Gravel classics: Gent-Wevelgem

A different way in. This route takes the same raw material as Gent–Wevelgem — the wind, the isolated hills, the First World War history that earned the race its "In Flanders Fields" subtitle — and reroutes it onto gravel. It starts and finishes on Ypres' Grote Markt, home to a Saturday morning market handy for a last-minute feed before setting off.

Out through open country. The route leaves Ypres along a path beside the town canal before opening into the flat, exposed farmland typical of this part of West Flanders, heading west toward the French border. Around 25 kilometres in, an unpaved alternative to the Banenberg climb turns what's normally a short, sharp paved ramp into a longer, more technical dirt ascent — tackled here as riders on the standard paved route climb alongside, a rare moment where the two versions of the ride cross paths.

The Kemmelberg, off-road. Approached from an unpaved side around the 45-kilometre mark, the Kemmelberg keeps its reputation intact even on gravel tyres: a natural path through dense forest gives way, after a turn past the French war cemetery and ossuary, to the climb's cobbled final 200 metres — a ramp exceeding 15% that tests gearing choices as much as legs. Café Boutique, the cycling bar at the foot of the hill, offers a natural stop shortly after, complete with a jersey from former Belgian champion Herman Van Springel on the wall.

The plugstreets. Around the 55-kilometre mark, the route crosses three sections known as the "plugstreets" — Hill 63, Christmas Truce, and The Catacombs — gravel paths a few kilometres north of Ploegsteert, whose name is itself a corruption of the Flemish village name by British soldiers stationed there in the First World War. The Christmas Truce memorial, commemorating the brief and still half-legendary 1914 ceasefire between Allied and German troops, sits beside the second of the three.

Back through the woods. With the sun typically still high by this point, the route ducks into the shaded Palingbeek domain for its final unpaved stretch — a cobbled entrance road followed by a run of gravel paths — before returning to Ypres. The Menin Gate, sometimes under renovation but never short of poppy wreaths and handwritten notes at its base, marks the return to the start.

In short: this isn't the professional Gent–Wevelgem route re-ridden stone for stone — it never touches Ghent or Wevelgem at all — but a gravel-focused route built from the race's real landmarks: the Kemmelberg, the plugstreets, and the flat, wind-raked fields that shape both versions of the ride equally.