Lucien Van Impe Biography

Belgian cyclist

Lucien Van Impe (pronounced ; born 20 October 1946) is a Belgian cyclist, who competed professionally between 1969 and 1987. He excelled mainly as a climber in multiple-day races such as the Tour de France. He was the winner of the 1976 Tour de France, and six times winner of the mountains cl*ification in the Tour de France.

Biography

Van Impe credits the start of his career to Spaniard Federico Bahamontes, 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. 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.In 1971, Van Impe won his first mountains cl*ification in the Tour de France. He would repeat that five more times, a record then shared with Bahamontes. When Richard Virenque broke the record with a seventh victory in 2004, 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, who retired in early 1976, became directeur sportif 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 and defending champion Bernard Thevenet. Thevenet was no match for these two riders from the Low Countries in the 1976 edition, and despite a strong start from debutant Freddy Maertens, 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 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 and Hennie Kuiper 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. He finished on the podium in 2nd place, although he was more than +10:00 behind Bernard Hinault, however he won the mountain cl*ification yet again. All total Van Impe finished in the top 5 of the Tour de France eight times.

He also won the mountain cl*ification 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 p*ed for most Tour finishes by Joop Zoetemelk in 1986, and eventually Sylvain Chavanel reached 16 finishes in 2018. He is currently tied for 2nd with Viatcheslav Ekimov who finished his 15th edition in 2006.

Van Impe in 2001

From 2007 to 2013, he was sporting director of a cycling team of professional riders, called Intermarché–Wanty.

Lucien Van Impe lives in Impe (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 180:km before the finish of Belgium's blue-ribband event, the Tour of Flanders.

Van Impe suffered a cardiac arrest in 2017, but completely recovered from it.

Career achievements

Major results

1968Tour de l'Avenir1st Mountains cl*ification1st Stage 819691st Overall Vuelta a Navarra Amateurs1st Stage 6 Tour of Belgium3rd Circuit des Frontières19701st Mountains cl*ification, GP du Midi Libre2nd Manx Trophy7th Overall Tour de Romandie9th Overall Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme10th Liège–Bastogne–Liège19711st Mountains cl*ification, Tour de Romandie3rd Overall Tour de France1st Mountains cl*ification5th Overall GP du Midi Libre7th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré9th Overall Tour de Luxembourg1st Mountains cl*ification9th Rund um den Henninger Turm Frankfurt19722nd Overall Tour de Romandie3rd Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré4th Overall Tour de France1st Mountains cl*ification1st Stage 125th Overall GP du Midi Libre6th À travers Lausanne19731st Plogastel Saint-Germain1st Stage 3 GP du Midi-Libre2nd Overall Tour de Romandie1st Stage 35th Overall Tour de France1st Stage 12b7th Trophée des Grimpeurs19741st Mountains cl*ification, Tour de Romandie1st Outer1st Lalaing9th Paris–Camembert19751st Overall Tour de l'Aude1st Stage 1 & 31st GP Erpe-Mere1st Ottignies1st Lannion1st Lescoet-Jugon1st Kitzbuehl2nd GP d'Isbergues3rd Overall Tour de France1st Mountains cl*ification1st Stages 14 & 185th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré1st Mountains cl*ification5th Overall GP du Midi Libre1st Mountains cl*ification5th Overall Escalada a Montjuïc6th Paris–Bourges6th Trophée des Grimpeurs7th Druivenkoers Overijse9th Road race, UCI World Championships19761st Overall Tour de France1st Stage 141st Trophée des Grimpeurs1st Stage 2b Tour de l'Aude1st Polymultipliée1st Creusot1st Plancoët1st Brette-les-Pins2nd Overall GP du Midi-Libre1st Stage 4b5th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré1st Mountains cl*ification5th Escalada a Montjuïc9th La Flèche Wallonne19771st Trophée des Cimes1st Aalst1st Dunières1st Pleaux2nd Overall Tour de Suisse1st Mountains cl*ification1st Stages 7 & 83rd Overall Tour de France1st Mountains cl*ification1st Stage 15b3rd Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré1st Stage 66th Trophée des Grimpeurs8th Overall Tour de Romandie19781st Lamaul-Guimileau1st Geraardsbergen6th Liège–Bastogne–Liège9th Overall Tour de France19791st Stage 16 Tour de France1st Stage 7b Volta a Catalunya1st *enede1st Mende1st Pampelune5th Overall Vuelta a España1st Stage 156th Overall Tour of Belgium7th Tour de Wallonie8th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana8th Amstel Gold Race19801st Tirlemont4th Overall Tour de Suisse1st Mountains cl*ification8th De Kustpijl19811st Polynormande1st Moerbeke1st Aalst1st Saint-Martin de Landelles2nd Overall Tour de France1st Mountains cl*ification1st Stage 55th Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde9th GP Stad Vilvoorde19821st San Crocce sull'Arno1st Kalmthout3rd Overall Tour of Sweden4th Overall Giro d'Italia1st Mountains cl*ification5th Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato6th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx10th Druivenkoers Overijse19831st Road race, National Road Championships1st Heusden Koers1st GP Erpe-Mere1st Ronse4th Overall Tour de France1st Mountains cl*ification1st Stage 198th Giro dell'Appennino9th Overall Giro d'Italia1st Mountains cl*ification1st Stage 1110th GP Montelupo19841st Visp - Grächen1st Buggenhout6th Nationale Sluitingsprijs7th Overall Giro d'Italia19855th Grote 1-MeiPrijs10th Giro dell'Appennino19861st Overall Vuelta a los Valles Mineros1st Stage 18th Overall Vuelta a Asturias19871st Mere

Grand Tour general cl*ification results timeline

Honours and awards

Van Impe in 1971

• Challenge Sedis: 1976
• Former record of most Mountains cl*ification wins in the Tour de France: 6 from 1983 to 2004
• A race in Mere, GP Lucien Van Impe(nl)
• Best climber of all times by climbbybike.com: 2007
• A race in Serskamp, Lucien Van Impe Cl*ic: From 2014
• Statue in Erpe-Mere: 2016
• Honorary citizen of Lede: 2018

Notes

External links

• Cycling hall of fame biography