The brand new Sven Nys cycling route. ©Edgardo Zanenga/4actionmedia
Every cyclist knows the name Eddy Merckx. His palmares surpass any other cyclist, and his dominant wins earned him the nickname “The Cannibal.” On June 17, 2025, Eddy Merckx turned 80 years old. Sven Nys, a name quite familiar to our readers, was born the same day as Eddy Merckx, 31 years later. Sven Nys also earned a nickname, “The Cannibal from Baal” for his dominant cyclocross wins and the fact that he is from Baal. Both riders are from Flanders, specifically the area just east of the city of Leuven.
Flanders
Belgium, adjacent to the English Channel, is bordered in the North by the Netherlands, and in the South by France. To the east are Germany and Luxembourg. Belgium is divided by the language spoken. Flanders is the northern part of the country bordering the Netherlands, which is Dutch-speaking, and Flemish is a dialect of Dutch. Historically, the County of Flanders was quite dominant during the Middle Ages because of its location and with large trading hubs of Ghent in the east and Bruges in the west. Flanders’ history is complicated after that, and even with the creation of the Kingdom of Belgium, Flanders remained fiercely independent.
Cycling in Flanders
Cobbles in Flanders. ©C. Lee/Cyclocross Magazine
Flanders is the home of the Tour of Flanders (Ronde Vlaanderen), Ghent-Wevelgem, E3 Saxo Classic, Dwars Door Vlaanderen, and Nokere Koerse. Storied cobbled sections of the Flandrien classics include the Oude Kwaremont, De Muur, Paterberg, and of course, the Koppenberg.
Flanders is also home to numerous cyclocross races. Namur, Koksijde, Zonhoven, Gavere, Antwerpen, Gullegem, Diegem, Koppenbergcross, and of course, GP Sven Nys are all in Flanders.
With all this cycling history and culture, the Flanders Visitors organization has a cycling branch, Cycling in Flanders, where you can find all the information you need about races, events, and cycling routes in Flanders. Cycling in Flanders has created the Flandrien Challenge, should you want to come and try your mettle on the bergs and cobbles of Flanders.
Cyclocross Magazine in Flanders
Visit Flanders and Cycling in Flanders invited Cyclocross Magazine to spend a few days in their country to see the Sven Nys Cycling Center, site of the GP Sven Nys, and ride the Eddy Merckx and Sven Nys cycling routes corresponding with Eddy Merckx’s 80th Birthday, and Sven Nys’ 49th Birthday. We jumped at the opportunity.
Our stay was in Leuven, a charming city of just over 100,000. It is a 20-minute train ride east from the Brussels Airport (BRU). It has the oldest Catholic university in Europe, the Catholic University of Leuven, which gives the city an international culture. The largest summer music festival in Europe, Rock Werchter, which has been happening annually since 1976, takes place in Leuven.
Catholic University of Leuven. ©Ralph Ornelis/Het is Koers
If you like beer, it’s another reason to like Belgium, and particularly Flanders, which has a strong history of beer making. Leuven is the home of Stella Artois Brewery but also small artisanal breweries such as Brewery de Coureur.
Brewery de Coureur microbrewery in Leuven. ©C. Lee/Cyclocross Magazine
Inside the old Stella Artois brewery in Leuven. A new modern facility is across the road. ©C. Lee/Cyclocross Magazine
Leuven has a robust bicycle infrastructure with protected bikeways and bike right-of-way where cars must stay behind bicyclists until a passing zone on certain small roads. You see cyclists of all ages pedaling mostly non-electric bikes in every direction.
Leuven was the finish line location of the 2021 UCI Road Race World Championships. That year, Julian Alaphilippe won the elite men’s race, and Elisa Balsamo outsprinted Marianne Vos for the gold.
Leuven was also the scene of the October 2024 UCI Gravel World Championships finishing circuit, with the finish line at the plaza in the center of the city. Mathieu Van Der Poel decisively took the Elite Men’s gold. In an arguably more exciting race, Marianne Vos narrowly beat Belgian favorite Lotte Kopecky in a two-up sprint after they broke away from the field with less than 50 km to go for the Elite Women’s title.
Cycling in Flanders has a link to this 2024 Gravel Worlds route, which runs 136 km from Halle southwest of Brussels to Leuven. If you want to experience a European gravel race route, this is the one to take.
