2010 Ardennes Classics 11 day Trip

TRIP DETAILS:
Duration: 11 days, 10 nights
Dates: 16th to 26th April, 2010
Start-Finish: Zaventem Airport
Highlights: Amstel Gold Cycle Sport Event, Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallonne, Leige – Bastogne – Liege
Accommodation: 3 nights Liege, 5 nights Durbuy (Ardennes), 1 nights Liege, 1 night Brussels
Group Size: Maximum 20 people (3 Staff)
Cost: $AUD4850 per person twin share. Single Supplement $900
Deposit: $1000 AUD- Reserve this Trip
Inclusions

DAY 1: Friday 16 April, Arrival
Today we collect you from Zaventem airport in Brussels and go to our accommodation situated in Liege where we will spend the next 3 nights. After we collect everyone we will be on our way to Liege.

Liège is called ‘La cité ardente’ (the fiery city). A city at the crossroads of Northern and Southern European culture. Liège is an old industrial centre which faces the challenge of adapting to the 21st century.

Nowadays Liége is a rapidly changing city where old meets new. Take a walk through the old city center and discover the typical traffic-free alleys and shopping streets where terraces abound.
Visit the central St. Lambert square where a new modern Liège is growing. Take a walk alongside the banks of the majestically flowing Meuse river and see Liège from a distance.

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.

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!

The trip will be escorted by Eric Van Lancker, a famous Classics rider from the ‘90’s.
Eric is more than an expert for this week having won both the Amstel Gold Race and Liege Bastogne Liege!

His Palmares are below: 20 victories, several participations in the Tour de France.
1984: 3rd, Paris-Brussels
1985 (4): Milk Race, 2 stages Milk Race, stage of Tour of Denmark, 2nd Oostrozebeke, 3rd Zele
1986 (3): A stage of the Giro d’Italia, stage Paris-Niice, stage Tour of Switzerland, 4th Tour of Belgium
1987 (1): A stage of the GP G.Tell, 2nd Tour of Lombardy
1988 (2): A stage of the Tour of Cantabrie, stage of the Tour of Belgium
1989 (2): Winner, Amstel Gold Race, stage of Tour of the Basque Country
1990 (1): Winner, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, 2nd, l’Escalade de Montjuich
1991 (3): Wincanton Classic, GP de Montreal, Bellegem, 5th Liège-Bastogne-Liège
1992 (2): 2 stages of the Tour of Vaucluse
1994 (1): Bruxelles-Ingooigem
1995 (1): La Calamine, 2nd la Côte Picarde

Overnight: Liege
Meals: Dinner

DAY 2: Saturday 17, April Amstel Gold Race for Cyclists
Today we will travel over the border to Holland for your own Amstel Gold Race. You will know what it feels like to grovel over these steep climbs. If you think Holland is flat, think again. Over here in the Limburg it ain’t flat. It’s a great day out and one of the most popular events on the cyclosportif calendar.
This is a mass participation and always sells out within days of registrations opening. We have a limited number of places available for this event especially for our clients.

You have a choice of 5 distances (60km, 100km, 125km, 200km or 250km).
The Amstel Gold Race Tour version belongs to the UCI Golden Bike event. You’ll ride through some of Netherlands most beautiful scenic areas.

Your registration as a participant includes:

• Clearly signed routes
• Slope indication
• Maintenance: Including Food, drinks, medical and technical support.
• Time registration and text message service.
• Photo service on the finish and team photo on the podium.
• At the finish at Cauberg Hill it’s possible to get a massage.
• A souvenir of the Tour Version Amstel Gold Race 2009.

Overnight: Liege
Meals: Breakfast

DAY 3: Sunday 18 April, Amstel Gold Race
We will do the Amstel Gold Race again today but this time as a spectator.
Eric Van Lancker, who will be one or our guides on the rides, has won this race in 1989.
Over the years we have organised trips for spectators during the Spring Classics and The Amstel Gold Race is our favourite. The beautiful area with a mixture of tough climbs and small roads and this in such a small area makes this race special.

