Ieper — Ypres in English and French — stood at the centre of the Western Front's Ypres Salient, and that history now shapes one of the Belgian spring's biggest one-day races.
Gent–Wevelgem (renamed In Flanders Fields from 2026) started from Ieper's Menin Gate every year from 2020 through 2025, before the men's departure moved to the coastal town of Middelkerke. The race's modern subtitle, "In Flanders Fields," takes its name directly from John McCrae's war poem, and organisers have committed to keeping the route through Ieper's centre even after the start moved on; the youth categories continue to start from the Menin Gate.
Riders following the race route pass war cemeteries, mine craters from 1917's Battle of Messines, and the Christmas Truce memorial near Ploegsteert — a route where cycling history and wartime memory sit only a few pedal strokes apart.
Beyond race day, Ieper remains the natural base for exploring Heuvelland and the Kemmelberg to the south — a compact, historically dense corner of West Flanders where every climb seems to carry two stories at once.
