inchy where will see the race pass over a long and difficult section of pavé (cobble stones), as well as enjoy our picnic lunch.
13h25 : First cobble stone area at Inchy, Length of pavé : 1800 m
14h00 : Saint Python (feed zone), Length of pavé : 1500 m
14h40 : Haveluy, Length of pavé : 2500 m
15h45 : Orchies, Length of pavé : 1700 m From Orchies will then head to the Roubaix velodrome to await the arrival of the 2012 winner.
17h30 : Velodrome 18h30 : Finish area to see riders After we have visited the finish area your day at Paris-Roubaix comes to an end.

In between the different stops we will follow the race on TV in our vehicles and we will provide a picnic lunch with drinks and snacks during the day.

After the race we will continue to our hotel in near Zaventem in preparation for our departure tomorrow. Tonight we’ll have a farewell dinner where it all began 10 days ago!

Overnight: Zaventem
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Monday, 9th April: A Bientot

Trip ends and we head our separate ways but we hope to see you again soon.
We will have a bus available to shuttle people to the airport during the day.

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Inclusions
Tour cost is per person twin share and includes:

• All Transport.
• Services of experienced Tour Guides, including a Pro cyclist.
• Return transfers from Zaventem Airport on the 30th March and 9th April.
• Accommodation in selected 3 star Hotels (with private facilities).
• Buffet breakfast daily.
• 3 course evening meals on 5 nights.
• Lunch on 3 days.
• VIP access to Tour of Flanders riders enclosure.
• VIP access to Oude Kwaremont VIP Marquis with full catering, TV and great viewing.
• Mechanical assistance with your bike.
• Sightseeing as listed.
• Maps and Bikestyle Tours Itinerary.
• Bikestyle Tours Cycling Jersey.

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Reserve your Place Now

NOTE: Please place number of persons attending in box below

• By paying a deposit you are deemed to have accepted our Waiver and Reservation Conditions.
• We charge for our trips in Australian Dollars (AUD). We recommend that you check the exchange rate before booking.
• A surcharge of 1.5% is applicable for payments made with visa or mastercard and 3% for payments made with American Express credit cards.
• Deposits can also be paid by direct deposit or cheque.
  • Our bank details for direct debit are: Bikestyle Pty Ltd, Westpac Bank, BSB 034034 Account No. 148121. (If paying by direct debit or cheque please send an email to michelle@bikestyletours.com to advise of payment)
  • Our mailing address for payment by cheque is Bikestyle Pty Ltd, PO Box 3935, South Brisbane, 4101.
• It is a requirement of Bikestyle Tours that you have Travel Insurance for your trip.
• * We charge for our trips in Australian Dollars (AUD) and prices shown in other currencies are only approximate. We advise that you check the exchange rate before booking.

If you have any further enquiries please email us at tours@bikestyletours.com

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