The Netherlands is known for its flat country, where bikers have all rights on the road but this part of the “Low Countries” has numerous hills. Maasberg, Adsteeg, Camerig, Gulperberg, Keutenberg and Cauberg are only some of them and these names will mean nothing to you until you meet them on your ride.

During the day we will provide you again with appetizers, a starter, a main dish and dessert.
Depending on the itinerary we will see the peloton 9 or 10 times on the road. And of course we bring you again to the finish, at the top of the Cauberg.

Overnight: Liege
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

DAY 4: Monday 19 April, Ride in the Ardennes
Today we will ride from Liege to our hotel in Durbuy through the beautiful Ardennes. It’s quite different to the rest of Belgium here where the plains and fields give way to hills, mountains, forests and green valley’s with quiet roads winding their way through pretty villages of which Durbuy is one.

Durbuy has been a “city” since 1331, dubbed so by John the first of Luxembourg. For the longest time this trading town on the Ourthe River in eastern Belgium, at the northwest edge of Luxembourg province of Wallonia called itself “the smallest town on Earth” but it might better refer to itself as the prettiest small town. Or perhaps truly, the “luckiest”. While most of the other small towns in this part of the Belgian Ardennes were heavily damaged, some almost destroyed, especially during the Battle of the Bulge, the medieval town of Durbuy was mostly untouched.

Nestled in a steep canyon of thick trees Durbuy is a striking little journey back into time with narrow cobblestone streets through buildings and houses dating from the 16th and 17th Century constructed of the same light grey stone. Dominated by its castle and below the steep cliff of the ‘La Falize’, the narrow streets of Durbuy and its open town square are lined with brasseries and restaurants. Our hotel in the centre square, is one of Durbuy’s most popular and best reviewed hotels.
Once we arrive at the hotel we can relax with a nice Belgian beer. Later we can explore the village at our leisure before dinner.

Overnight: Durbuy
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

DAY 5: Tuesday 20 April, Ride the Final part of Flêche Wallonne
The Flêche Wallonne is the little brother of Liège-Bastogne-Liège and The Amstel Gold Race, but the race and the area are just as fascinating.
We will ride the final circuit of the race which means that we start in Huy at the feed-zone. This 100km trip offers 7 hills and ends at the Mur of Huy (9,3 to 17 %).

Our support-van & driver will again be there when we need him. You can ride your own tempo knowing that alongside the road you’ll get provided with sandwiches, soft-drinks and power-bars.
You’ll be the hero when you reach the top of the Mur without getting off the bike.

Overnight: Durbuy
Meals: Breakfast

DAY 6: Wednesday 21 April, FLÊCHE WALLONNE
The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne (the Walloon Arrow) is held mid-week between the Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. At one time, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège were run on successive days as “Le Weekend Ardennais”.

La Flèche Wallonne was created to boost the sales of a newspaper Les Sports during the 1930s and was first run in 1936. While perhaps not as revered as one of the Classic ‘Monuments’, the race is widely regarded as a Classic, and became part of the UCI World Ranking calendar in 2009.

Like many cycle race events, the course has altered considerably over the years, both in route and length. The event was first run on roads from Tournai to Liège (growing from 236 km to 300 km – its longest ever distance – in 1938). Today, the 199.5 km event starts in Charleroi and heads east to Huy, where the riders do three laps of a tough circuit including the steep Mur de Huy climb, with several sections steeper than 17%. The finish is at the top of the Mur after the third ascent.

You suffered yesterday so we will let the professionals suffer today. From start to finish we will follow the race today.

As we did a great many of the climbs yesterday we know where to stop to see them passing at the lowest speed. As a real VIP, you will be served again with food and drinks. Thanks to a perfect route preparation you’ll see them live 8 or 9 times.

