Belgium has lost one of its cycling greats. Rik Van Looy has died at the age of 90. The ‘Emperor of Herentals’ won no fewer than eight cycling classics and also became world champion twice. Van Looy and his ‘Red Brigade’ revolutionised cycling.
Already in his youth Henri ‘Rik’ Van Looy shone as a winner. At 22, he joined Briek Schotte and Federico Bahamontes’s Faema team. Van Looy immediately established himself as the leading contender in several cycling classics, with victories in Gent-Wevelgem and the Schelde Prize even during his first season.
Flanders soon fell for the phlegmatic Van Looy. Rik Van Steenbergen's successor was soon nicknamed Rik II. Always with a ready answer and with star-like allure, partly thanks to his wife Nini, Van Looy soon surpassed Van Steenbergen in terms of popularity.
In 1958, he won his first major classic, Milan-San Remo. Van Looy moulds his Faema teammates into a well-oiled machine, nicknamed ‘The Red Guard’ because of the colour of their jerseys. Spartan team training around Lake Garda during mid-season lays the foundations for the rest of the year.
Van Looy is the big favourite in every cycling classic race he embarks upon. He wins every top classic at least once. The rider, who hails from the Kempen District, is not immediately a gifted climber, but his sprints are fierce, earning him many wins, 493 in all his career.
Joy and sorrow at the World Championships
Thanks to his fast legs, Rik Van Looy is able to explore new heights. In 1960, in Karl-Marx-Stadt, today’s Chemnitz, he outclassed outgoing champion André Darrigade. A year later in Bern, Switzerland, he does the same to Nino Defilippis.
When the World Championships are organised in Ronse two years later, the whole country expects a third world title for Van Looy, which would allow him to match Van Steenbergen's achievements. The entire Belgian team rides in service of Van Looy and holds the peloton together for a bunch sprint.
However, one man had not read the script properly. In the sprint, Van Looy was surprised by the relatively unknown Benoni Beheyt. Cycling-loving Belgium was up in arms. In cycling history this becomes ‘The Betrayal of Ronse’.
After this World Cup, Van Looy's performance in the classics goes downhill a little. In 1966, Eddy Merckx joins his team. Van Looy soon realises that his successor is already here. After his active cycling career, Van Looy becomes the director of the Flemish cycling school in Herentals, the Antwerp city that made him an honorary citizen and to which he owes his nickname: ‘The Emperor of Herentals’.