| Rik Van Looy |
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| 1933 births | |
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Born in Grobbendonk , near Antwerp , Van Looy first rose to prominence when he won the Belgian amateur road race championship in 1952 . He repeated the victory the following year, adding third place in the world title race the same year, before turning professional. A powerful Sprinter , Van Looy won two races in what was left of his first professional season (1953), and 20 more over the next couple of seasons. In 1956 , his victories included Gent-Wevelgem and Paris-Brussels , plus two stages and overall victory in the Tour of the Netherlands . He also won a silver medal in the World road race championship, behind his fellow countryman Rik Van Steenbergen . He repeated his Gent-Wevelgem and Tour of the Netherlands victories in 1957 , and in 1958 won his first 'Monument' taking the season's opening classic, Milan-San Remo . and the autumn classic, the Tour Of Lombardy . In between, he scored another 38 victories, including three stages of the Vuelta A España (finishing third overall and winner of the points competition) and four stages of the Giro D'Italia (for 4th place overall). In 1960 , he scored the first of two consecutive victories in the World road race championship, but Classic victories eluded him. However, he made up for this in 1961 , winning both Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège – making him the first rider to take all five 'Monuments' - as well as retaining his rainbow world title jersey, and taking three stages, plus the mountains competition, in the Giro. Van Looy scored two more Classic wins in 1962 (Paris-Roubaix, Tour of Flanders), took another Gent-Wevelgem, and two more Giro stages. In 1963 Van Looy rode the Tour De France , taking four stages en route to victory in the points competition and a 10th place on general classification; he also grabbed a silver in the world title race. In 1965 , he scored 42 victories including Paris-Roubaix, and a massive eight stages of the Vuelta on his way to his second third place overall (his highest placing in a Grand Tour). For good measure, he also took two stages in the Tour de France. During the final years of his career (1966-1970), Van Looy's road performances began to fade, as the new Belgian star Eddy Merckx rose to prominence, but he still grabbed second in the 1967 Paris-Roubaix, won La Flèche Wallonne in 1968 , and took a stage of the 1969 Tour de France. Van Looy was also a star on the track, winning 11 Six-day Races . His first came in Brussels in 1957, his last in his native Antwerp in 1968 . For nine of these victories, he was paired with Dutchman Peter Post .
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