Cycling says goodbye to Rik Van Looy, the Belgian champion who won all the Classics (sjsh)

International Cycling dice farewell to one of the greatest specialists of the one-day classics, Rick Van Looy.
Il champion Belgian passed away a few days before his ninety-first birthday after a brief illness. Able to take center stage between the 1950s and 1970s, the “Emperor of Herentals” he was the only cyclist in history to conquer all eight original Classics (the five Monuments to which must be added Walloon Arrow, Paris-Brussels and Paris-Tours). (Sport Mediaset)

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He died at the age of 90 Rick Van Looyone of the greatest cyclists in history, the first rider to win all five monument classics, a feat later equaled only by Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck. (corriereadriatico.it)

The cycling world mourns the death of the Belgian Rick Van Looy. Considered one of the best cyclists in history also by virtue of the fact that he was the first to win in all the monument classics (Milan-Sanremo, Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Lombardy), Van Looy passed away in Wednesday at 90 years old. (rsi.ch)

Goodbye Rick Van Looygoodbye Emperor of Herentals. He was head of the legendary Red Guard, made up of his Faema followers, who were always – or almost always, as we will see – faithful to him. (the Republic)

– For just two days he didn’t have time to celebrate his first 91 years of life: Rick Van Looy he passed away in the morning after a short illness in his Herentalsa place of which he had been ‘awarded’ the Platonic title of ‘Emperor’, and he did so leaving a very deep mark in the history of cycling on both road and track. (Sports Daily)

Van Looy was born in Grobbendonk and was a cycling icon. (TUTTOBICIWEB.it)

Professional from 1954 to 1970, he dominated 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 and one Milan-Sanremo , two Tours of Flanders, a Tour of Lombardy and a Liège-Bastogne-Liège. (Sports Daily)