Happy Birthday ‘Mr Paris-Roubaix’  – born 24.08.1947

Paris Roubaix winner – 1972, ’74, ’75, ’77
Milan-San Remo winner – 1973, ’78, ’79
Giro di Lombardia winner – 1974, ’76
Ronde van Vlaanderen winner – 1977
Liege-Bastogne-Liege winner – 1970
Tirreno-Adriatico winner – 1972, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76, ’77

Resplendent in his eye-catching Brooklyn team jersey, with trademark sideburns and position, de Vlaeminck was always a magnet of attention in the peloton. The younger of of two de Vlaemincks who would dominate the Belgian cyclocross scene throughout the Seventies, Roger was also the best Classics rider of his generation. Despite being pitted against the might of Merckx for much of his career, ‘The Gypsy’ carved out a remarkable palmares, becoming one of only three riders to have won all five ‘Monuments” (de Vlaeminck’s countrymen Merckx and  Rik Van Looy are the others). His unique riding style,  with hands curved inwards over the low brake hoods, and elbows almost below his knees, was highly unusual for the day and his bike handling skills – honed over many winter cyclocross seasons – were exemplary. The cobbled classics of the Spring were his forte and his four wins at Paris-Roubaix will be his eternal legacy, even if Tom Boonen goes on to win one more to take the record outright. His third place in the 1976 edition, captured in Jorgen Leth’s “A Sunday in Hell” shows him in fine attacking form but (like Cancellara and Sagan in years to come) perhaps overconfident of his own powers in the final attacks.