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.jpg) Van Looy at the1962 Tour de France | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Rik II (Rik I isVan Steenbergen) Keizer Van Herentals (Emperor of Herentals) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Henri Van Looy (1933-12-20)20 December 1933 Grobbendonk, Belgium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 17 December 2024(2024-12-17) (aged 90) Herentals, Belgium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rider type | All-rounder | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Professional teams | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1953–1954 | l'Avenir | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1953–1954 | Gitane–Hutchinson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1954 | Touring | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1954 | Bianchi–Pirelli | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1955 | Van Hauwaert–Maes Pils | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1956–1961 | Faema–Guerra | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1962 | Flandria–Faema–Clément | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1963 | G.B.C.–Libertas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1964–1966 | Solo–Superia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1967–1970 | Willem II–Gazelle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Major wins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Grand Tours
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Medal record
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Henri "Rik"Van Looy (20 December 1933 – 17 December 2024) was a Belgian professionalcyclist of the post-war period. Nicknamed theKing of the Classics orEmperor ofHerentals (after the small Belgian city where he lived), he dominated theclassic cycle races in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Van Looy was twiceworld professional road race champion, and was the first cyclist to win all five 'Monuments': the most prestigious one-dayclassics – a feat since achieved by just two others (both also Belgians:Roger De Vlaeminck andEddy Merckx).
With 367 professional road victories, he ranks second all-time behind Eddy Merckx. Van Looy is ninth on theall-time list ofGrand Tour stage winners with thirty-seven victories.[1] These numbers could still have risen had he not been the victim of a significant number of falls resulting in serious injuries. Remarkable was his sporting rivalry with two other cycling legends: namely the successfulRik Van Steenbergen at the beginning of Van Looy's career.[2] Conversely, Van Looy had to face the generational change with a young Eddy Merckx at the end of his career.[3]
Rik Van Looy was born in 1933 in Grobbendonk, in theAntwerp Province. As a child, Van Looy was fascinated by cycling. Before the age of 13, he worked as a paper boy. The foundation of his further career was laid in that period, by daily riding on a packed, much too heavy bicycle.[4]
In his very first races as a youngster, however, he did not yet stand out as the big talent.
Van Looy rose to prominence when he won the Belgian amateur road championship in 1952. He repeated the victory the following year, adding third place in the world title race the same year, before turning professional. He took part in the1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, participating in theroad race, but without completing it. Instead, he and his teammates won the gold medal in theteam road race.[5] At the age of 19, Van Looy won the bronze medal in theWorld Championship amateur road race in Lugano.
A powerfulsprinter, Van Looy won two races in what was left of his first professional season (1953), and 20 more over the next couple of seasons. In 1956, his victories includedGent–Wevelgem andParis–Brussels, plus two stages and overall victory in the Tour of the Netherlands. He also won a silver medal in theworld road race championship, behind his countrymanRik Van Steenbergen (whom the team was obliged to ride for).
He repeated his Gent–Wevelgem andTour of the Netherlands victories in 1957, and in 1958, Van Looy won the season's opening classic,Milan–San Remo.
1959 saw Van Looy take the early-seasonTour of Flanders and the autumn classic, theGiro di Lombardia. In between, he scored another 38 victories, including three stages of theVuelta a España (finishing third overall and winning the points competition) and four stages of theGiro d'Italia (for 4th overall).
In 1960, he scored the first of two consecutive victories in theworld road race championship, but "classic" victories eluded him. However, he made up for this in 1961, winning bothParis–Roubaix andLiège–Bastogne–Liège – making him the first rider to take all five 'Monuments' – as well as retaining his rainbowworld title jersey, and taking three stages, plus the mountains competition in theGiro d' Italia.
Van Looy scored two more Classic wins in 1962 (Paris–Roubaix,Tour of Flanders), took anotherGent–Wevelgem, and two moreGiro stages. At the age of 28, he made his debut in the1962 Tour de France as one of the major favorites. Van Looy's strategy was to exhaust co-favoritesFederico Bahamontes andJacques Anquetil before the mountain stages started. However, after ten stages in which Van Looy gave a spectacle, he was forced to abandon the Tour because of a collision with a motorcyclist. Tour directorJacques Goddet publicly regretted his departure.
"My main rival in the tours wasn’tBaldini,Gaul orPoulidor. It was Van Looy. I had to match him in the flat stages and even in the mountains, because if I didn’t, he would turn up in the time-trials with a 15-minute advantage."
In 1963 Van Looy rode theTour de France again, taking four stages en route to victory in the points competition and a 10th place on general classification. He also grabbed a silver medal in theworld title race. In the latter race, held inRonse in his native Belgium, he was beaten in the sprint by his countrymanBenoni Beheyt who manually pushed Van Looy aside. Van Looy, starting the sprint too early, did not take this defeat lightly. This race has remained memorable in the history of Belgian cycling.
In 1965, he scored 42 victories, includingParis–Roubaix, and eight stages of theVuelta on his way to his second third place overall (his highest placing in a Grand Tour). Van Looy also took two stages in theTour de France.
