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Lucien Van Impe (born 20 October 1946 in Mere, Belgium) was a Flemish cyclist from 1969 to 1987. He excelled mainly in multiple-day races such as the Tour de France: he started 15 times and reached the finish in Paris every time, and won in 1976. He was above all a famed climber, the best of his generation and one of the best in history. He won the polka dot jersey for best climber six times in the Tour, a record shared with Frederico Bahamontes and Richard Virenque before being broken by Virenque in 2004. In 1976 he duelled several times with Joop Zoetemelk in the mountains. On Alpe d'Huez the latter won, but in the Pyrenees Van Impe secured his victory. In 1977 he started as one of the favorites in the Tour, but failed to take a lead in the mountain stages. He waited until the very last mountain stage, to Alpe d'Huez, but forgot to eat timely, causing him to lose his lead. After 3 lesser years, seemingly over his height, Van Impe made a strong comeback in 1981 with a second place in the final classification and a first place in the mountain classification. Afterwards he still won the mountain classification in the Giro d'Italia twice. Single-day races were not his specialty, therefore it was a surprise that he won the Belgian road cycling championship in 1983. Most important successes as professional cyclist: 1971
1972
1973
1975
1976
1977
1979
1981
1982
1983
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