The Grand Prix Rik Van Looy (Dutch: Grote Prijs Rik Van Looy) is a men's cycle race held between

Westerlo Westerlo () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises seven towns: * Westerlo centrum * * Tongerlo * Heultje * Voortkapel * Oosterwijk * In 2021, Westerlo had a total population of 25,288. Th ...

and

Herentals Herentals () is a municipality and city in the province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the city of Herentals proper and the towns of Morkhoven and Noorderwijk. In 2022, Herentals had a total population of 28,455. The total area is . Saint ...

, in the

province of Antwerp Antwerp Province (; ; ; ), between 1815 and 1830 known as Central Brabant ( , , ), is the northernmost province both of the Flemish Region, also called Flanders, and of Belgium. It borders on the North Brabant province of the Netherlands to the ...

, Belgium. It is organized in tribute to the

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

cycling champion

Rik Van Looy Henri "Rik" Van Looy (20 December 1933 – 17 December 2024) was a Belgian professional Cycle sport, cyclist of the post-World War II, war period. Nicknamed the ''King of the Classics'' or ''Emperor of Herentals'' (after the small Belgian city ...

, born in 1933 and nicknamed the ''Emperor of Herentals''. Its first edition took place in 2018 and was reserved for riders under 23 years old. Since 2022, it has been run by professionals and is part of the

UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale The Union Cycliste Internationale (; UCI; ) is the world governing body for sports cycling and ove ...

, in category 1.2. In 2023, the starting place was changed from

Grobbendonk Grobbendonk () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp (). The municipality comprises the towns of Bouwel and Grobbendonk proper. In 2021, Grobbendonk had a total population of 11,249. The total area is 28.36 km2. The ...

(Van Looy's birth place) to Westerlo and the race distance was 176.8 km. The finish is on the Grote Markt (Grand Place) in

, close to the statue of Van Looy. Rik Van Looy himself always gave the starting signal for the race until 2024. He died about three months after that edition.

Winners

References

{{Reflist Cycle races in Belgium 2018 establishments in Belgium Recurring sporting events established in 2018 Annual sporting events in Belgium Sport in Flanders Sport in Antwerp