The organisers of the E3 Saxo Classic announced some important tweaks to the 2026 route on Wednesday, with next year's Classic set to include both a second ascent of the iconic Oude Kwaremont from a different direction, as well as sending the race twice up the E3-Col climb.
The changes were announced as the E3 organisers committed to the next five years of partnership with the town of Harelbeke, where the race starts and finishes. Harelbeke has agreed to host the race until at least 2031, as it has done since 1957.
In the typically strange way the E3 Saxo Classic organisers try to be creative – which has previously included posters objectifying women's bodies, and cartoons mocking gay people – the announcement was staged as a wedding between the race and the town.
More interesting than the publicity marriage, however, were the changes made to the route for 2026. Like most Classics, the E3 route is subtly different each year, but next Spring will see the addition of a new climb, and another ascent of perhaps the most famous Flandrien climb, the Oude Kwaremont.
The details confirmed at the E3 press event were reported by Het Laaste Nieuws and other Belgian media.
The new climb, which goes up the Karnemelkbeekstraat in Ronse, has been dubbed the 'E3-Col' since 2019. Despite its namesake, the climb hasn't always been included in the E3 route, but in 2026 the peloton will go up it twice, once after 113km and once after 176km, in the final 35km of the race.
The E3-Col is 1.2km in length with an average gradient of 6%, though some stretches are steeper at over 12%.
As well as this double climb in Ronse, the route will also face the Oude Kwaremont a second time. Normally, the race has gone up the well-known side of the Oude Kwaremont from the Paterberg in the final 50km, and this ascent remains, but the hill will also feature earlier in the race, after 121km.
However, interestingly, they're not going to climb to the top of the famous hill the usual way, but via a different approach - a route that's never been used in a major race before, according to the organisers. This climb comes up Keuzelingstraat, and isn't cobbled but is steep.
The added climbs makes for a higher elevation gain total in the race – which might seem like bad news for 2025 winner Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) or his main challenger in that race, Mads Pedersen (Lidl Trek) – but the race organisers were keen to underline that the tweaked route was just different, not necessarily much harder.
"The race is about five kilometers longer in total than this year and with over 3,000 metres, it will also include slightly more elevation gain, but that certainly won't result in a spectacularly tougher race," race spokesperson Jacques Coussens told Het Laaste Nieuws.
The other tweaks to the route are minor, and come partly from the need to avoid an incident that nearly happened this year, where the elite race and the men's junior race almost crossed paths on the road.
"It was a close call," Coussens said. "That's why we're starting the juniors an hour earlier next year. We're also changing the pro course in a few places."
The 2026 E3 Saxo Classic is set to take place on Friday, March 27, and kicks off the run of major men's cobbled Northern Classics that includes Gent-Wevelgem, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
