The Monuments

For a general classification rider, the major stage races are the climax of their career. The order is fixed. The Tour de France is at the top. Next comes the Giro d’Italia, and in third place is the Vuelta. All other multi-day races, no matter how attractive they may be, are rated lower.

For the classics riders, there is a similar classification. Five major one-day races stand out. They are called the five Monuments and owe their categorization mainly to their age.

In chronological order of the cycling season, they are:

Milan-Sanremo. Always held on or around March 19, the feast day of Saint Joseph. Nickname: La Primavera (the Spring). First edition: 1907. Distance (depending on the route): approximately 290 kilometers;

Tour of Flanders. Race date: first Sunday of April. Nickname: Flanders’ Finest or The High Mass. First edition: 1913. Distance: approximately 265 kilometers;

Paris-Roubaix. Race date: second Sunday of April. Nickname: Hell of the North or Hell of the Classics. First edition: 1896. Distance approximately 260 kilometers;

Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Race date: last Sunday of April. Nickname: La Doyenne. First edition: 1892. Distance approximately 260 kilometers;

Tour of Lombardy. Race date: second Sunday in October. Nickname: the Race of the Falling Leaves. First edition: 1905. Distance approximately 240 kilometers

There are only three riders in cycling history who have won all the Monuments at least once. Above all and everyone stands Eddy Merckx, who achieved a total of 19 victories in the various Monuments, including seven (!) wins in Milan-Sanremo. The other two riders who have all the Monuments to their name are also Belgians: Rik Van Looy and Roger De Vlaeminck.

Among the Dutch riders, national classic king Jan Raas comes closest to that select group, but Hennie Kuiper is even closer. Raas lacks victories in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and in the Tour of Lombardy on his palmares. For Hennie Kuiper, only La Doyenne is missing, although he came close with a second place in 1980. Four out of the five Monuments adorn his impressive list of achievements.

Apart from Kuiper, there are five more riders who have won four out of the five Monuments. Irishman Sean Kelly has won all Monuments more than once. Only the Tour of Flanders is missing from his list. Kelly finished second in Flanders’ Finest three times: in 1984, 1986, and 1987. Frenchman Louison Bobet, like Hennie, is missing Liège-Bastogne-Liège in his series. Belgians Germain Derijcke and Fred De Bruyne do not have the Tour of Lombardy on their list, although De Bruyne came close with a second place in 1955. Belgian Philippe Gilbert, a two-time winner of the Tour of Lombardy, has only been missing Milan-Sanremo since 2019 (victory in Paris-Roubaix). He has finished third in Milan-Sanremo twice: in 2008 and 2011.

The Monuments in cycling provide epic images. But also during the 5th stage of the 1980 Tour, from Liège to Lille, it is slippery and slippery as they pass over the cobblestone sections of Paris-Roubaix. Hennie in the lead with Ludo Delcroix in his wheel and behind Bernhard Hinault who would eventually win the stage ahead of Hennie.

The Hell Ride through the North culminates in ultimate glory for Hennie Kuiper in 1983. Clattering, he takes on the rain-soaked and therefore extremely slippery cobblestones in the Forest of Wallers