Leuven has been the traditional starting town of De Brabantse Pijl for years, sending riders south into the Dijleland and Walloon Brabant before the race loops back for its decisive finale around Overijse.
In 2021, the city took on a bigger role still: the men's road race of the UCI Road World Championships ran 268.3 kilometres from Antwerp to Leuven, and Julian Alaphilippe won it in a solo victory, successfully defending the rainbow jersey he'd taken the year before.
The Worlds course shared several climbs with the Brabantse Pijl itself, including the sharp, cobbled Moskesstraat — meaning the same roads that decide a mid-tier spring classic each April briefly became, that September, the decisive terrain of a World Championship.
Beyond racing, Leuven's position — a university city ringed by the same rolling Brabant countryside used by both races — makes it a natural base for riders wanting to combine a historic town centre with immediate access to genuinely testing, if never mountainous, terrain.