Overnight: Durbuy
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

DAY 7: Thursday 22 April, Relax
As we have another tough ride planned tomorrow we will take it rather easy today.
You can choose between a short or long ride.
Have you enjoyed all the facilities of our accommodation yet? Have you had a walk around the village? Today is a perfect day to relax and prepare mentally for the tough ride of tomorrow.

Overnight: Durbuy
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

DAY 8: Friday 23 April, Ride Liege-Bastogne-Liege
Today we will head south towards Bastogne and ride this section of the course.
The country down here is a little easier than that north of our hotel (which we will tackle tomorrow). We will go to the famous WW2 town of Bastogne. The Siege of Bastogne was an engagement between American and German forces at the Belgian town of Bastogne, as part of the larger Battle of the Bulge. Because all seven main roads in the Ardennes mountain range converged on the small town of Bastogne, control of its crossroads was vital to the German attack. The siege lasted from December 20 to December 27 when the besieged American forces were relieved by elements of General Patton’s Third Army.
In remembrance of this event, a US tank sits in the middle of the city square. After Bastogne we will head along the course back up to Stavelot with a couple of climbs late in the ride. This will be approx 100kms and will be the point where we resume our ride tomorrow.

Overnight: Durbuy
Meals: Breakfast

DAY 9: Saturday 24 April, Presentation of the teams
After breakfast we will load the luggage into the bus because it is time to leave our hotel. We ride the final section of Liege-Bastogne-Liege today. It’s a distance of approx 90km with 8 climbs all together. You’ll meet the famous Côte de la Redoute but also Côte de Stockeu, Côte de la Haute-Levée, Côte de la Vecquée, Côte de Sprimont, Côte du Sart-Tilman and finally the Côte de Saint-Nicolas.
The finish in Ans is only 20 mins away from our hotel for the next 2 nights in the centre of Liege.

A beautiful castle in Liege is the location for the presentation of the Teams. That’s where we will go this afternoon. As Liege-Bastogne-Liege is one of the most famous hill classics, all top-climbers will be present. This would be a perfect opportunity to get an autograph or a picture of your favourite cyclist.

Overnight: Liege
Meals: Breakfast

DAY 10: Sunday 25 April LIEGE-BASTOGNE-LIEGE
Eric Van Lancker won this race in 1990 when he was riding for the Panasonic-team.
The start of this race takes place in the centre of Liege. We will see the start of the race before heading off on our own little race today where we will see the race at 9 stops in total.
As we did during all the spring-classics, today we test your orientation by criss-crossing through this nice part of Belgium.

Our preparation of the route is well known by famous ex-cyclists and some of them even try to follow us. They often wonder, year after year, how we manage to reach all the spectacular places.

Today we take you to the Côte de Saint Roch, Côte de la Roche-en-Ardenne, Côte de la Haute-Levée, Côte de la Redoute and drive the last part on the stage passing Côte du Sart- Tilman-Tilff and Côte de Saint-Nicolas. We drop you at the finish line so you can have the best view of the winner.
Shortly after the race we travel to Brussels which takes about 1 hour.

After check-in at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, situated next to Brussels Airport, we will enjoy a final dinner in the restaurant of the Atomium.
It will not be dark when we arrive so you’ll get the chance to see a panoramic view of Brussels by day and by night.

Overnight: Brussels, Zaventem
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

DAY 11: Monday 26 April Time to say good-bye
We went to great lengths to not let this trip end, but alas we have failed.
There’s a time to come and a time to go and the time to go has come.

Inclusions
Tour cost is per person twin share and includes:
* All Transport.
* Services of experienced Tour Guides, including a former winner of the race.
* Transfers from Zaventem Airport on the 16th and 25th April.
* Accommodation in selected 3 and 4 star Hotels (with private facilities).
* Buffet breakfast daily.
* 3 course evening meals on 4 nights.
* Lunch on 3 days.
* VIP guided trip to see the Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallonne and Liege Bastogne Liege.
* Mechanical assistance with your bike.
* Sightseeing as listed.
* Maps and Bikestyle Tours Itinerary.
* Bikestyle Tours Cycling Jersey.
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