Rik Van Looy

Rik Van Looy
Van Looy at the 1965 Tour de France
Personal information
NicknameRik II (Rik I is Van Steenbergen)
Emperor of Herentals
BornHenri Van Looy
(1933-12-20) 20 December 1933 (age 90)
Grobbendonk, Belgium
Team information
Current teamRetired
RoleRider
Rider typeClassics Specialist
Sprinter
Professional teams
1953–1954l'Avenir
1953–1954Gitane–Hutchinson
1954Touring
1954Bianchi–Pirelli
1955Van Hauwaert–Maes Pils
1956–1961Faema–Guerra
1962Flandria–Faema–Clément
1963G.B.C.–Libertas
1964–1966Solo–Superia
1967–1970Willem II–Gazelle
Major wins
Grand Tours
Tour de France
Points classification (1963)
Combativity award (1963)
7 individual stages (1963, 1965, 1969)
Giro d'Italia
Mountains classification (1960)
12 individual stages (1959, 1960, 1961, 1962)
Vuelta a España
Points classification (1959, 1965)
18 individual stages (1958, 1959, 1964, 1965)

Other stage races

Tour of the Netherlands (1956, 1957)
Vuelta a Levante (1959)
Giro di Sardegna (1959, 1962, 1965)
Tour of Belgium (1961)
Paris–Luxembourg (1964)

One-day races and Classics

World Road Race Championships (1960, 1961)
National Road Race Championship (1958, 1963)
Milan–San Remo (1958)
Tour of Flanders (1959, 1962)
Paris–Roubaix (1961, 1962, 1965)
Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1961)
Giro di Lombardia (1959)
Gent–Wevelgem (1956, 1957, 1962)
La Flèche Wallonne (1968)
Scheldeprijs (1956, 1957)
Paris–Brussels (1956, 1958)
Coppa Bernocchi (1957, 1958)
Paris–Tours (1959, 1967)
Championship of Flanders (1959)
Boucles de l'Aulne (1963, 1964)
E3 Saxo Bank Classic (1964, 1965, 1966, 1969)

Track cycling

National Championships - Madison (1969)
Medal record
Representing  Belgium
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1952 Helsinki Team road race
Men's road bicycle racing
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1960 Karl Marx Stadt Road Race
Gold medal – first place 1961 Bern Road Race
Silver medal – second place 1956 Copenhagen Road Race
Silver medal – second place 1963 Ronse Road Race
Bronze medal – third place 1953 Lugano Am. Road Race
Men's track cycling
European Championships
Silver medal – second place 1962 Zürich Madison
Bronze medal – third place 1962 Berlin Derny

Henri "Rik" Van Looy (born 20 December 1933 in Grobbendonk) is a Belgian former professional cyclist of the post-war period. Nicknamed the King of the Classics or Emperor of Herentals (after the small Belgian city where he lived), he dominated the classic cycle races in the late 1950s and first half of the ‘60s.

Van Looy was twice world professional road race champion, and was the first cyclist to win all five 'Monuments': the most prestigious one-day classics – a feat since achieved by just two others (both also Belgians: Roger De Vlaeminck and Eddy Merckx).

With 367 professional road victories, he ranks second all-time behind Eddy Merckx. Van Looy is ninth on the all-time list of Grand 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 established value Rik Van Steenbergen at the beginning of Van Looy's career. Conversely, Van Looy had to face the generational change with a young Eddy Merckx at the end of his career.[2]

  1. ^ Vanysacker, Dries (2011). "Kop 25 - Rik Van Looy (1933): De onconventionele Keizer van Herenthals". Vlaamse Wielerkoppen (in Dutch). Davidsfonds. pp. 203–207. ISBN 9789058268181.
  2. ^ "Rik Van Looy 90. Een terugblik op een uitzonderlijke carrière" [Rik Van Looy 90. A review of an exceptional career]. servicekoers.be (in Dutch). 18 October 2023.