# Lucien Van Impe

Lucien Van Impe (Flemish pronunciation:; born 20 October 1946) is a former 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 classification 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 classification 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 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 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.
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.

## Major results
### Road
#### 1966

    5th Flèche Ardennaise

#### 1968

    Tour de l'Avenir
       1st Mountains classification
       1st Stage 8

#### 1969

    1st Overall Vuelta a Navarra Amateurs
    3rd Circuit des Frontières

#### 1970

    1st Mountains classification, Grand Prix du Midi Libre
    2nd Manx Trophy
    6th Overall Tour de France
    7th Overall Tour de Romandie
    9th Overall Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme
    10th Liège–Bastogne–Liège

#### 1971

    1st Mountains classification, Tour de Romandie
    3rd Overall Tour de France
       1st Mountains classification
    5th Overall GP du Midi Libre
    7th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
    9th Overall Tour de Luxembourg
       1st Mountains classification
    9th Rund um den Henninger Turm
    10th Overall Étoile des Espoirs

#### 1972

    2nd Overall Tour de Romandie
       1st Points classification
    3rd Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
    4th Overall Tour de France
       1st Mountains classification
       1st Stage 12
    5th Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre
    6th Overall À travers Lausanne

#### 1973

    1st Stage 3 Grand Prix du Midi Libre
    2nd Overall Tour de Romandie
       1st Stage 3
    5th Overall Tour de France
       1st Stage 12b
       Held after Stages 7b & 8
    7th Trophée des Grimpeurs

#### 1974

    1st Mountains classification, Tour de Romandie
    7th GP du Tournaisis
    9th Paris–Camembert

#### 1975

    1st Overall Tour de l'Aude
       1st Stage 1 & 3
    2nd Grand Prix d'Isbergues
    3rd Overall Tour de France
       1st Mountains classification
       1st Stages 14 & 18 (ITT)
    5th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
       1st Mountains classification
    5th Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre
       1st Mountains classification
    5th Overall Escalada a Montjuïc
    6th Paris–Bourges
    6th Trophée des Grimpeurs
    7th Druivenkoers Overijse
    9th Road race, UCI World Championships

#### 1976

    1st Overall Tour de France
       1st Stage 14
       Held after Stages 10–12, 14–18b & 20
    1st Trophée des Grimpeurs
    1st Stage 2b Tour de l'Aude
    2nd Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre
       1st Stage 4b (ITT)
    5th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
       1st Mountains classification
    7th Overall Escalada a Montjuïc
    7th Nokere Koerse
    9th La Flèche Wallonne
    9th Circuit de l'Aulne

#### 1977

    2nd Overall Tour de Suisse
       1st Mountains classification
       1st Combination classification
       1st Stages 7 & 8
    3rd Overall Tour de France
       1st Mountains classification
       1st Stage 15b (ITT)
    3rd Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
       1st Mountains classification
       1st Stage 6
    6th Road race, National Road Championships
    6th Trophée des Grimpeurs
    8th Overall Tour de Romandie

#### 1978

    9th Overall Tour de France

#### 1979

    1st Stage 16 Tour de France
    5th Overall Vuelta a España
       1st Stage 15
    6th Overall Volta a Catalunya
       1st Stage 7a (ITT)
    6th Overall Tour of Belgium
    6th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    7th Tour de Wallonie
    8th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
    8th Amstel Gold Race

#### 1980

    4th Overall Tour de Suisse
       1st Mountains classification
    8th De Kustpijl

#### 1981

    1st Polynormande
    2nd Overall Tour de France
       1st Mountains classification
       1st Stage 5
    5th Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde
    9th GP Stad Vilvoorde

#### 1982

    3rd Overall Tour of Sweden
    4th Overall Giro d'Italia
       1st Mountains classification
    5th Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato
    6th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx
    10th Druivenkoers Overijse

#### 1983

    1st Road race, National Road Championships
    1st Heusden Koers
    4th Overall Tour de France
       1st Mountains classification
       1st Stage 19 (ITT)
    8th Giro dell'Appennino
    9th Overall Giro d'Italia
       1st Mountains classification
       1st Stage 11
    10th GP Montelupo

#### 1984

    6th Nationale Sluitingsprijs
    7th Overall Giro d'Italia

#### 1985

    5th Grote 1-MeiPrijs
    10th Giro dell'Appennino

#### 1986

    1st Overall Vuelta a los Valles Mineros
       1st Stage 1
    8th Overall Vuelta a Asturias

#### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| Grand Tour | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 |
| Vuelta a España | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 5 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 11 |
| Giro d'Italia | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 4 | 9 | 7 | 13 | — |
| Tour de France | 12 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 11 | 16 | 2 | — | 4 | — | 27 | — |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |

### Criteriums
#### 1973

    1st Plogastel Saint-Germain

#### 1974

    1st Outer
    1st Lalaing

#### 1975

    1st GP Erpe-Mere
    1st Ottignies
    1st Lannion
    1st Lescoet-Jugon
    1st Kitzbuehl

#### 1976

    1st Creusot
    1st Plancoët
    1st Brette-les-Pins

#### 1977

    1st Trophée des Cimes
    1st Aalst
    1st Dunières
    1st Pleaux

#### 1978

    1st Lamaul-Guimileau
    1st Geraardsbergen

#### 1979

    1st Assenede
    1st Mende
    1st Pampelune

#### 1980

    1st Tirlemont

#### 1981

    1st Moerbeke
    1st Aalst
    1st Saint-Martin de Landelles

#### 1982

    1st San Crocce sull'Arno
    1st Kalmthout

#### 1983

    1st GP Erpe-Mere
    1st Ronse

#### 1984

    1st Visp - Grächen
    1st Buggenhout

#### 1987

    1st Mere

### Honours and awards

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