Rik Van Looy

Rik Van Looy
	Van Looy at the 1965 Tour de France
Personal information
Nickname	Rik II (Rik I is Van Steenbergen); Emperor of Herentals
Born	Henri Van Looy; 20 December 1933; Grobbendonk, Belgium
Team information
Current team	Retired
Role	Rider
Rider type	Classics Specialist; Sprinter
Professional teams
1953–1954	l'Avenir
1953–1954	Gitane–Hutchinson
1954	Touring
1954	Bianchi–Pirelli
1955	Van Hauwaert–Maes Pils
1956–1961	Faema–Guerra
1962	Flandria–Faema–Clément
1963	G.B.C.–Libertas
1964–1966	Solo–Superia
1967–1970	Willem II–Gazelle
Major wins
	Grand Tours Tour de France Points classification (1963) Combativity award (1963) 7 individual stages (1963, 1965, 1969) Giro d'Italia Mountains classification (1960) 12 individual stages (1959, 1960, 1961, 1962) Vuelta a España Points classification (1959, 1965) 18 individual stages (1958, 1959, 1964, 1965) Other stage races Tour of the Netherlands (1956, 1957) Vuelta a Levante (1959) Giro di Sardegna (1959, 1962, 1965) Tour of Belgium (1961) Paris–Luxembourg (1964) One-day races and Classics World Road Race Championships (1960, 1961) National Road Race Championship (1958, 1963) Milan–San Remo (1958) Tour of Flanders (1959, 1962) Paris–Roubaix (1961, 1962, 1965) Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1961) Giro di Lombardia (1959) Gent–Wevelgem (1956, 1957, 1962) La Flèche Wallonne (1968) Scheldeprijs (1956, 1957) Paris–Brussels (1956, 1958) Coppa Bernocchi (1957, 1958) Paris–Tours (1959, 1967) Championship of Flanders (1959) Boucles de l'Aulne (1963, 1964) E3 Saxo Bank Classic (1964, 1965, 1966, 1969)
Medal record
Representing Belgium
Olympic Games
Men's road bicycle racing
World Championships
Men's track cycling
European Championships

Henri "Rik" Van Looy (born 20 December 1933 in Grobbendonk) is a Belgian former 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 first half of the ‘60s.

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).

With 379 professional road victories, he ranks second all-time behind Eddy Merckx. Van Looy is ninth on the all-time list of Grand Tour stage winners with thirty-seven victories. These numbers could still have risen had he not been the victim of a significant number of falls resulting in serious injuries. Moreover, early in his career he had to compete with the legendary Rik Van Steenbergen, and at the end with Merckx.

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