Rik Van Looy “didn’t show off” with his rich record: “I happened to be a good cyclist, he said”

Herentals has lost a good friend with Rik Van Looy, his emperor and doctor Toon Claes. “Rik was Rik,” says Claes. “A man made from one piece. But he did not show off his own career.”

“Herentals has lost a figurehead. It will never be the same again.”

Toon Claes, the renowned surgeon from Herentals, mourns today for his good friend Rik Van Looy, whom he met when he was a toddler.

“My father was actually his best friend. He was Rik’s doctor, supervisor and mentor.”

“I knew Rik more as a person than as a cyclist. We had a very close bond.”

Rik didn’t know a crooked line. He headed straight for his target.

Show Claes

Claes paints a warm, but passionate picture of his friend. “Rik was Rik. A man made from one piece.”

“He knew no curve. When he wanted something, he went straight to his goal.”

“In addition to his family, the Flemish Cycling School was his great passion. I was chairman there for many years.”

“We could only survive thanks to Rik. He was there every day and immediately intervened if there was a problem. It was sometimes unbelievable what he pulled out of his hat.”

Rik Van Looy will go down in history as one of the greatest cyclists of all time. “But he didn’t show it off himself,” says Toon Claes. “That’s to his credit.”

“Rik often said: I happen to be good at riding a bicycle. He was really very modest.”

However, Van Looy was extremely popular in Herentals and far beyond. “I remember that Rik fell in the Tour and broke his collarbone. My father had to go to France to see if he could continue.”

“That didn’t work, but it did mean that he spent the next few days at home in Herentals, where we often came to play with his children. So many letters and parcels came in that they had a stack of more than a meter in their hall. .”

“Afterwards I heard that he personally replied to all those people.”

Merckx and Van Looy were real friends. Their human side transcended their rivalry.

When you say Van Looy, you immediately think of Eddy Merckx, with whom he had a bitter rivalry at the end of his career that divided the country.

Claes qualifies: “I also remember that Eddy regularly supported Rik’s grandchildren, who were good cross-country runners.”

When Merckx and Van Looy lost sight of each other later in life, Toon Claes brought them together. “I invited them both for a bike ride and then a nice dinner.”

“They were real friends. Humanity always transcends rivalry. Those two beautiful people illustrate that.”