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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
- Mountain classification Tour de France
1972
- Stage in Tour de France
- Mountain classification Tour de France
1973
1975
- 2 stages in Tour de France
- Mountain classification Tour de France
1976
- Tour de France
- Stage in Tour de France
1977
- Stage in Tour de France
- Mountain classification Tour de France
1979
1981
- Stage in Tour de France
- Mountain classification Tour de France
1982
- Mountain classification Giro d'Italia
1983
- Stage in Giro d'Italia
- Mountain classification Giro d'Italia
- Belgian championship on the road
- Stage in Tour de France
- Mountain classification Tour de France
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