Cycling returns again and again to the same names when it comes to legends, but the first man who conquered the five Monuments was neither Tadej Pogacar nor Eddy Merckx. It was Rik Van Looy, the mythical ‘Emperor of Heretals’, a gigantic figure who changed the history of the classics forever and who passed away on December 17, 2024.Van Looy not only won, dominated. He was the pioneer, the runner who opened a path that could only then follow a fe…
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Cycling returns again and again to the same names when it comes to legends, but the first man who conquered the five Monuments was neither Tadej Pogacar nor Eddy Merckx. It was Rik Van Looy, the mythical ‘Emperor of Heretals’, a gigantic figure who changed the history of the classics forever and who passed away on December 17, 2024.Van Looy not only won, dominated. He was the pioneer, the runner who opened a path that could only then follow a fe…