Great Spring Classics Riders
Greatest Spring Classics Riders – Rik van Looy
Rik van Looy was like the Peter Sagan of his day. Able to sprint but also able to dominate the Classics. He won an Olympic Gold in his last year as an amateur in 1952 before really announcing himself in the pro peloton by
winning Gent Wevelgem and Scheldeprijs in 1956.
Greatest Spring Classics Riders – Rik van Steenbergen
Rik Van Steenbergen started his career as World War 2 was coming to an end. He had to use a forged ID card in order to turn professional in 1942. In 1944, aged just 20, he won the Tour of Flanders for the first time. 2 years later he won his 2nd Tour of Flanders.
Greatest Spring Classics Riders – Roger de Vlaeminck
Roger de Vlaeminck started quickly, he won his first professional race - Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in 1969. The following season the first monument victory was ticked off at Liège Bastogne Liège.
Greatest Spring Classics Riders – Eddy Merckx
The most successful cyclist ever. Generally if there's a quiz question about cycling, your best bet is to answer Merckx.
Greatest Spring Classics Riders – Johan Museeuw
Museeuw has a good claim to be the best classics rider of the 1990s. In his 2nd year as a pro, he was part of the ADR team where Lemond won the Tour de France.
Greatest Spring Classics Riders – Tom Boonen
Boonen's first year as a professional was at US Postal. He finished 3rd at Paris Roubaix as well to announce himself. He broke his contract to sign with Quickstep for 2003 and stayed there all his career. In 2004 he won 3
Classics and 2 Tour de France stages.
Greatest Spring Classics Riders – Fabian Cancellara
Fabian Cancellara started his pro career at Mapei and carved out a niche as a time triallist to begin with. A couple of early victories in smaller races highlighted his promise.
Greatest Spring Classics Riders – Philippe Gilbert
Despite being Belgian, Gilbert started his career at French team FDJ in 2003. In 2005 he won enough French races to win the Coupe de France series. The following year he won his first Classic - Omloop het Nieuwsblad. 2008 saw him podium Milan San Remo for the first time, win Omloop again and win Le Samyn.
Greatest Spring Classics Riders – Alejandro Valverde
Valverde will turn 40 towards the end of the 2019 Spring Classics and whilst a great rider is also a controversial one. It's probably easiest to think of his career in two parts, before the ban and after the ban.
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