Vandals Trash Oude Kwaremont in Night After Tour of Flanders as Cleanup Crews Face Hours of Extra Work
The Oude Kwaremont, the climb where Tadej Pogacar launched his devastating race-winning attack at the Tour of Flanders on Sunday, was left strewn with rubbish on Sunday evening after vandals tore open garbage bags and knocked over portable toilets in an act of destruction that has drawn widespread condemnation from the cycling community.
Flanders Classics staff had spent hours clearing the climb of litter left behind by the thousands of spectators who lined the famous cobbled ascent to watch the peloton pass during the race. The cleanup operation had been largely completed by Sunday evening, with waste collected and placed into large garbage bags along the route.
However, according to eyewitnesses, a group of youths arrived on the Kwaremont on Sunday evening and systematically tore open the garbage bags, scattering rubbish across the more than two-kilometre-long climb. The vandals also knocked over portable toilets and toppled barriers, which then fell in a domino effect for tens of metres along the roadside. The damage undid hours of cleanup work and left the iconic cobbled climb in a state far worse than immediately after the race had passed through.
The vandalism is the latest in a series of incidents that have marred the aftermath of Belgium's biggest one-day cycling event. Flanders Classics, the organiser of the Tour of Flanders, has invested significantly in waste management infrastructure in recent years, deploying additional bins, temporary toilets and dedicated cleanup crews along the race route. But the sheer volume of spectators — estimated at over 800,000 across the course — and the party atmosphere on the bergs create persistent challenges.
The incident stands in stark contrast to the sporting spectacle that unfolded on the same cobbles just hours earlier. Pogacar produced one of the great Flanders performances, attacking on the final ascent of the Kwaremont to ride clear of Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel, soloing 18 kilometres to the finish in Oudenaarde to claim his third Tour of Flanders title and his twelfth career Monument victory.
Local authorities have been notified and an investigation into the vandalism is expected, though identifying individual perpetrators from what appears to have been a group incident will prove difficult. Residents near the Kwaremont have expressed frustration, with several calling for additional security measures and surveillance cameras during future editions of the race.
The Flanders vandalism adds to what has been a turbulent 48 hours for the race's organisers, who are also dealing with the fallout from the level crossing incident that saw Pogacar, Evenepoel and more than 20 other riders cross a railway red light during the race, prompting legal action from the East Flanders Prosecutor's office.