Rik Van Looy obituary
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Belgian cyclist and the first to triumph in the five great one-day classics known as the Monuments. Rik Van Looy, who has died aged 90, was the most dominant one-day cycle racer of the 1950s and 60s, nicknamed “the Emperor of Herentals” (after the Belgian city in which he lived) or “the Wheel Breaker”. He ended his 18-year career with a tally of 371 professional road race victories, which remains second only to that of Eddy Merckx. A double world road race champion, he was the first cyclist to triumph in the five great one-day classics known today as the Monuments.
![[Van Looy, right, with André Darrigade and Hans Junkermann on the Dinard-Brest stage of the 1962 Tour de France.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/1189287dec7fd4104833735e872f6216c29a9e7a/627_912_4005_2404/master/4005.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
He began racing at 14 and was lapped five times in his first race, but improved rapidly to win the Belgian amateur championship twice; he took a bronze medal in the amateur world championship at Lugano in 1953. He turned professional a week later and won his first two races in the following 48 hours.
![[Van Looy at the Tour de France in 1969.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/cb5f80444c6fed122b2d72690258e146d42db407/763_1639_2692_5277/master/2692.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
With the coach Dries Claes to guide him, and Lomme Driessens as his team manager, Van Looy carved out a niche as a one-day classics specialist, winning Paris-Brussels and Gent-Wevelgem in 1956. He earned his nicknames rapidly – Rik II, to distinguish him from Henri “Rik” Van Steenbergen, his immediate predecessor as Belgian No 1, and “the Emperor,” for the imperial way he raced and his touch of style: sometimes he carried a perfumed handkerchief in his race jersey pocket.
By 1968 Van Looy had won all the major one-day races in the cycling calendar, plus back-to-back world titles in 1960 and 1961. The highlight was a clean sweep in the spring of 1962 of the Tour of Flanders, Gent-Wevelgem and Paris-Roubaix in eight days – an achievement matched only by Tom Boonen in 2012 – while wearing the rainbow jersey of the world champion. At the height of his fame, he was receiving a thousand fan letters a week.
