A1. The Tour of Flanders is the only exception. Greg Lemond (1986) and Fred Rodriguez (2002) both earned second in Milan San Remo. George Hincapie was second at Paris-Roubaix (2005) and Tyler Hamilton “won” Liège (2003-now removed due to doping admission) with Lemond also claiming third there (1984). Flanders is the lone exception with the best American result being Hincapie’s fourth in 2002.
A2. The first was Evelyn Stevens at the 2012 Flèche Wallonne in Belgium, followed by Lauren Hall in Ghent Wevelgem in 2014, and Coryn Rivera won the Tour of Flanders in 2017.
A3. Who else but Irishman Sean Kelly! He did it back in 1984 and excepting MVDP and his father Adri, very few have even attempted it!
A4. Rik Van Looy, the man the Belgians called “The Emperor” and the rider who gave young Eddy Merckx a very hard time when he came onto the scene…perhaps knowing all his records would be broken! Van Looy won eleven spring classics: Milan San Remo (1x), Tour of Flanders (2x), Roubaix (3x), Liège (1x), Flèche (1x), and Ghent (3x). He never won Amstel but in fairness it only began in 1966 midway through his career. When you see the numbers of the second best, it becomes abundantly clear why Merckx is the undisputed greatest cyclist of all time…
A5. Dutch cyclist Anna van der Breggen has won eleven! Tour of Flanders (1), Flèche Wallonne-the longest running women’s classic (7!), Liège (2), and Amstel (1). Close behind, not surprisingly is Marianne Vos with nine.
