Take cash

There’s nothing more frustrating than getting a whiff of frites or hot dogs on the wind, patting your pockets, searching your wallet, and realising you don’t have any cash. Ditto if you pass a bar selling great Belgian beers.

Pick two or three vantage points in advance, but where?

The course at the Tour of Flanders tempts everyone to go to either the Oude Kwaremont (where the race passes three times) or Paterberg (twice). Of course, lots of other people have the same idea and in recent years the police have stopped public cars from getting much closer to the Oude Kwaremont than the village of Kluisbergen. It’s quite a hike from there to the hill but once you’re there you can settle in for the afternoon. The Oude Kwaremont is a great place to watch because it’s a long climb by Flanders standards and the bunch spreads out into a line. If you’ve never been to the Tour of Flanders before this will give you an idea of what it’s all about.

At Paris-Roubaix, it’s possible to see the race at Troisville (the first section of cobbles (Sector 29 – after 93 kilometres), then at the famous Arenberg forest (Sector 20 after 161 kilometres) and then make it to a third spot (I’d either Sector 5 at Camphin-en-Pévèle or Carrefour de l’Arbre) or make it to the velodrome in Roubaix to enjoy the atmosphere and watch the race unfold on the big screen. In recent years it’s become harder to chase Paris-Roubaix by car because several of the key motorway junctions are closed off. My advice is to see it well fewer times rather than attempt too much. A wrong turn at the wrong time can lead to missing the race altogether.

The E3 BinckBank Classic starts and finishes in Harelbeke, just up the road from Kortrijk and so it’s easy to go to the start, watch the riders roll out and then head down to the hills to watch the action on either the Taaienberg or Paterberg.

There are two obvious places to see Gent-Wevelgem but the timetable makes it very difficult to see both. They climb the Kemmelberg from one side (Belvedère approach) and then the other (Ossuaire approach), visiting the gravel Plugstreets in between. The Plugstreets are only ten or so kilometres away but by the time you’ve got back to the car and navigated your way between the two places (avoiding the race route) it’s likely you’ll have missed them. If you’ve never been before, the Kemmelberg is the place to go. Save the Plugstreets for a second visit.