Steenbeekdries is an uphill cobbled road in the municipality of

Maarkedal Maarkedal () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg , f ...

, in the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

province of

East Flanders , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van O ...

. With its top at 69 m altitude, it is one of many hill formations in the

Flemish Ardennes The Flemish Ardennes (Dutch: ''Vlaamse Ardennen'') is an informal name given to a hilly region in the south of the province of East Flanders, Belgium. Highest summit is the Hotondberg (145 m). Main characteristics of the region are rural hilly lan ...

, in the south of East-Flanders. The entire road is paved in cobbles; in 1995 the road of the Steenbeekdries was classified as a protected landscape monument.

Cycling

The site is best known from

road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on Road surface, paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional sport, professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and ...

, as it regularly features in the

spring classics The classic cycle races are the most prestigious one-day professional road cycling races in the international calendar. Some of these events date back to the 19th century. They are normally held at roughly the same time each year. The five most ...

, most notably 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 ...

. The 800 m climb immediately follows the Mariaborrestraat, a long flat sector of cobbles, and at 7.6% average gradient, is not very steep. The descent following the climb, the Stationsberg, is a straight poorly-paved cobbled road and in fact steeper than the Steenbeekdries. The Steenbeekdries was first included in the Tour of Flanders route in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and has remained a fixed location in the race. In recent years, it comes at 39 km from the finish in

Oudenaarde Oudenaarde (; french: Audenarde ; in English sometimes ''Oudenarde'') is a Belgian municipality in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Oudenaarde proper and the towns of Bevere, Edelare, Eine, Ename, Heu ...

, usually the first climb after the notorious

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 ...

. The Steenbeekdries is also regularly included in

Dwars door Vlaanderen Dwars door Vlaanderen ''( en, Across Flanders)'' is a semi-classic road bicycle race in Belgium, held annually since 1945. The race starts in Roeselare and finishes in Waregem, both in West Flanders. Since 2017 the event is included in the UCI ...

and the

Tour of Flanders for Women The Tour of Flanders ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen), formerly the Tour of Flanders for Women ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen voor Vrouwen), is an annual road bicycle racing event in Flanders, Belgium, held in early April. It is held on the same day as t ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Steenbeekdries Trajectory on Google Maps
Climbs in cycle racing in Belgium Tour of Flanders Mountains and hills of East Flanders Cobbled streets