During the final years of his career, Rik Van Looy's road performances began to fade, as the new Belgian star Eddy Merckx rose to prominence, but he still grabbed second in the1967 Paris–Roubaix. He wonLa Flèche Wallonne in 1968, becoming the only cyclist to win all 8 originalclassics. Van Looy also took a stage of the1969 Tour de France. His rivalry with Eddy Merckx reached the height of sabotage of Merckx in theworld championships organized in Belgium, in 1969.[7]
Van Looy was also a star on the track, winning 12Six-day races. His first came inBrussels in 1957, his last inAntwerp in 1968. For ten of these victories, he was paired with DutchmanPeter Post.
In the winter of 1956 he was paired with Rik Van Steenbergen for some track races. Events that many looked forward to, but the plans were shelved after they both had arguments during the1956 world championship in Copenhagen. The two Riks would eventually ride together in a few Six-days races in 1963.
Van Looy was a very powerful sprinter, rather heavy for his height due to his muscular legs. In mountain stages, he was usually able to keep up the pace of the true climbers, but less able to make the difference.[4]
The power he could exert was unprecedented at the time. During his victory in1961 UCI Road World Championships, his back wheel collapsed just after he crossed the finish line because his powerful stroke had ripped out several of the spokes.[2] This incident earned him the nickname “The Wheelbreaker”.[8]
Despite his sprint qualities, he usually wanted to avoid the sprint by escaping earlier. Van Looy enjoyed the cheering of the crowd more during solo arrivals. There was no time for that, while participating in a sprint and preparing for it.
Van Looy's popularity was mainly due to his attacking style of cycling. His early escapes already quickly created excitement in races in which he participated.[9]
He could also motivate himself knowing he was being chased by competitors. This is also why he did not excel inindividual time trials, it fascinated him less. Yet that shortcoming is hard to link with a man who could ride in the lead for miles without a flinch, visibly hurting his opponents. The more calculated riding during stage races, was at odds with his attacking style. As a result, he never won the overall classification in aGrand Tour, which also always included time trials. He did win overall victories in shorterstage races (in the 1965 Giro di Sardegna for example, by winning 5 out of 6 stages).[10]
Van Looy did not spare himself during preparations for races, which were characterized by spartan training methods combined with a carefully selected diet.
Gradually, he stood out for his dominant character, both in his team and in the peloton. His leadership was strict, but always fair. Because of him, the term "team captain" was brought to a higher level. He worked out the fledgling leader-domestique system to perfection, and the team had to ride entirely in his service. Instead of the team manager, he himself decided the tactics, which riders were best suited for this and even what they would earn.
TheFlandria-Faema team that was built around Van Looy was nicknamedthe Red Brigade by the peloton and public, after the red jerseys the riders wore.[11]
The1963 world championship inRonse seemed an ideal opportunity to triumph a third time, with a course that suited Van Looy, and this time supported by a home crowd.
The Belgian team would be riding completely for Van Looy, but during the race it turned out thatGilbert Desmet andBenoni Beheyt (both riding for a different brand team than Van Looy) had other plans. At the end of the race, Desmet escaped and Van Looy was forced to start the sprint much earlier than expected, after which Beheyt (pushing away on Van Looy's shoulder) eventually finished first.
The jury only briefly considered the problem of the obviously irregular sprint and did not change the final result. The medals were awarded in front of a rather confused audience, with both Van Looy and Beheyt having a hard time smiling. The story about theBetrayal of Ronse dragged on for a long time in the press and public, and crowds of people showed up at races where both gentlemen would start.
It didn't really seem to bother Van Looy, he enjoyed the commotion that cycling caused. Nevertheless, it is suggested that he systematically thwarted Beheyt's career afterwards. Fact is that the latter already stopped cycling a few years later at the age of 27, also due to injury problems.
The two gentlemen turned out to be on good terms after that, although neither of them seldom wanted to talk about the 1963 world championship again in interviews.[12]
On 22 August 1970, after a race, Van Looy decided to quit professional cycling immediately and in all discretion. Unlike his predecessor Rik Van Steenbergen, he resolutely refused a lucrative "farewell tour" via criteria and track races. Neither was he interested in a high-paying farewell cycling race in theAntwerp Sports Palace.
Not surprisingly, he subsequently was appointed as team manager forWillem II–Gazelle. Afterwards he became a driver-consultant for a newspaper and magazine during races and in a later phase director of the Flemish cycling school in Herentals, the city of which he is now an honorary citizen.
In his house nothing reminds of his glorious past."What's past is past. All the trophies, jerseys and medals,... I've given it all away. To charities, supporters and friends, it means more to them than to me" Van Looy once mentioned.[13]
Rik Van Looy married Nini Mariën in 1955. Both formed a close-knit couple. Nini was partly behind the top career Rik Van Looy was able to build. She was one of the most famous riders' wives in the peloton in the 1950s and 1960s, and put her life entirely at the service of Van Looy's career.
