The 86th 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 organi ...

cycling race Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling sp ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

was held on Sunday 7 April 2002. It was the second leg of the 2002

UCI Road World Cup The UCI Road World Cup was a season-long Road bicycle racing, road cycling competition held from 1989 until 2004 and comprising ten one-day events. History The competition was inaugurated in 1989, and replaced the Super Prestige Pernod Internati ...

. Italian Andrea Tafi won the monument classic ahead of Johan Museeuw and Peter Van Petegem. The race started in

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

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 "Pajo ...

(

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 of ...

Race summary

Erwin Thijs Erwin Thijs (born 6 August 1970 in Tongeren) is a former Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He competed in the individual road race at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Palmarès ;1987 : 2nd, National U17 Road Race Championship ;1992 : 1st, ...

was in the front for almost 200 km. After the

Koppenberg Koppenberg (literally "Heads Mountain") is a high hill in Oudenaarde, the Flemish Ardennes, Belgium. "Koppen" is an abbreviation for cobblestones which in Dutch slang language are called ''kinderkoppen'', or "children's heads". This climb is part ...

, 55 km from the finish, eight riders broke away. Five of them,

Johan Museeuw Johan Museeuw (born 13 October 1965) is a retired Belgian professional road racing cyclist who was a professional from 1988 until 2004. Nicknamed ''The Lion of Flanders'', he was particularly successful in the cobbled classics of Flanders and No ...

George Hincapie George Anthony Hincapie (born June 29, 1973) is an American former racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 1994 and 2012. Hincapie was a key domestique of Lance Armstrong. Hincapie was also a domestique for Alberto Contador in 2007 an ...

Peter Van Petegem Peter van Petegem (born 18 January 1970 in Brakel, Belgium) is a former professional road racing cyclist. Van Petegem last rode for Quick Step-Innergetic, in 2007. He lived in Horebeke. He was a specialist in spring classics, one of ten riders t ...

, Andrea Tafi and

Daniele Nardello Daniele Nardello (born 2 August 1972 in Varese) is a retired Italian professional road racing cyclist. His career ran from 1994 to 2009, with highlights including winning the 2001 Italian national road race championship, the 2003 Züri-Metzgete, ...

, stayed ahead after Museeuw attacked on the

Muur van Geraardsbergen The Muur van Geraardsbergen (English: ''Wall of Geraardsbergen/Grammont'', French: ''Mur de Grammont'') is a steep, narrow road with cobblestones in Geraardsbergen, Belgium. It is also known as Kapelmuur, Muur-Kapelmuur or simply Muur. The hil ...

. Museeuw and Van Petegem tried to break clear, but they thwarted each other's attempts. When Andrea Tafi attacked, 4 km before the finish, the rest hesitated and the Italian pushed on until the finish. Museeuw beat Van Petegem in the sprint for second place.

Mario Cipollini Mario Cipollini (; born 22 March 1967), often abbreviated to "Cipo", is a retired Italian professional road cyclist most noted for his sprinting ability, the longevity of his dominance (his first pro win came in 1988, his last in 2005; 170 pro ...

won the sprint for ninth ahead of

Erik Zabel Erik Zabel (; born 7 July 1970) is a German former professional road bicycle racer who raced most of his career with Telekom. With 152 professional wins and 211 wins in his career, he is considered by some to be one of the greatest German cycl ...

at 2' 27". French newspaper

L'Équipe ''L'Équipe'' (, French for "the team") is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sport, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of association football, rugby football, rugby, motorsport, and cycle sport, ...

called the race's finale "the most beautiful breakaway of the year".

Climbs

The edition saw the re-introduction of the

, 15 years after its previous appearance in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

. In total, there were 16 categorized climbs:

Results

References

External links

Recap of the race (Flemish television)
{{DEFAULTSORT:2002 Tour of Flanders Tour of Flanders

April 2002 sports events in Europe