The Côte de Saint-Nicolas is a climb of

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

in the municipality of Saint-Nicolas in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. It is often included in the

Liège–Bastogne–Liège Liège–Bastogne–Liège , also known as ''La Doyenne'' ("The Old Lady"), is a one-day classic cycling race in Belgium.Cycling Weekly, UK, 13 March 1993 First run in 1892, it is the oldest of the five ''Cycling monument, Monuments'' of the Eur ...

cycling classic The classic cycle races are the most prestigious one-day professional road cycling races in the international calendar. Some of these events date back to the 19th century. They are normally held at roughly the same time each year. The five most ...

, where it comes as one of the last difficulties, at approximately 6 km from the finish in the neighbouring municipality of

Ans Ans or ANS or ''variation'', may refer to: Places * Ans, Belgium, a municipality in Belgium * Ans, Denmark, a village in Denmark * Angus, Scotland, UK; a council area by its Chapman code * Ainsdale railway station, England, UK (by station cod ...

. With a length of 1.4 km at an average gradient of 7.6%, it is often a decisive site of the race. The climb is nicknamed ''The Italian Hill'', because of the composition of its immigrant population and their descendants – often from

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

and the South of Italy. Their presence is particularly expressed by the many Italian flags hanging outside the windows, especially during race day of Liège–Bastogne–Liège.

References

Liège–Bastogne–Liège Climbs in cycle racing in Belgium Mountains and hills of the Ardennes (Belgium) Mountains and hills of Liège Province Saint-Nicolas {{Liège–Bastogne–Liège-race-stub