Rik Van Looy, farewell to the cycling legend: he was the first to win the five Monument Classics

Rome, 18 December 2024 – Il Cycling loses a legend. He died at 90 Rik Van Looy, winner of all the Classical Monument in the 1950s and 1960s: the Belgian passed away after a short illness, two days before turning 91.

Professional from 1954 to 1970, he was the dominator of the inline races for over a decade. Two times world champion Among the road professionals, in 1960 and 1961, he also won all five Classical Monument, a record shared with his compatriots Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck, making his own three Paris-Roubaix, one Milan-San Remo, two Tours of Flanders, one Tour of Lombardy and one Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

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Van Looy's Career: All the Victories of the Emperor of Herentals

Van Looy is also the only cyclist who managed to win all the 8 original classics (the 5 Monuments, in addition to Walloon Arrow, Paris-Brussels and Paris-Tours). Both Merckx and De Vlaeminck, for example, have never achieved success in Paris-Tours.

Van Looy has reached the record 379 road victories, who would later be surpassed only by Eddy Merckx. With thirty-seven victories he is in ninth place in the all-time ranking of Grand Tour stage winners.

He was nicknamed 'Rick II' to distinguish him from another famous Belgian runner with the same name, Rik Van Steenbergen. He was also given the nickname 'Emperor of Herentals' for his Flemish origins and for the role he assumed in the group.