The Eddy Merckx Cycling Route
©Ralph Ornelis/Het is Koers
In 2025, to coincide with Eddy Merckx’s 80th birthday, Cycling in Flanders revised the original Eddy Merckx Cycling route to present a more challenging course along the roads where Eddy grew up and trained in his youth and early career. Eddy Merckx did not design the route, but gave his input and nod of approval.
The course is now 149 km with 1130 meters of elevation. The original is just about half the distance with half the climbing. The start of the route is at the Boerenhof cycling café near the church in Meensel, about 15 km east of Leuven, and takes half an hour by car. You can park in the lot all day and have a coffee and pastry to start, or a beer and snack at the finish. Given the distance, the Eddy Merckx Cycling Route is an all-day ride.
We rode with a strong crew of other cycling media contributors. Ralph with Het is Koers travelled by train from Ghent, Amber with Fiets Vrouwen drove from the Netherlands with her own bike, Eddy with 4actionsport flew from Milan, and Gabel with bicio.bike flew from Madrid. Ewoud from Cycling in Flanders served as our guide, though with good signposting and a GPS you can easily ride this self-guided.
The Eddy Merckx Cycling Route is well marked with signs. ©C. Lee/Cyclocross Magazine
Cycling in Flanders has a list of local bicycle tour operators that provide all levels of support, depending on the type of trip you want. Go 4 Cycling provided nice Ridley Fenix SLC Road endurance bikes with Di2 and sag support for our ride should you have a mechanical, need nutrition or hydration, or lunch.
Our loaner Ridley Fenix, with Shimano 105 7100 Di2. It’s a 50-34 front and 11-34 12-speed rear. ©C. Lee/Cyclocross Magazine
Two kilometers into the ride in Kiezegem is the birthplace of Eddy Merckx. It is marked by a plaque on the house, a bronze sculpture across the street, and a large mural painted on the side of the Café ‘t Klein Verlet celebrating Eddy’s connection with the village.
A mural commemorating Eddy Merckx in Kiezegem. ©C. Lee/Cyclocross Magazine
The childhood home of Eddy Merckx in Kiezegem. ©C. Lee/Cyclocross Magazine
A bronze statue commemorating Eddy Merckx in Kiezegem.©C. Lee/Cyclocross Magazine
The route winds through small villages, pastures, and fields of wheat and corn. We passed by the Horst Castle (Kasteel van Horst), which was under renovation. If I had more time, I would make this a stop. As a group, we were determined to finish the entire route in a day, and there were still many miles to go.
Scenery along the Eddy Merckx Cycling Route. ©C. Lee/Cyclocross Magazine
The Marollenkapel (chapel) in Hoegaarden. ©C. Lee/Cyclocross Magazine
Over 93 miles, we climbed 3800 feet, yielding an average gradient of less than 0.5%. However, if you look at the ride profile, the course constantly rises or falls, occasionally steeply, but mostly gradual short grades of around 4%, so the route flows. With short climbs, there are short descents, which never allow you to pick up much speed. The route is entirely well paved with a 1 km uphill section of cobbles to add some spice. You could ride a single speed with the right gear selection, perhaps just over a 2:1 ratio. So even if your Di2 battery runs out, you can make it, as I found out. Most of my ride mates mentioned they were in the big chainring most of the day, and you might know Eddy’s low gear was a 42 X 21 or 2:1!
©Edgardo Zanenga/4actionmedia
The Eddy Merckx cycling route is largely car-free. Our weather in mid-June rose to around 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.6 Celsius) at the peak of the day. You will only encounter a few cafes or restaurants along the route, but you do have phone service. If you are willing to ride off the route, you have more choices. If you want to ride the route over a couple of days, accommodations are available in the towns near the halfway point as the route heads south out of Flanders and into Wallonia.
This is the actual ride along the Eddy Merckx Cycling Route. Our total riding time was 6 hours and 14 minutes with an elapsed time of 8 hours that takes into account our leisurely picnic lunch at mile 39 (where there is a toilet) and two rest stops and photo stops. We rode the route clockwise.
You can still ride the old Eddy Merckx route if 150 km is too long for you.
The Sven Nys Cycling Route
The Sven Nys Cycling Route. ©Amber Middelhoek/Fietsvrouwen
This road cycling route starts and finishes at the Sven Nys Cycling Center in the town of Baal, where Sven Nys lives. Parking is available at the center, which has a museum, bike shop, cafe and bar, and even shower facilities. In the upper parking lot, there is a water bottle filling station and even a sunscreen dispensing machine. Many cycling routes begin and end here, including several mountain bike loops of varying difficulty.
