A collapsed and flooded complex of mining galleries stretches between 600 and 800 metres below the cyclocross World Cup 2025 course in the northern French town of Liévin.

Indeed, miners went underground daily to mine coal in the nearby coal mines until the 1960s. Above ground, railway lines dominated the landscape. However, they have been demolished today. Both evoke memories of Liévin's coal industry.
After coal was found in the second half of the 19th century, the town became an eldorado for coal companies. The Compagnie des mines de Liévin established a handful of coal mines. The rush on black gold lasted a century, though. Indeed, from 1960 onwards, one mine after another went bust.
From railway junction to cyclo-crossing World Cup course
Today, the mining past is only visible in the landscape on and around the course of the cyclo-cross world championships in 2025. At the time, a coal freight railway crossed this industrial no man's land. (Photo below: railway past Fosse n° 3, via Wikimedia, Public domain)

Railway branch lines
The rails were broken out today and replaced by a cycle path, the Véloroute du Bassin Minier, de Lens à Douai. But at the height of mining, the tracks at the site of the World Cup course branched off further to:
- a (vanished) power station (east of the cyclocross domain),
- to coal mine Fosse n°7 of Liévin (south-east of the course) and
- to nearby Fosse n° 3, nicknamed Sainte Pauline. This branch line meandered onto Fosse n° 1. The railway has disappeared. However, the current Route Départementale D58 still follows the identical route.
Slag heap
Fosse n°3 was located northeast of the World Cup course and went under as early as 1963. The mine left behind slag heaps 80, 80A and 80B, the waste heaps of rocks from the underground galleries. Terril 80 is now one of the 353 features designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2012.
Fosse n° 3
Nothing remains of Fosse n° 3. The mine buildings and the three iron headframes were razed to the ground after the closure. Today, the mine site is home to a transport company. (Photo below: Fosse n° 3 in better times, via Wikimedia, public domain).

For those who still want to get an idea of what the mine looked like, they can go to the still-preserved shaft trestle of Fosse n° 1 at Liévin, built in the 1920s. This pithead is said to be an identical specimen to the one at Fosse n° 3.
Coal power station
East of the cyclocross course, on Rue du Percot, a power station was built in 1906 to electrify Liévin's coal industry. The plant was destroyed during World War I but later rebuilt. The coal-fired power plant continued to produce electricity until 1952. The entire complex was demolished in 1996, and only the cooling ponds are still visible in the landscape.
Finally, south of the trail is Cité des Petits Bois, a collection of 145 miners' dwellings built by the Liévin mining company during the interwar period. The cité is one of iévin's 10 World Heritage Sites. Want to discover more yourself?
Compare maps and satellite images from then and now via the Remonter le Temps site.