Dutch riders Mirjam Melchers, Annemiek van Vleuten, Belgian Lotte Kopecky and German Judith Arndt hold the record with two wins each.

[6] Dutch rider Mirjam Melchers-van Poppel won the race, after distancing her teammate and breakaway companion Susanne Ljungskog in the final kilometer.

[9] German sprinter Ina-Yoko Teutenberg won the event in a sprint of a 15-strong group ahead of Kirsten Wild and Emma Johansson.

[10] The first Belgian rider to win the Tour of Flanders was Grace Verbeke in 2010 after she narrowly stayed ahead of the chasing group.

[13] Cycling greatness Marianne Vos won the 2013 event, following three previous podium places, in a four-woman sprint ahead of Ellen van Dijk and Emma Johansson, after the quartet had gotten away on Oude Kwaremont.

[14] Van Dijk soloed to victory in 2014 with a move on the Hotond climb, at 26 km from the finish, and held a winning margin of more than one minute over Lizzie Armitstead and Emma Johansson.

[17] Britain's Lizzie Armitstead won the race in a two-up sprint with Emma Johansson after the duo had broken clear on Oude Kwaremont.

Amy Pieters was second at more than a minute from van der Breggen, the largest winning margin in the women's Tour of Flanders history.

The final 60 km contain the most iconic climbs, notably the Muur van Geraardsbergen, Koppenberg, Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg.

[19] The short, sharp hills (hellingen) in the Flemish Ardennes are a defining feature of the Tour of Flanders and the locations where spectators gather in large numbers.

Most of the climbs are located in a relatively small area, causing the roads to turn constantly and often abruptly, which explains the winding and irregular trajectory of the finale.

First tackled in 2022, the steepest climb is the fully cobbled Koppenberg, 600 metres (2,000 ft) in length with an average gradient of 9.7% with stretches of 22% – over a poorly paved narrow road.