The E3 Harelbeke was created in 1958. The first editions were raced from Harelbeke to Antwerp and back, hence the event was named "Harelbeke-Antwerp-Harelbeke". Belgian cycling icon Rik Van Looy won the race four times in the 1960s. E3 does not refer to a race sponsor; the race was renamed "E3-Prijs Harelbeke" in the early 1960s, as a reference to the former European route E03, a series of European highways from Lisbon to Stockholm. The Belgian part of the E3 - now called E17 - connected Antwerp and Kortrijk, close to Harelbeke.