Van Looy’s track record extends further than that of anyone else, with the exception of that one, Eddy Merckx. The Kempen native made a name for himself mainly as a classic driver and won the five Monuments. Paris-Tours, the only classic with (at the time) a name that Merckx could never win, is also on Van Looy’s victory list. Moreover, in his first professional years, the young Van Looy had to compete against his fellow player Rik Van Steenbergen, Rik I versus Rik II, while he was also a teammate of Eddy Merckx, who was making his professional debut. The old Van Looy and the young Merckx in the same team, it wouldn’t last much longer than a few months. “I quickly saw that he would become the best rider in the world,” said Van Looy, who was not simply prepared to give up his scepter.
Jacques Anquetil was waiting for him in the lap, the man who, in his own words, had made him suffer the most on a bicycle. Van Looy rode with and against them and still managed to build up a great record. Only a Grand Tour is missing from his list of achievements, although the Kempen native would probably have come close to winning the Tour in 1962 without a serious crash. All these achievements earned him his equally iconic nickname, the Emperor of Herentals, the city where the rider, born in neighboring Grobbendonk, later moved to.
Trendsetter
Rik Van Looy was a trendsetter in many respects. He was the first to succeed in building a team around him, the famous Red Guard. First at the Belgian-Italian Faema, later at Flandria and Solo Superia, each time under the leadership of the equally legendary sports director Lomme Driessens. Van Looy formed a close-knit group, with predominantly Flemish riders who went through fire for him and, remarkably, abandoned their personal ambitions. “But most of all I had a lot of fun with them,” said Van Looy, who determined the ins and outs as a natural leader. The young Eddy Merckx would keep his eyes open in his first professional year.
Van Looy was also one of the first to go to the Italian Lake Garda with the entire team for a training camp in the preparation of the Cycling season. For Spartan training, it was said. “But I always made sure that we could eat fries at least once,” Van Looy said later. “Then you saw my teammates flying the next day.” Those who listened were rewarded. Those who could not keep in line were allowed to have their say. Rik’s will was law.
Ronse’s betrayal
We can be brief about his victories: there were many, with two world titles – in 1960 and 1961 – as absolute highlights. Rik Van Looy was also the man who, according to legend, missed out on a Tour stage in 1962 because he rode wrong in the last kilometer. The stage finished that day in… Herentals, home of Rik Van Looy.
In the early 1960s, Rik Van Looy was without doubt the most popular rider in the country and a third world title, in Ronse, East Flanders, was within reach. It would be for the
national cycling history will become one of the most captivating World Cup denouements ever. Van Looy had addressed his Belgian teammates the evening before and demanded their unconditional support in exchange for a generous financial compensation. Everyone seemed to keep their word. Gilbert Desmet launched the sprint for Van Looy and he seemed to win, but was outpaced in the final meters by… another Belgian, 22-year-old Benoni Beheyt. The country stood on its hind legs, the Van Looy camp spoke of a real betrayal. Desmet, a teammate of Beheyt, is said to have deliberately started the sprint a little too early at the request of his team, causing Van Looy to take the lead from too far away and to come to a standstill at the difficult finish in Ronse so that Beheyt could reassemble him. . Kilometers of paper and liters of ink were subsequently spent on this World Cup.
What
Van Looy did not only become a superstar on the bicycle. He also pushed boundaries outside the race. In 1955 he married Nini Mariën, the daughter of a Herental café owner with whom he would be a couple until her death in 2021. “Before our marriage I didn’t take cycling too seriously,” Van Looy himself said. “But suddenly there had to be bread on the table.”
Nini and Rik transcended the boundaries of sport, especially due to the growing impact of new media such as television and magazines. She always has a fashionably dressed appearance, he the successful and impeccably groomed top athlete. Nini Van Looy was the first cycling woman in Flanders to naturally step out of the shadow of her famous husband and would therefore be an example for many. Their love for each other was legendary and when Van Looy stopped cycling in 1970, he would from now on put himself at the service of his wife. “She has done nothing for me throughout my career, now it is my turn to be there for her,” says Van Looy. The champion of yesteryear became a dedicated caregiver for his sick wife in his old age, until the day of her death on January 2, 2021.
Van Looy avoided the spotlight after his career. He was suited for a career as a sports director or national coach, but cycling remained close to his heart. For example, he founded the Flemish Cycling School in Herentals, a training center for young cyclists where Van Looy was much more than a well-known poster boy. He rarely let himself be roped in for an interview, but those who did get him talking found him to be an excellent conversationalist with a sharp tongue and a well-founded opinion. Rik Van Looy called things as he saw them. Since 2018, he has also had his own Grand Prix Rik Van Looy, an international promising competition with start in his native village of Grobbendonk and finish in his hometown of Herentals. He was declared an honorary citizen in both Grobbendonk and Herentals and received his own public bust.
Emperor of his city, ruler of the platoon, servant of his wife: Rik Van Looy was all this by saying little and doing a lot.
