Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck movingly remember Rik Van Looy

The moving memory of Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck

With Rik Van Looy, who passed away just days before his 91st birthday, gone is a true icon of world and Belgian cycling in particular, as other legends of the sport, Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck, have pointed out. The three are the only cyclists to have won all five "Monument" races in their careers.

"Rik’s death è really a great loss,” Eddy Merckx commented to the Gazet van Antwerpen. “I knew he had not been well for some time. È was one of the best Belgian cyclists of all time. A great champion and a great opponent. When you raced against him, it was never just any challenge. His willà to win will forever remain etched in my memory".

Roger De Vlaeminck also expressed his grief to the Belgian Agency: "Death " is something that awaits us all, but " it is always a shock when someone you know goes away,” he stressed. It hurts to have to say goodbye to him. È was a great rider and, above all, an’icon of cycling".

De Vlaeminck shared some memories of racing together: "We raced together on several occasions. Rik è stayed in cycling for a long time, and here and there; we faced each other for about four years. I still have a picture of Van Looy, Eddy Merckx and myself before the start of a race. He left us an extraordinary figure, whom I admired when I was a young racer. This’man already had an impressive palmarès. Sometimes I would stand by his side at the start; he was my idol. With his passing we lose another important face of cycling, but this è life".