Hasselt Mini   

Hasselt is not only the capital city of the Belgian province Limburg, but it has also claimed the title of “Capital city of taste” since 2004. This might be the result of the fact that Hasselt is known for its Jenever Museum and its annual Jenever Festivities. The Hasselt Mini is an annual race in and near Hasselt which serves as an opening event to the Jenever Festivities. The race is organized to discover the different t...

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Hasselt is not only the capital city of the Belgian province Limburg, but it has also claimed the title of “Capital city of taste” since 2004. This might be the result of the fact that Hasselt is known for its Jenever Museum and its annual Jenever Festivities. The Hasselt Mini is an annual race in and near Hasselt which serves as an opening event to the Jenever Festivities. The race is organized to discover the different tastes of Hasselt - jenever, chocolate, coffee, speculaas, beer… - as the route passes by the establishments of different (food & drinks) sponsors and combine it with the cyclist’s love for cobblestones.

The departure of this race is at the Grand Market, the riders are heading towards the first submunicipality of Hasselt named Kuringen. As they pass by the train station the riders still have the energy to catch sight of the impressive architecture of the Hasselt Courthouse. They ride through Kuringen to prepare their legs for the first cobbled section of today’s race after 5km. This is an ideal chance to develop the first break away. The Herkenrodedreef has a length of 1.1km and goes right through the Herkenrode Abbey, it is a rather tough section that doesn’t require too much technique. The beautiful Abbey lies next to the Demer (river) where tourists can enjoy a fresh abbey beer Herkenrode Tripel or Herkenrode Brown.

The riders are warmed up and leave the abbey for a winding dirt road that leads to the submunicipality Stokrooie after which they head to Overdemer. The breakaway should be formed by now as they cross the Albert Canal to pass through Hommelheide on easy flat roads just south of the nature reserve De Wijers and make way to the submunicipality Kiewit. As they arrive in Kiewit the riders pass by a large enclosure of fields where the annual music festival Pukkelpop is held in August. The riders are warming up to prepare for the second cobblestone section after 28km. On rather easy flat roads the riders first turn onto the outer ring road around Hasselt and pass by some impressive sights near Hasselt like the Japanese Garden, Grenslandhallen, the Versuz and the Flanders Nippon Golf & Business Club.

As the riders pass by the UHasselt-UCLL campus they enter the municipality of Diepenbeek. They face the first hilly section as they make way for the town’s Market Square, a quite tortuous cobblestone section after 28km with a length of 450m. The riders leave Diepenbeek and head south on a slightly hilly road to the third cobbled section – Luimertingenstraat. It’s a rather short and flat section, 200m, that starts after 35km. About 1km after they left the section the riders face the fourth section. Printhagendreef has a length of 500m and the riders catch a glimpse of the Castle Printhagen, ruled by the Lords of Printhagen since 13th century and rebuilt in the 17th century.

The riders enter the half way stage of the race as they enter the municipality of Alken, a community just south of Hasselt. After 43km they reach Laagdorp, a straight easy cobbled street of 100m. The cyclists that don’t have a taste for cobblestones are starting to feel sore, especially when not much later they turn onto Hoogdorpstraat - 350 meters of straight flat cobbles. The riders leave the town center and pass by the Cristal Alken brewery where Cristal pils is produced, a hoppy powerdrink for local cycling tourists.

It is time to stretch the legs for the toughest cobbled street of today, the Gasterbosstraat in Herk-de-Stad: a monstrous section with a length of 1600m that passes by Gasterbos Castle. As they are pounding their pedals on the cobbled road some riders are starting to drop off, in the meantime other riders are starting to feel like this just might be their day. Most of them are happy though when they turn onto the N2 after almost 60km of racing. They will be heading back to Hasselt through the submunicipalities of Kermt and Kuringen.

The riders turn north on the outer ring road around Hasselt, they pass over the Kanaalkom and the Demer and take a turn onto the Scheepvaartslaan towards the inner ring road of Hasselt. The last ten kilometers of the race consist of two laps around and through the city center, these roads contain a lot of turns and require a lot of technique. Each lap has a length of 5km and consists of no less than four (!) difficult cobblestone sections.

The first cobblestone section Martelarenlaan – Thonissenlaan runs parallel with the inner ring road and has a length of 350m. The riders pass the finish line on the R70/N2 as they pass along the Kolonel Dusartplein. The first time they will be cheered by a jolly crowd enjoying all the different tastes of Hasselt, the second time the last-lap bell will ring as the adrenaline pumps through the riders’ veins.

The second cobblestone section consists of different streets, Guldensporenplein - Guffenslaan - Leopoldplein - de Schiervellaan – Thonissenlaan, that run parallel with the inner ring road and has a total length of 2km. Not long after that they turn onto the third and penultimate cobblestone section: Havermarkt – Grand Market – Kapelstraat with a length of 250m. On this section they shortly turn onto the Grand Market where people are enjoying some local beers and the Hasselt jenever.

The fourth cobblestone section is again a succession of streets, Zuivelmarkt - Fruitmarkt - Kortstraat - Vismarkt - Maastrichterstraat - Kolonel Dusartplein – Badderijstraat, and turns with a length of 1100m. The Zuivelmarkt is known for its great restaurants the Kolonel Dusartplein for its cafés and nightlife. As the riders leave the final section they pass by Chocoladehuis Boon where they can taste some fine Belgian chocolate.

The last lap, the last kilometer, the last turn and the very last cobbles – the riders leave the Demerstraat and turn onto the 250 meters of cobbles of the Martelarenlaan. All these cobbles leave a permanent impression on the riders, what remains of the small fatigued peloton that started the laps through the city center is now shattered into tiny groups of riders. Only the strongest riders of today still have some juice to sprint for victory on the last straight line to the finish on the Kolonel Dusartplein. The Jenever Festivities are truly kicked off when the winner celebrates his victory with a glass of Hasselt Jenever…