The couple had a daughter and a son. Van Looy rode on incentives, which could also come from his family. When he lectured his young son by saying "when will you come home with a good school report again?" the boy's response was "when will you win another classic again?" The following week, the 34-year-old Van Looy wonLa Flèche Wallonne.
After a lingering illness, his wife died in 2021 at the age of 88. By then, Van Looy had already withdrawn from public life for a while to assist her."She has done so much for me, now it's my turn" Van Looy said.[14]
Afterwards, Van Looy sporadically came into the spotlight. He continued to give the starting shot of theGP Rik Van Looy every year.[15] And in, 2023 there were several events in Herentals around his 90th birthday.[16]
Three days before his 91th birthday, Van Looy died on 17 December 2024 after an illness of several weeks.[17][18][19]
Given the specialization of a cyclist's role in the modern peloton, Rik Van Looy's number of professional road race victories will most likely never be surpassed in the future.
Van Looy is also probably the most popular rider Belgium has ever known. Obviously because of his victories and his attacking way of cycling. But his constant accessibility towards supporters, combined with his honest no-nonsense style in interviews contributed even more to this. Common people could identify with him, in contrast to the less language-savvy Eddy Merckx. Even when Merckx's performances began to surpass those of Van Looy, he seemed to have more opponents among Belgian cycling fans, compared to Van Looy.
In addition, Van Looy had a "clean image", compared to many of his colleagues and the generations of cyclists that would follow."My performances started to improve significantly after I started following the training schedules and diets of doctor Dries Claes, which I had to convince to start a collaboration. As he was outspokenly opposed to doping in sports, and even a member of the anti-doping commission, the use of banned substances was completely out of the question." Van Looy mentioned in a 2023 interview.[20][21]
Through his career, several vinyl singles about Van Looy were released by Belgian and Dutch artists.[39]
Team road race,Olympic Games
Road race,National Amateur Championships Road race,National Amateur Championships
Road race,UCI World Amateur Championships Road race,National Interclubs Championships
OverallRonde van Nederland
OverallDriedaagse van Antwerpen
Road race,UCI World Championships OverallRonde van Nederland Road race Interclubs road race after Stages 9–11.png)
OverallGiro di Sardegna
OverallVuelta a Levante
Points classification
Kampioenschap van VlaanderenPoints classification
after Stage 1
Road race,UCI World ChampionshipsMountains classification Points classificationRoad race,UCI World Championships
OverallTour of Belgium Points classification OverallGiro di Sardegna Points classification Points classification Road race,National ChampionshipsRoad race,UCI World Championships Points classificationPoints classification
Combativity award OverallParis–Luxembourg after Stages 2–5 OverallGiro di Sardegna after Stages 1a & 1bPoints classification after Stages 1–3 Points classification| Grand Tour | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vuelta a España | Not held | — | — | — | DNF | 3 | — | — | — | — | DNF | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Giro d'Italia | — | — | DNF | — | — | — | 4 | 11 | 7 | DNF | DNF | — | — | — | DNF | — | — | — |
| Tour de France | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | DNF | 10 | DNF | 31 | DNF | DNF | — | DNF | — |
| Monument | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milan–San Remo | — | — | — | 52 | 74 | 1 | 35 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 71 | 4 | 41 | — | 12 | 10 | 82 | DNF |
| Tour of Flanders | — | — | — | 11 | 17 | — | 1 | 3 | — | 1 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 16 | 26 | 10 | — | DNF |
| Paris–Roubaix | — | 11 | — | 11 | — | 3 | 4 | — | 1 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 1 | 9 | 2 | — | 22 | DNF |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | — | — | 5 | — | 10 | — | 4 | 1 | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Giro di Lombardia | — | — | — | DSQ | — | 27 | 1 | 11 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Classic | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 |
| Omloop Het Volk | — | 36 | — | 8 | 5 | 2 | — | NH | — | — | — | — | — | 20 | — | — | — | 42 |
| Amstel Gold Race | Did not exist | — | 15 | 25 | — | — | ||||||||||||
| Gent–Wevelgem | — | — | — | 1 | 1 | 2 | 12 | — | 61 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 15 | 22 | 34 | 8 | 10 | DNF |
| La Flèche Wallonne | — | 44 | 53 | — | — | 13 | — | 8 | 43 | 26 | — | — | — | 11 | 15 | 1 | 23 | — |
| Paris–Brussels | — | 20 | — | 1 | 42 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 7 | — | — | 2 | 34 | 3 | Not held | |||
| Paris–Tours | 7 | — | — | 43 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 81 | — | — | — | 2 | — | 2 | 1 | 4 | 45 | — |
| 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Championships | — | DNF | — | 2 | 4 | DNF | 38 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 2 | 32 | DNF | — | — | 15 | 24 | — |
| National Championships | — | — | 32 | — | — | 1 | 5 | 4 | — | — | 1 | — | — | 17 | — | 13 | 7 | DNF |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
Madison (withPeter Post)
Derny Madison (withPatrick Sercu),National Championships Madison (withPatrick Sercu),National ChampionshipsSource[40]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
