Gent sits at the historic starting point of two of Belgium's defining one-day races. The Tour of Flanders, first run in 1913, originally went from Gent to Gent before its route grew to link Antwerp and Oudenaarde.
Gent–Wevelgem carries the city's name more directly still: first run in 1934 as an amateur race, won solo by Gustave Van Belle, it turned professional after the war and started in Gent every year until 2003, when the departure moved to Deinze and later further west.
The race's winners' list runs through Rik Van Steenbergen, Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx, Tom Boonen, Peter Sagan, and Mads Pedersen — a genuine cross-section of Belgian cycling across nine decades, even as the start point has drifted steadily away from the city that gave the race its name.
For riders based in Gent today, the historic connection is mostly one of departure points past — but the city remains the natural gateway east into the Flemish Ardennes and its cobbled climbs, an hour's ride from some of cycling's most storied roads.
