Lucien Van Impe (; born 20 October 1946) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

cyclist, who competed professionally between 1969 and 1987. He excelled mainly as a climber in multiple-day races such as the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

. He was the winner of the 1976 Tour de France, and six times winner of the

mountains classification in the Tour de France The mountains classification is a secondary competition in the Tour de France, that started in 1933. It is given to the rider that gains the most points for reaching mountain summits first. The leader of the classification is named the King of th ...

Biography

Van Impe credits the start of his career to

Spaniard Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both ind ...

Federico Bahamontes Federico Martín Bahamontes, born Alejandro Martín Bahamontes (; born 9 July 1928), is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist. He won the 1959 Tour de France and a total of 11 Grand Tour stages between 1954-1965. He won a total of ...

, a climber nicknamed ''the eagle of Toledo'' and a former Tour de France winner. In 1968 van Impe was King of the Mountains in the

Tour de l'Avenir Tour de l'Avenir ( en, Tour of the Future) is a French road bicycle racing stage race, which started in 1961 as a race similar to the Tour de France and over much of the same course but for amateurs and for semi-professionals known as independen ...

. Bahamontes used his influence to get van Impe a contract as a professional. In 1969, Van Impe started his professional career with a 12th place in the

1969 Tour de France The 1969 Tour de France was the 56th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 28 June and 20 July, with 22 stages covering a distance of . The participant teams were no longer national teams, but were onc ...

. In 1971, Van Impe won his first

. He would repeat that five more times, a record then shared with Bahamontes. When

Richard Virenque Richard VirenqueRichard Virenque's name is pronounced Ree-shah Vee-rahnk. Virenque considers himself a man of the South but pronounces his name in standard French. Confusion is caused by the southern habit of pronouncing "en" as "ang" or "eng", ...

broke the record with a seventh victory in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, Van Impe criticized Virenque for being opportunistic rather than the best climber; he said he had himself refrained from breaking Bahamontes' record himself out of reverence. Van Impe's Sonolor team fused with Gitane to become Gitane-Campagnolo in 1975. Former French champion

Cyrille Guimard Cyrille Guimard (born 20 January 1947) is a French former professional road racing cyclist who became a directeur sportif and television commentator. Three of his riders, Bernard Hinault, Laurent Fignon, and Lucien Van Impe, won the Tour de Franc ...

, who retired in early 1976, became

directeur sportif A ''directeur sportif'' (French for sporting director, although the original French term is often used in English-language media; plural ''directeurs sportifs'') is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event. It is se ...

in 1976. He was considered to be among the pre-race favorites as this edition had eight high mountain stages and it was expected to be a battle between Van Impe,

Joop Zoetemelk Hendrik Gerardus Joseph "Joop" Zoetemelk (; born 3 December 1946) is a Dutch former professional racing cyclist. He started and finished the Tour de France 16 times, which were both records when he retired. He also holds the distance record in T ...

and defending champion Bernard Thevenet. Thevenet was no match for these two riders from the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

in the 1976 edition, and despite a strong start from debutant

Freddy Maertens Freddy Maertens (born 13 February 1952) is a Belgian former professional racing cyclist who was twice world road race champion. His career coincided with the best years of another Belgian rider, Eddy Merckx, and supporters and reporters were sp ...

, the race became a duel between Van Impe and Zoetemelk with the mountains of the 1976 Tour de France deciding who would become champ. Guimard claims it was his order to attack Zoetemelk that won Van Impe the Tour, shouting at Van Impe that he'd run him off the road with the car if he didn't attack. Van Impe has denied this. Despite Zoetemelk winning three high mountain stages Van Impe's attack gave him a lead of more than +3:00 on the Dutchman, and he then clinched his victory by finishing more than a minute ahead of Zoetemelk in the final individual time trial. After 1976, Van Impe changed teams. In the

1977 Tour de France The 1977 Tour de France was the 64th edition of the Tour de France, taking place between 30 June and 24 July. The total race distance was 22 stages over . Lucien Van Impe, the winner of the previous year, wanted to repeat his victory and going i ...

he started favorite but failed to take a lead in the mountains. He waited until the last mountain stage to attack, which finished atop Alpe d'Huez, and was in the lead late in the stage but forgot to eat, which caused his lead to slip away. He was still in the lead when he was hit by one of the TV cars. Due to his team car being so far behind he had to stand on the side of the road and wait several minutes for a new bike as

Bernard Thévenet Bernard Thévenet (; born 10 January 1948) is a retired professional cyclist. His sporting career began with ACBB Paris. He is twice a winner of the Tour de France and known for ending the reign of five-times Tour champion Eddy Merckx, though bo ...

and

Hennie Kuiper Hendrikus Andreas "Hennie" Kuiper (born 3 February 1949) is a Dutch former professional road racing cyclist. His career includes a gold medal in the Olympic road race at Munich in 1972, becoming world professional road race champion in 1975, a ...

rode past; and the 1977 edition would be decided between the two of them as a result. After three years where he wasn't among the GC favorites, Van Impe rode incredibly well in the

1981 Tour de France The 1981 Tour de France was the 68th edition of the Tour de France, taking place between 25 June and 19 July. The total race distance was 24 stages over . It was dominated by Bernard Hinault, who led the race from the sixth stage on, increasing h ...

