Lucien Van Impe

Lucien Van Impe (born 1946) is a former Belgian cyclist who competed professionally between 1969 and 1987 and excelled mainly as a climber in multiple-day races such as the Tour de France. He won the 1976 Tour de France and was six times winner of its mountains classification, the first in 1971, a record at the time shared with Bahamontes. He was King of the Mountains at the Tour de l'Avenir in 1968 and began his professional career in 1969 with a 12th place in the Tour de France. When Richard Virenque broke the record with a seventh mountains victory in 2004, Van Impe criticised him as opportunistic rather than the best climber.