1939 Tour of Flanders

The 23rd edition of the Tour of Flanders cycling classic race was held on Sunday, 2 April 1939. Belgian Karel Kaers won the Monument. Of the 169 starting cyclists, 47 reached the finish.

Route
The race started in Ghent and covered 230 km on the way to the finish in Wetteren.

The course featured 3 categorized climbs:


 * Kwaremont
 * Kruisberg
 * Edelareberg

Race report
Karel Kaers, the youngest road world champion in history, won the race unintentionally. For him, the race was intended as training for Paris-Roubaix. He drove to Kwaremont near Kluisbergen, parked his car and rode 40 km with his bicycle to the start in Ghent. His plan was to start the race with his usual training partner, stop the race when he got to his car and then head home. Knowing that he wasn't going to run the whole race, Kaers broke away from the peloton to train on his own, and reached Kwaremont with a one-minute lead. Meanwhile, his manager had parked his car further back to force Kaers to continue. With his car gone and still feeling great, Kaers continued the race and won.