The Koppenberg is a bit of a brute, and when the rain starts to fall it’s near enough impossible to reach the top without getting off.

But it hasn’t always been in the race. In fact, it was taken out after the 1987 edition when the race director ran over an exhausted Jesper Skibby’s bike, narrowly missing the man himself. It wasn’t until 2004 that the famous berg returned.

But if you want to know how to ride the Koppenberg properly, check out Tom Boonen sorting the men from the boys in 2008:

The nature of the climb is such that if you have to get off, the gradient combined with the uneven cobbles makes it almost impossible to get started again. And when 200 riders are funnelled up the climb, there’s almost certainly someone who has to put a foot down. Halfway through the below video, you’ll see that it doesn’t matter if you’re a pro or an amateur, sometimes everyone has to walk.