The 69th running of the

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour and orga ...

cycling race took place on 7 April 1985. It was won by Belgian

Eric Vanderaerden Eric Vanderaerden (born 11 February 1962) is a retired road cyclist from the town of Lummen, Belgium. He was a considerable talent, winning the prologue time trial of the Vuelta a España in his debut year of 1983. During the 1983 Tour de Fran ...

in an average speed of 39,605 km/h. The race was affected by abysmal weather, when a storm accompanied by wind and torrential rainfall, broke in the afternoon. Only 24 of 173 participants arrived.Vanwalleghem, Rik (1991), De Ronde van Vlaanderen, Pinguin, Belgium, , p202

Race summary

Eric Vanderaerden, a promising young Belgian, suffered a broken wheel at a critical point in the race, but managed to return to the back of the peloton by the foot of the Koppenberg, 70 km from the finish. On the slippery cobbles of the infamous climb, Vanderaerden is one of the only riders to stay on his bike as the peloton shattered. Slaloming around others who had to shoulder their bikes up the hill, he was back in fifteenth place at the top, before setting out in an improbable pursuit of the leaders. As a storm caused further havoc, the lead group became 6 riders, with Sean Kelly,

Greg LeMond Gregory James LeMond (born June 26, 1961) is an American former professional road racing cyclist, entrepreneur, and anti-doping advocate. A two-time winner of the Road Race World Championship (1983 and 1989) and a three-time winner of the Tou ...

Adrie van der Poel Adrie van der Poel (born 17 June 1959 in Bergen op Zoom) is a retired Dutch cyclist. Van der Poel was a professional from 1981 to 2000. His biggest wins included six classics, two stages of the Tour de France and the World Cyclo-Cross Championsh ...

and Phil Anderson. Vanderaerden and

Hennie Kuiper Hendrikus Andreas "Hennie" Kuiper (born 3 February 1949) is a Dutch former professional road racing cyclist. His career includes a gold medal in the Olympic road race at Munich in 1972, becoming world professional road race champion in 1975, a ...

led the chase and finally rejoined the lead by the

Eikenberg The Eikenberg (English: ''Oak Hill'') is a hill and road in the municipality of Maarkedal, in the Belgian province of East Flanders. With an 82 m altitude top, it is one of many hill formations in the Flemish Ardennes, in the south of East ...

. Kuiper attacked on the

Berendries The Berendries is an uphill street in Michelbeke, part of the municipality of Brakel, in the Belgian province of East Flanders. Its top is at 98 m altitude, making it the highest hill of the Zwalm region, just north of the Flemish Ardennes ...

, 28 km from the finish. Vanderaerden and his teammate Phil Anderson combined and bridged the gap with Kuiper at the base of the Muur van Geraardsbergen. As the weather further deteriorated, Vanderaerden broke clear from his worn-out companions on the Muur. The Belgian, considered a sprinter, rounded off a 20 km solo to claim his first major classics victory. Teammate Phil Anderson attacked Kuiper with 4 km to go, taking second place, before Kuiper. At 23, Vanderaerden became the youngest

Post-World War II The aftermath of World War II was the beginning of a new era started in late 1945 (when World War II ended) for all countries involved, defined by the decline of all colonial empires and simultaneous rise of two superpowers; the Soviet Union (US ...

winner of the Tour of Flanders.

Weather conditions

The race gained a place in cycling legend because a severe storm broke out in the second half of the race, with cold, strong winds and torrential rainfall decimating the peloton. The high volume of water made roads extremely slick and concealed potholes, with the potential to take riders or their tyres out. After 200 km of racing only 40–50 riders remained.Vanwalleghem, Rik (1998), Het Wonder van Vlaanderen, Pinguin, Belgium, , p134 Historian Rik Vanwalleghem said: :"It was a legendary Ronde, one which wrote Sport with a capital S. It was cold as Siberia all day and the rain fell in torrents. ..In this apocalyptic background Eric Vanderaerden got back to the front after looking beaten, and powered on alone for 20km at the front of the race. Impressive." Vanderaerden was one of only 24 finishers, the lowest number in modern times.

Route

The race started in

Sint-Niklaas Sint-Niklaas (; french: Saint-Nicolas, ) is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Sint-Niklaas proper and the towns of Belsele, Nieuwkerken-Waas, and . Sint-Nikl ...

and finished in

Meerbeke Meerbeke is a village in the Denderstreek in the province of East Flanders in Belgium. Administratively it is part of the municipality of Ninove. This rural community is located along the Dender River on the western border of what is known as " P ...

(

Ninove Ninove () is a city and municipality located in the Flemish province of East Flanders in Belgium. It is situated on the river Dender, and is part of the Denderstreek. The municipality comprises the city of Ninove proper and since the 1976 merger ...

) – totaling 271 km. The course featured 12 categorized climbs:

Results

References

External links

Video of the 1985 Tour of Flanders
on Sporza (in Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:1961 Tour of Flanders Tour of Flanders

1985 Super Prestige Pernod International