Button badge Roger - Belgian heros

Roger De Vlaeminck (born 1947)

Paris-Roubaix : 1972, 1974, 1975, 1977

Tirreno-Adriatico : 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977

Milan-San Remo : 1973, 1978, 1979

Liège-Bastogne-Liège : 1970

Flèche wallonne : 1971; Tour de Suisse : 1975

Tour de Lombardie : 1974, 1976

With four wins in the Hell of the North, Roger De Vlaeminck is the record owner on the Paris-Roubaix leader board. Some champions came close to it but so far no one matched this record. Roger de Vlaeminck’s childhood was a mix of poverty and life on the fringe of society. Nevertheless, the gipsy -his nickname- built himself a name among the most famous champions in the history of cycling. The gipsy was not afraid of Eddy Merckx and never hesitated to confront him. He was as arrogant as he was ambitious and had simply one goal: stopping Eddy Merckx’s reign. He ended-up beating Eddy three times in Roubaix ! Roger was not very popular in his country and eventually went to live in Italy were he won Tirreno-Adriatico six years in a row (another record).