The Tour of Flanders is one of the five ‘monuments’ of cycling. The monuments is a collection of the five of the longest, hardest, and most prestigious races in the professional racing calendar (the others being Milan-San Remo , Paris-Roubaix , Liege-Bastogne-Liege , and Il Lombardia ). The 2017 Tour of Flanders marks the 101 st edition of the ‘Ronde van Vlaanderen’, which was first held in 1913. After a hiatus for the Great War, its been ridden every year consecutively since 1919. De Ronde has become one of the highlights of the season, and along with Paris-Roubaix, is one of the Monuments made particularly famous for its road surfaces. Whilst Paris-Roubaix is defined by its sections of treacherous ‘pave’ – stretches of roughly cobbled roads – De Ronde is known for the short, steep cobbled climbs littered through the route. As the race gets nearer and nearer its epic 260km conclusion, the climbs come thick and fast. Amongst those falling in the final 50km, two of the mo...