The Cycling world mourns one of its legends. He died at the age of 90 Rick Van Looyone of the best runners of all time. On his bike since he was 12 years old delivering newspapers, he was active between the ’50s and ’60s. Until the advent of Eddy Merckx (recently operated on his hip after a fall), was considered the greatest Belgian champion. Nicknamed “The Emperor of Herentals”, due to his Flemish origins and the role assumed in the group, professional since 1954 al 1970was the dominator of road racing for over a decade. (Il Fatto Quotidiano)
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Rick Van Looy he died at the age of 90. The former cyclist had been ill in recent weeks and his condition has rapidly worsened in recent days. The Belgian champion, according to what Le Soir writes, passed away in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday and the news quickly spread, garnering condolences from the entire cycling world. (TUTTOBICIWEB.it)
Road world champion in 1960 (Sachsenring) and 1961 (Bern), between the 1950s and 1960s he won the Paris-Roubaix three times (1961, 1962, 1965), the Tour of Flanders twice (1959, 1962), once the Milan-Sanremo (1958), the Giro di Lombardia (1959) and the Liège-Bastogne-Liège (1961), to which he added the original classics: Fleche Wallone, Paris-Tour and Paris-Brussels. (La Gazzetta dello Sport)
Professional since 1954 al 1970has been the dominator of road racing for over a decade. Twice world champion among road professionals, in 1960 and 1961, he also won all five Monument Classics, a record shared with his compatriots Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck, taking three Paris-Roubaix, one Milan-Sanremo, two Tours of Flanders, one Tour of Lombardy and one Liège-Bastogne-Liège. (Sports Daily)
“The Emperor of Herentals” was one of the greatest cyclists of all time, with 161 career victories (397 counting track and criterium), including 8 monument classics and 2 world championships. He was the first cyclist to win all 5 monument classics, and remains one of only three to have done so, together with Eddy Merckx e Roger DeVlaeminck. (BDC Mag)
International cycling says goodbye to one of the greatest one-day classic specialists, Rick Van Looy. (Sport Mediaset)
Active between the ’50s and ’60s, the “Emperor of Herentals”, as he was nicknamed, also became a double world champion, achieving one of the two world championship triumphs in Bern in 1961. Considered one of the best cyclists in history in also thanks to the fact that he was the first to win in all the classic monuments (Milan-Sanremo, Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Lombardy), Van Looy passed away on Wednesday at the age of 90. (rsi.ch)
