Items24The creator’s order
  1. 1Rik Van LooyRik Van LooyBorn 20 Dec 1933The first rider to win all five monuments, Van Looy won Paris-Roubaix three times and Flanders twice in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a sprinter strong enough to survive the cobbles, and his "red guard" of team-mates riding the front for him set the template for how teams still control a classic.0i
  2. 2Eddy MerckxEddy MerckxBorn 17 Jun 1945Merckx won 19 monuments, including seven Milan-San Remos and five Liège-Bastogne-Lièges, alongside three Roubaix and two Flanders titles. No one else has won so often on such different terrain, from the flat run-in to San Remo to the long Ardennes climbs, and the sheer range is the point: he could…0i
  3. 3Roger De VlaeminckRoger De VlaeminckBorn 24 Aug 1947"Monsieur Paris-Roubaix" won the race four times in the 1970s and also won all five monuments. A former cyclo-cross world champion, he rode the pavé with a lightness that kept him upright when others crashed, and his career is the best evidence that bike handling matters as much as power on the…0i
  4. 4Sean Kelly (cyclist)Sean Kelly (cyclist)Born 24 May 1956The Irishman won nine monuments in the 1980s and early 1990s: two Milan-San Remos, two Roubaix, two Liège and three Lombardias, missing only Flanders, where he was second three times. Kelly thrived in cold, wet races that broke others, and his descent of the Poggio to win San Remo in 1992 is still…0i
  5. 5Moreno ArgentinMoreno ArgentinBorn 17 Dec 1960Argentin won Liège-Bastogne-Liège four times and Flèche Wallonne three times, the purest Ardennes record of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and added the 1990 Tour of Flanders. He shows how a punchy climber with a sprint could win on both the short Ardennes walls and the cobbled bergs.0i
  6. 6Johan MuseeuwJohan MuseeuwBorn 13 Oct 1965"The Lion of Flanders" won the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix three times each in the 1990s and early 2000s. His 2002 Roubaix, won alone in mud after recovering from a gangrene scare caused by a crash in the Arenberg Forest, shows the specific toll the cobbles take. He later admitted to doping…0i
  7. 7Erik ZabelErik ZabelBorn 7 Jul 1970Zabel won Milan-San Remo four times between 1997 and 2001, the specialist sprinter's answer to the classics. His wins show what San Remo really is: 290 km of patience, then holding the wheel over the Cipressa and Poggio for a flat finish on the Via Roma. He also later admitted to doping in that…0i
  8. 8Paolo BettiniPaolo BettiniBorn 1 Apr 1974"Il Grillo", the cricket, won Liège twice, Milan-San Remo in 2003 and Lombardia twice, plus Olympic and world road titles. Small and explosive, he won by jumping clear on short climbs and holding on, which made him the model one-day rider for hilly courses in the 2000s.0i
  9. 9Tom BoonenTom BoonenBorn 15 Oct 1980Boonen won Paris-Roubaix four times and Flanders three times between 2005 and 2012, equalling the cobbled records. A big rider who could sprint, he won either by surviving the cobbles with the leaders or, in his 2012 Roubaix, by riding away alone with over 50 km left. The clearest modern case for…0i
  10. 10Fabian CancellaraFabian CancellaraBorn 18 Mar 1981Cancellara won Flanders and Roubaix three times each plus Milan-San Remo in 2008, using the steady power of a time-trial world champion. His style was the long solo: open a gap on a cobbled sector and ride the rest as a time trial, a tactic that only works when the legs and the terrain align.0i