A great man in the history of cycling has passed away. At the age of almost 91, Rik Van Looy has died, a great Belgian champion who, in his career, won the road world championship twice and all five monument classics; a record he currently shares with Eddy Merckx and Roger de Vlaeminck .  

Van Looy , nicknamed "the Emperor of Herentals", has three Paris-Roubaix , one Milan-San Remo , two Tours of Flanders , one Tour of Lombardy and one Liège-Bastogne-Liège . Van Looy is also the only cyclist who has managed to win all 8 original classics (5 Monuments + Flèche Wallonne, Paris-Brussels and Paris-Tours). Both Merckx and De Vlaeminck have never won Paris-Tours.