Remco Evenepoel had planned to participate in his first monument of cycling sport last April on the roads of Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The health crisis decided otherwise. It is finally on the roads of the Tour of Lombardy that the Belgian nugget will discover its very first monument. This Saturday, when it comes time to set off for Como, Remco will be a little over twenty and a half years old; 20 years and 197 days to be precise. At what age did the greatest champions in the history of cycling compete for their first monument and how old were they at their first success?
The following list is not exhaustive, it concerns the greatest champions in the history of cycling. As underlined by the table below which indicates the age and the result of these champions during their first participation in a monument, only Constant Girardengo (over a century ago!), Rik Van Steenbergen and Fausto Copp i (80 years ago), Bernard Hinault (45 years ago) and Giuseppe Saronni (two years later) were earlier than Remco Evenepoel.
|
Last name |
Age |
Place |
Course |
|
Giuseppe Saronni |
19 years + 163 days |
19e |
Milan-Sanremo 1977 |
|
Rik Van Steenbergen |
19 years + 207 days |
1 series |
Tour of Flanders 1944 |
|
Constant Girardengo |
19 years + 221 days |
9e |
Tower of Lombardy 1912 |
|
Bernard Hinault |
20 years + 125 days |
50e |
Milan-Sanremo 1975 |
|
Fausto Coppi |
20 years + 186 days |
10e |
Milan-Sanremo 1940 |
|
Remco Evenepoel |
20 years + 203 days |
? |
Tour of Lombardy 2020 |
|
Gino Bartali |
20 years + 8 months |
4e |
Milan-Sanremo 1935 |
|
Eddy Merckx |
20 years + 9 months |
1 series |
Milan-Sanremo 1966 |
|
Rik Van Looy |
21 years + 4 months |
11e |
Paris-Roubaix 1954 |
|
Tom Boonen |
21 years + 6 months |
3e |
Paris-Roubaix 2002 |
|
Roger De Vlaeminck |
21 years + 7 months |
2e |
Milan-Sanremo 1969 |
|
Philippe Gilbert |
21 years + 8 months |
14e |
Milan-Sanremo 2004 |
Felice Gimondi, Sean Kelly, Johan Museeuw, Fabian Cancellara and Alejandro Valverde were over 22 years old when they took part in their very first monument.
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If Remco Evenepoel wins the Tour of Lombardy on Saturday he will equal Rik Van Steenbergen and Eddy Merckx, both winners of the first monument in which they participated. He will do less well than Rik who was not yet twenty years old but better than the “cannibal” who was… 58 days older when he won for the first time on Via Roma in Sanremo.
Behind the Van Steenbergen-Merckx duo, three other great champions stand very close. Gino Bartali was 22 years and 3 months old when he triumphed in the Tour of Lombardy in 1936, Bernard Hinault was two months older when he won Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 1977 and Roger De Vlaeminck was 22 years and 8 months old when he won the Dean in 1970. That is for all three, two years older than Remco Evenepoel.
Rik Van Looy had to wait until his 24th birthday (and three months) to win his first monument, Milan-Sanremo in 1958 and Jacques Anquetil was over 32 years old when he listed his name on the list of his only monument, Liège-Bastogne-Liège 1966!
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