Look forward to an article describing our cyclocross clinic day at the center with Tony de Haes, which includes a ride through the GP Sven Nys course. Tony also took us on a mixed-terrain ride around the region.
The Sven Nys Cycling Route is a road loop that Sven Nys helped design. He used many roads on this route for his training for ‘cross, so it includes more sharp climbs, including a couple on cobbles, some steeper descents, and a short stretch of packed dirt. The route is 100 km (62.7 miles) with 912 meters (2991 feet) of climbing. Again, the average gradient is about 0.5%, but the profile is sawtooth, and a few of the climbs are steeper than on the Eddy Merckx route, in the 6-8% range, with a quarter-mile (400-meter) kicker at mile 56 (kilometer 90) that hits 14%.
A mural honoring Sven Nys along the Sven Nys cycling route. ©C. Lee/Cyclocross Magazine
All that said, the longest climb is perhaps a mile (1.6 km) at only 3%. The descents are short to match the short climbs. The Sven Nys Cycling Route has varied scenery to go with the climbing and descending. You ride tree-shaded roads, through a forest, and then out into vineyards and farm fields. There is even some art along the way.
A packed gravel climb leads to a stairway to nowhere along the Sven Nys Cycling Route. ©C. Lee/Cyclocross Magazine
The Sven Nys Cycling Route has a lot of short, steep climbs. ©C. Lee/Cyclocross Magazine
Cobbles Are Not Gravel
If you’ve had the chance to ride over cobblestones, you will realize it is not the same as riding gravel roads. ISGG gravel categories don’t quite define cobbled roads. Gravel is movable, irregular and sometimes sharp. Cobbles have some regularity like a big washboard, the stones are immovable and often “polished” on the surface, and the road is typically crowned. The actual bumpiness and sharpness of the cobblestone edges depend on the section of road, but it is all very bumpy! The modern road bikes we rode have 28mm tires, pumped to about 5 bar (75 psi). The short stretches of cobbles were not objectionable to me, but I did wish I had wider tires with half the pressure. The gutters of these cobbled sections are easier to ride because they are off the crown of the road and the stones are lined up a bit more regularly. This is why you see riders riding the gutters in the spring especially when conditions are wet and the polished stone surfaces are treacherous.
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The Sven Nys Cycling Route has varied terrain and road surfaces. ©Ewoud Lagring/Visit Flanders
Despite the varying surfaces, it is all easily rideable with road bikes, and a lot of the 100km is in the shade. The Sven Nys Cycling Route eclipses the Eddy Merckx Cycling Route for a few kilometers. Similarly, you have phone and internet service along the whole route, so cafes are not too hard to find. We stopped at mile 39 (63 kilometers) to lunch at Het Mooi Alternatief (A Beautiful Alternative), a small cafe in a bucolic garden setting with a delightful, if limited, healthy fresh menu.
The Sven Nys Cycling Route travels through small towns. C. Lee/Cyclocross Magazine
Our actual ride on the Sven Nys Cycling Route. We rode the course in a counterclockwise direction with a total moving time of 4 hours and 25 minutes.
The Verdict
If you are a cyclist, you need to add Flanders to your list of places to visit. In the West are the routes of the spring classics. In the center are the Eddy Merckx and Sven Nys routes and the Sven Nys Cycling Center. In the Autumn and Winter, the Flandrien cyclocross races take place. If you want to test your mettle, take the Flandrien Challenge.
The Eddy Merckx and Sven Nys cycling routes celebrate two of cycling’s Flandrien champions. They are scenic and challenging routes for any cyclist. The Sven Nys cycling center outside of Leuven is a great hub to start a variety of rides, both on and off road. Look for our future post on our one-on-one experience with Tony de Haes at the Sven Nys Cycling Center.
It is easiest to get a flight to Brussels (BRU), which is quite central. For western Flanders, you can also fly into Ostend-Bruges airport (OST). Trains run from the airport in every direction. Visit Flanders is the best way to plan your trip. Cycling in Flanders has specific information for your cycling vacation with links to resources such as routes, accommodations, bike rentals, and tour operators.
Stay tuned for Part Two of our trip report.