. He finished on the podium in 2nd place, although he was more than +10:00 behind

Bernard Hinault Bernard Hinault (; born 14 November 1954) is a French former professional road cyclist. With 147 professional victories, including five times the Tour de France, he is often named among the greatest cyclists of all time. In his career, Hinault ...

, however he won the mountain classification yet again. All total Van Impe finished in the top 5 of the Tour de France eight times. He also won the mountain classification in the Giro d'Italia twice. Single-day races were not his specialty and it was a surprise that he won the national championship in 1983. Van Impe started 15 Tours de France and reached the finish in Paris every time. This was a record when he finished his last, but he would be passed for most Tour finishes by

in 1986, and eventually Sylvain Chavanel reached 16 finishes in 2018. He is currently tied for 2nd with

Viatcheslav Ekimov Viatcheslav Vladimirovich Ekimov ( Russian Вячеслав Владимирович Екимов; born 4 February 1966), nicknamed ''Eki'', is a Russian former professional racing cyclist. A triple Olympic gold medalist, he was awarded the tit ...

who finished his 15th edition in 2006. He is now head of a cycling team of professional riders, called . Lucien Van Impe lives in Imp

(his family name refers to that town) with his wife Rita, he has two grown up children, a son and a daughter. His house is called Alpe D'Huez, after the French mountain where he took the yellow jersey (the leader in the Tour de France) in 1976. When he came home that year, the bar where his supporters gathered every day to watch him win the Tour, was painted yellow entirely. During and after his professional career, Van Impe has never tested positive, refused a doping test or confessed having used doping. He has been honoured by a tasteful abstract statue on his bike, on a stone plinth on a small roundabout in Belgium at 180km before the finish of Belgium's blue-ribband event, the

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour and organi ...

Career achievements

Major results

;1968 : 1st Stage 8

;1969 : 1st Overall Vuelta Ciclista a Navarra : 1st Stage 6

Tour of Belgium The Tour of Belgium ( nl, Ronde van België; french: Tour de Belgique) is a five-day bicycle race which is held annually in Belgium, and is part of the UCI ProSeries. It was held annually between 1908 and 1981, except during both world wars. Bet ...

;1971 : 3rd Overall

:: 1st

Mountains classification The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a femal ...

;1972 : 4th Overall

:: 1st

:: 1st Stage 12 ;1973 : 5th Overall

:: 1st Stage 12b : 2nd Overall

Tour de Romandie The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs through the Romandie region, or French-speaking part of Switzerland. The competition began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling. I ...

:: 1st Stage 3 : 1st Stage 3

GP du Midi-Libre The Grand Prix du Midi Libre (referred to as just Midi Libre) was a multiple-stage road cycling course in the south of France. The race, named after the newspaper that organized it, was first organized in 1949 and was an important preparation cou ...

;1975 : 3rd Overall

:: 1st

:: 1st Stages 14 & 18 : 1st Overall Tour de l'Aude :: 1st Stage 1 & 3 ;1976 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

:: 1st Stage 14 : 2nd Overall

:: 1st Stage 4b : 1st Stage 2b Tour de l'Aude ;1977 : 3rd Overall

:: 1st

:: 1st Stage 15b : 3rd Overall

Critérium du Dauphiné The Critérium du Dauphiné, before 2010 known as the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, is an annual cycling road race in the Dauphiné region in the southeast of France. The race is run over eight days during the first half of June. It is part ...

:: 1st Stage 6 : 2nd Overall

Tour de Suisse The Tour de Suisse ( en, Tour of Switzerland) is an annual road cycling stage race. Raced over eight days, the event covers two weekends in June, and along with the Critérium du Dauphiné, it is considered a proving ground for the Tour de France ...

:: 1st Stages 7 & 8 ;1979 : 5th Overall

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the r ...

:: 1st Stage 15 : 1st Stage 16

: 1st Stage 7b Volta Ciclista a Catalunya ;1981 : 2nd Overall

:: 1st

:: 1st Stage 5 ;1982 : 4th Overall Giro d'Italia :: 1st Jersey green

;1983 : 1st MaillotBélgica

National Road Race Champion : 4th Overall

:: 1st

:: 1st Stage 19 : 9th Overall Giro d'Italia :: 1st Jersey green

:: 1st Stage 11 ;1986 : 1st Overall Vuelta a los Valles Mineros :: 1st Stage 1

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Notes

External links

Cycling hall of fame biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Impe, Lucien Belgian male cyclists Belgian Tour de France stage winners Tour de France winners Belgian Vuelta a España stage winners 1946 births Living people Cyclists from East Flanders Tour de Suisse stage winners People from Erpe-Mere