Farewell to a cycling giant: Rik Van Looy dead

Addio to a cycling giant

Rik Van Looy would have turned 91 on Friday. He passed away in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday. He had not been well for several weeks and his condition rapidly worsened.

Next to Eddy Merckx, Van Looy, nicknamed "the’Emperor of Herentals", boasts one of the most prestigious palmarès in Belgian cycling, with two world champion titles (1960, 1961), two Belgian road champion titles (1958, 1963) and also two Belgian track champion titles in the American race (1968, 1969).

Born in Grobbendonk, he began his career in 1953 with the Gitane-Hutchinson team before experiencing his most glorious years with the Faema team. He won a large number of classics and was the first cyclist to win all five "Monuments" during his career: the Milan-San Remo in 1958, the Tour of Flanders in 1959 and 1962, the Paris-Roubaix in 1961, 1962 and 1965, the Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 1961 and the Tour of Lombardy in 1959.

Van Looy also scored 37 stage wins in the Grand Tours: seven in the Tour de France, 12 in the Giro d’Italia and 18 in the Vuelta de Espana. His palmarès includes 371 road victories and about sixty track wins, including twelve Six Days races.

In 1961 he received the National Trophy for Sporting Merit and è was inducted into the International Cycling Union (UCI) Hall of Fame. In 2018 è the Grand Prix Rik Van Looy, a race connecting Westerlo to Herentals, was established in his honor.