Rik Van Looy

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Rik Van Looy (1964)

Rik Van Looy (born December 20, 1933 in Grobbendonk , Belgium ) is a former Belgian cyclist and one of the most successful classic hunters .

Athletic career

He started cycling at the age of 14 . His daily bike tours for his father's butcher shop also served as training rides. Van Looy - also called "Rik II" to distinguish it from the older Belgian professional cyclist Rik Van Steenbergen - was able to win every single one of the five " monuments of cycling ", the most important classic one-day races , in his career as a professional cyclist from 1953 to 1970 only Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck succeeded. He won Paris – Roubaix three times, twice the Tour of Flanders and Paris – Tours , and once each Milan – Sanremo , Liège – Bastogne – Liège and the Lombardy Tour . In 1960 and 1961 he won the road world championship. He scored seven daily victories in the Tour de France , twelve in the Giro d'Italia and 18 in the Vuelta a España . In total, he achieved 493 victories in the course of his cycling career. These successes earned him the nickname L'Empereur de Herentals ( Keizer van Herentals ); Herentals is his place of residence.

Honors

Rik Van Looy is an honorary citizen of his hometown Grobbendonk as well as of his place of residence Herentals. In Herentals in August 2017, a memorial by Vyn Looy was unveiled by himself (after being persuaded). In 2018 it became known that a bike race in his place of birth will in future bear his name. In an interview on the occasion, the 84-year-old stated that he was cycling the 30-kilometer route to Antwerp and back two to three times a week. He'll be 85 soon, but you don't notice much of it on a bike.

Professional

After the end of his career, he opened a riding stables near his home town.

Web links

Commons : Rik Van Looy  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fred De Bruyne: Rik van Looy . Uitgave NVG Kolff, Mechelen 1963, p. o. p . (Flemish).
  2. ↑ hln.be: Rik krijgt standbeeld. In: hln.be. December 16, 2015, accessed August 22, 2015 (Dutch).
  3. ↑ Standbeeld wielerkeizer Rik Van Looy op 12 augustus inhuldiging. In: nnieuws.be. December 20, 1933, accessed July 2, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Rik Van Looy (84) krijgt beloftekoers: "Ik fiets nog 2 à 3 keer per week". In: sporza.be. June 16, 2018, accessed July 2, 2018 (Dutch).
  5. ^ Association of German cyclists (ed.): Radsport . No. 37/1970 . Deutscher Sportverlag Kurt Stoof, Cologne 1970, p. 9 .
personal data
SURNAME Van Looy, Rik
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH December 20, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Grobbendonk , Belgium