The FLCS Clubhouse is a activation format launched by Flanders Classics in the week of the Tour of Flanders, combining social rides, runs, Pilates and virtual challenges with a partner expo zone. Its first edition ran from 2 to 6 April 2026 at Wintercircus Ghent, presented by MyWhoosh.
A New Format in the Sacred Flemish Cycling Week
For the first time, Flanders Classics opened a physical clubhouse during the Sacred Flemish cycling week. From 2 to 6 April 2026, the Wintercircus in Ghent hosted the FLCS Clubhouse presented by MyWhoosh — five days of social runs, indoor cycling, Pilates and virtual challenges, free to attend and open to everyone. The format is new. What drives it is not. Here is what the FLCS Clubhouse reveals about how Flanders Classics is thinking about community, audience and brand activation.
What the FLCS Clubhouse Is
The FLCS Clubhouse is a multi-day event format running parallel to the professional races during the Sacred Flemish cycling week. The programme spans indoor cycling, running, Pilates and virtual challenges. Partner communities and brands shape each session alongside Flanders Classics. In its first edition, participating organisations included Ghent Running Crew, Octane Racing, RPM Souplesse and Rite Studios.
The location was deliberate. Wintercircus Ghent — a renovated circus arena functioning as an indoor city square — sits at the intersection of cycling culture, tech startup energy and creative community. It is not a fan zone at a finish line. It is a separate destination, in a city that acts as a natural hub for international visitors during race week.
An expo zone ran throughout the week, where partner brands — MyWhoosh, Salomon, 100%, Sportful and Neversecond — were present alongside the programming.
Audience Extension, Not Fan Service
Tomas Van Den Spiegel, CEO of Flanders Classics, was direct about what the FLCS Clubhouse is designed to do. “The sacred Flemish cycling week draws many visitors from abroad to Belgium. With FLCS Clubhouse, we offer them an extra programme to enrich their race weekend.” That part is straightforward. The more telling motivation followed: “It is also an opportunity for us to connect with a new audience in our own region — people who do not typically come to our races or who might want to experience Flanders Classics in a different way.”
Flanders Classics already runs 60 to 70 events per year. The Clubhouse is not a response to a lack of activity. It is a response to a different question: how do you reach people who are adjacent to cycling culture but have not yet entered the race-day funnel?
The format lowers the barrier to entry as far as possible. Free access, central location, mixed programming across running, cycling and fitness — none of which requires existing knowledge of professional road racing. In that sense, the FLCS Clubhouse works as a top-of-funnel brand tool as much as a fan experience.
MyWhoosh as Presenting Partner
MyWhoosh held the presenting partner position for the FLCS Clubhouse. That placement fits a broader pattern. The brand is also a partner across the Flanders Classics spring races, from Omloop het Nieuwsblad to Amstel Gold Race.
The FLCS Clubhouse gave MyWhoosh something specific: direct, physical access to a self-selected cycling community across five days, in a low-pressure environment. The Night Ride presented by MyWhoosh on opening evening set the tone. The Watt Ride Live — MyWhoosh x Virtual Challenge on Friday — turned the platform into a live activation inside the venue.
Matt Smithson, Director at MyWhoosh, explained the approach plainly: “We don’t want to sit behind a screen and say we’re part of the sport. We want to talk to people, hear what they think, and show them what we’re building. Being here with Flanders Classics is about earning our place in the community, not assuming it.”
For a digital platform, that is a deliberate inversion of the usual playbook. Instead of using the race as media inventory, MyWhoosh uses it as a reason to show up in person. The FLCS Clubhouse provides the infrastructure to make that possible at scale.
The physical roadside strategy sits alongside a broader expansion: MyWhoosh has simultaneously been building broadcast partnerships and gamified activation formats that extend the platform well beyond indoor training.
Flanders Classics as a Community Platform
Alongside the Corporate Cycling Challenge, Heathland Gravel and the cyclo-sportive portfolio, the FLCS Clubhouse is another step in a consistent direction. Flanders Classics is building a year-round engagement infrastructure that goes well beyond race organisation.
The Clubhouse stands out because it targeted the Sacred Flemish cycling week specifically — the period of highest cultural attention — and used it not to extract value from existing audiences, but to bring in new ones. The free model, the lifestyle programming and the Ghent location all point in the same direction.
For sponsors and partners, the implication is clear. Flanders Classics is not just selling access to a race. It is building a brand platform with multiple touchpoints across different audience segments. The FLCS Clubhouse is the newest surface on that platform.
Sources
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