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Rik Van Looy

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Belgian road racing cyclist (1933–2024)

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person
Country
BE
Active from
1973-05-03

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
150
Total plays
398

<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Rik+Van+Looy">Read more on Last.fm</a>

via Last.fm · Rik Van Looy

Key facts

1954
Touring
1955
Van Hauwaert–Maes Pils
1962
Flandria–Faema–Clément
1963
G.B.C.–Libertas
Nickname
Rik II (Rik I is Van 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
Role
Rider
Rider type
All-rounder
1953 1954
l'Avenir
1956 1961
Faema–Guerra
1964 1966
Solo–Superia
1967 1970
Willem II–Gazelle

via Wikipedia infobox

~26 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Henri "Rik" Van Looy (20 December 1933 – 17 December 2024) was a Belgian 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 early 1960s.

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).

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Rik Van Looy” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.