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Kemmelberg
The Kemmelberg
is the crunch point midweek Ghent-Wevelgem Classic which takes place this
year on Wednesday, April 9.
Crossing the cobbled summit twice the climb is used as
a launch pad for potential winners and its trecherous descent has claimed
many crash victims over the years, not least this year when Jimmy Casper
came off worst and suffered bad facial injuries.
The climb starts after turning left off a lane that skirts the hill
and this is the trickiest part because you have to turn the
bike onto the rough cobbles while trying to stay on the gas
to prevent stalling. Gaps in the uneven cobbles can snag a
tyre but once over the bottom third middle of the climb is
much easier.
It steepens up a long left-hand bend which
climbs to the summit. The cobbles are more level here and it’s possible
to get out of the saddle and push on to the plateau which runs along the
top of the hill.
There’s a short stretch of Tarmac,
about
100 metres, along the top before a sharp
right which feels like you are going over the
Niagara in a barrel. To make matters worse
it is on cobbles and in the wet this is one of
cycling’s most extreme challenges. Good luck
to you – we walked down it.
Obliterated
At the end of WW1 the Kemmelberg was subjected to a gas attack and shelling
which obliterated its wooded slopes and resulted in over 5,000 French
casualties, many of them unknown and interred in an ossuary at the bottom
of the descent.
There is a striking stone memorial of a mourning angel at the top of the
descent and if you walk into the woods you can still see uneven ground
made by shell craters (ww1battlefields.co.uk).
Where is it?
The Kemmelberg is 10km south and left a bit of Ieper (Ypres).
You can ride there on the minor N331 which starts directly south of Ieper
through the Lille Gate and off the N336 main road to Armentieres. Arriving
in Kemmel village skirt the hill until you come to the bottom of the climb.
There are numerous metalled paths which also climb to the summit and can
be walked or ridden up on the day of the race
Kemmelberg facts
2.5km long (from Kemmel)
47m to 156m altitude
109m of climbing