Belgians Achiel Buysse, Eric Leman, Johan Museeuw, and Tom Boonen, Italian Fiorenzo Magni, Dutch Mathieu van der Poel and Swiss Fabian Cancellara each have three victories.

Defraye's victory inspired August De Maeght, mayor of Halle and director of the press group Société Belge d'Imprimerie, to publish a Dutch-language sports magazine called Sportwereld.

[15][16] After the War, De Standaard and Het Algemeen Nieuws-Sportwereld were sequestered by the state and several journalists, largely non-sports reporters, were sentenced for collaboration.

[17] Van Wijnendaele was forbidden to work as a journalist for life – a ban lifted when he produced a letter of support from General Montgomery, confirming that he had hidden downed British pilots during the war and had protected them in his house.

Marcel Buysse, one of Flanders' cycling icons in the early 20th century, insisted on entering the race, against the order of his French Alcyon team that forbade Belgian riders to participate.

[24] "La Ronde" is as much part of the heritage of the Flemish people as the processions of Veurne and Bruges, the festival of cats in Ypres[n 7] or the ship blessing of Ostend.

[25] If the first Rondes were held to limited public success, by the 1930s its popularity had grown so spectacularly that vast masses of spectators along the roads and cars following the race had turned the Tour of Flanders into a true cultural festival.

In 1937 writer and Flemish literary icon Stijn Streuvels wrote to Sportwereld that the Ronde, as seen from his house in Ingooigem, was "more a procession of cars than of riders.

[30] In 1944 young Rik Van Steenbergen controlled the race, distanced his rival Briek Schotte in the final kilometres and stunned followers by becoming the youngest winner ever at 19.

[42][43] In 1976 Freddy Maertens and Roger De Vlaeminck, two of Belgium's star riders, were part of a five-man group and favourites to win the sprint, but the two did not get on and let themselves jointly be dropped at 4 km (2.5 mi) from the finish.

The 23-year-old Belgian suffered a broken wheel before the Koppenberg, but returned to the front of the race in a group with Hennie Kuiper, Greg LeMond and his teammate Phil Anderson.

The first edition of 1913 headed eastward to Sint-Niklaas before following a clockwise circle through Aalst, Oudenaarde, Kortrijk, Veurne all the way to the seashore in Ostend and via Roeselare back to Ghent.

[73][n 14] The stretches of road along the sea were often accompanied by strong winds that inhibited attacks but scattered the peloton and spelled the end for those left behind the shelter of the main pack.

"Turning left at the sea" meant that the wind blew from the side, producing a diagonal line of riders, each sheltering the other, typical of the Ronde and other Flemish races.

The riders gathered to sign their papers for the race before happily going to meet their fans, giving autographs, posing for a souvenir photograph with a young admirer.

In 1977 Sint-Niklaas replaced Ghent as the starting location of the race, mainly because it had more space to accommodate the growing number of spectators on its large market square.

In 1998 the start of the Tour of Flanders moved to Bruges, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its illustrious history and medieval architecture, as part of the city's promotional campaign.

[77] Nonetheless, most Flemish fans and traditionalists were enthusiastic of the new starting place, praising Bruges' historic site and its closeness to the coast, which made it possible again for the race to pass by the seashore.

The tactical part of the race begins in the hilly region of the Flemish Ardennes, where teams and riders often have to react to unpredictable developments and shadow favourites make anticipatory moves.

The steep nature of these hills favours an aggressive, attacking style of riding, making the Tour of Flanders an attractive race for viewing audiences.

As most hills are in rural locations or along small villages, the climbs themselves and the roads leading to them are often narrow, causing the peloton to stretch into a long line and frequently break into smaller groups.

It is the site where powerful riders often make the race-winning move, as Fabian Cancellara demonstrated in 2013, when he attacked with Peter Sagan on the lower slopes of Kwaremont before distancing the Slovak on the Paterberg.

[90]The short, sharp hills in the Flemish Ardennes are a defining feature of the Ronde and the places where spectators gather in vast numbers to see the race.

As a journalist, he romanticized the race's protagonists in the image of the Flemish people of the time: hard-working, struggling men in a constant battle with the elements.

[4] Since the early years, winners of the Tour of Flanders acquired the literary epithet Flandrien or Flahute – a French term eagerly used by the Flemish press.

Time trial specialist Fabian Cancellara successfully focused on the cobbled classics, thereby using his ability to maintain a high pace as a strong weapon on the last hills and on the flat run-in to the finish.

After he had crossed the line and done his lap of honour, van Lerberghe stood in front of the crowd and, in all seriousness, told them 'to go home; I'm half a day ahead of the field.

"[109] The danger of the Ronde's narrow and badly surfaced hills came close to tragedy when Danish rider Jesper Skibby was hit from behind by an official's car and fell onto a roadside bank, still strapped into his pedals.

In 2018 the race features 12 climbs, including the Muur van Geraardsbergen, Oude Kwaremont, Paterberg and three long flat cobbled sectors.

The center's founder and director is former sports journalist and writer Rik Van Walleghem; the museum curator is 1970s cycling icon Freddy Maertens, who provides guided tours.