Rik III — John Eustice

Wout van Aert has just won two of the most important single-day races in the world in such commanding fashion that the moniker “Classics King” is already becoming a comfortably fit. The Belgian, who’s enjoying an explosive return to cycling after his 2019 Tour de France was cut short due to a bizarre accident involving a…barricade…while his way to what was going to be a third stage win in his first-ever participation in la Grande Boucle, is endowed with so many exciting racing qualities that he brings to my mind two of the most important Belgian racers in history: Rik I and Rik II.

Rik Van Steenbergen (Rik I) a man who lived through the horrors of occupied Belgium during the Second World War, was a great character and racer. The original “Pot Hunter” (a term we used to use on the US circuit for racers who chased the biggest prize lists – helllloooo Bobby Phillips!), the Antwerp native travelled relentlessly across Europe and even Africa – he won a race in the Congo once – scooping up appearance fees wherever and whenever he could. His sole motivation in winning the famous races was to increase those appearance fees: he would only undertake serious training for them when he sensed that his market value was dropping. Van Steenbergen would augment his winnings during overnight train rides between racing gigs by hustling pick up card games – the man loved to gamble and make money in any way he could.

Orson Welles as Harry Lime in The Third Man

The 180-pounder was blessed with a natural “souplesse”, or light, fast and efficient pedal action, that added to his versatility. He was a three-time World Pro Road Champ, won the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix twice each and, like van Aert, had a Milano-Sanremo in the pocket. He was even second in the 1951 Giro on top of 40 Six-Day track race wins. Van Steenbergen could do it all.

His post-career was less stellar, think Harry Lime in The Third Man. Back alley shootouts, drug deals, semi-porn films and a jail term defined it until a providential marriage to an English woman straightened him back out.

Rik Van Looy (Rik II) overlapped with Rik I before grabbing his mantel and forging his own, incredible career. He was as versatile as Rik I, raced strictly for his bank account in the same manner and, like his predecessor, was an important innovator of the sport. Van Looy invented the lead-out train (not Mario Cipollini) known as the Red Guard, began the practice of going to Italy for early season training and adopting Italian equipment such as Masi, Campagnolo and Gianni Vittorio clothing. Rik II is the only racer in history to have won every Classic race - even Eddy Merckx never could do that - and like Rik I, was completely versatile, able to win World Championships (2), Classics, Six-Day races and 37 stages and four Points Jerseys in the Grand Tours. Unlike Rik I, Van Looy loved big gears, using 54 x 13, considered huge for the day, for his powerful, from-the-front sprint wins.

He was a cruel man. At the 1963 Pro Road World’s a mix-up in the final sprint – contested and argued to this day in Belgian cafes – his teammate Benoni Beheyt somehow ended up first on the line, his hand on Van Looy’s hip. Fending off a hook? Pulling Van Looy back to win? The arguments will never cease. What was certain was that Van Looy spent the rest of his career trying to ruin Beheyt’s in every way possible. He wasn’t much better with a young Eddy Merckx who turned pro for Van Looy’s Solo Superia team. Taunting him with nicknames such as “Jack Palance” (1960’s moviestar who Eddy does indeed resemble) or Eddy “Sterckx” (Strong) Van Looy did everything he could to stifle the rising young superstar – which would be like trying to block Remco Evenepol: it couldn’t and didn’t last long as that kind of talent is unstoppable. The “Emperor of Herentals”, the Antwerp region town from where he hails and still lives, as does Wout van Aert (in case you are wondering how this is all going to come together), breeding horses and staying fit. It would be interesting to know if the famously reclusive Van Looy has had any contact with van Aert, any shared pearls of wisdom to his hometown successor? Doubtful.

Wout van Aert, while not formally named Rik, is in fact such a Rik. Powerful and fast, yet as we saw at Strade Bianche and Milano Sanremo, able go uphill too. Like Rik I and II, van Aert, substituting Cyclocross for velodrome racing, can work all year round: unlike them, he flies in time trials. I felt that his performance on Poggio was extraordinary and a sign of many things to come. When the 135-pound Julian Alaphilippe exploded up that final climb, his astounding power-to-weight ratio on full display, the 35-pound heavier van Aert was just about able to match that fantastic uphill speed. That, my friends, is what we call a big motor under the hood. He descended even better that Alaphilippe, which is something hard to put one’s head around if you’ve ever seen the Frenchman in action, and miraculously, as they might hurry to say in the bicycle industry, on old-fashioned rim brakes that somehow got him through the hairpins of the Poggio on onto the Via Roma for the win.

Sadly for me, and others covering the sport, Wout van Aert seems a thoroughly decent man, lacking those fascinating character flaws that made Rik I and II such gold mines of content. We’ll have to focus on his legs and hope that his life and death rivalry with arch-nemesis (wait, perhaps there is hope) Mathieu van der Poel – who may be suffering a bit of a “sophomore slump” this year- will provide the needed color for the years to come.

I love the matchup between van Aert and Alaphillipe, that, as with van der Poel, will provide us entertainment for seasons to come. The Frenchman, who suffered six, count ‘em, six flat tires at the Strade Bianche, managed to puncture again at the second-worst time of the race, on the approach to the penultimate climb of the famed Cipressa. While certainly helped by the team cars and the one teammate sent back to fetch him after the wheel change, that effort, chasing down the peloton in full cry racing to the bottom of the climb, catching them there, then holding on over the full-speed climb, left a giant hole in his energy sources. The fact that he was able to recover, then make his now trademark attack on the final climb of the Poggio, and then in the sprint only lose to van Aert by a ½ wheel, illustrates just how remarkable Julian Alaphilippe is.

Wout van Aert has no idea of his limits, coming to the road as recently as he has. Is a Flèche Wallonne out of reach because of the steep final climb? What about Liége-Bastogne-Liége? What is certain is that he will provide us all with fantastic racing pleasure as we explore those limits right along with him. But for me, Rik III has finally arrived.