Paris–Roubaix —a Belgian affair (I/V)

April 5 ^th 2022 - 12:00

Gaston Rebry, the bulldog (I/V)

Black, yellow and red. Belgium's national colours shine brighter than any other on the honour roll of Paris–Roubaix, with 57 victories in 118 editions, courtesy of 41 different cyclists who rode across the border and to glory on the cobblestones of northern France.  

At a time when national champion Wout van Aert is tipped as a hot favourite, just a few months after rising star Florian Vermeersch stormed to a sensational podium finish in his debut in the Queen of Classics, much in the same vein as Tom Boonen, who took his last triumph here ten years ago, paris-roubaix.fr is looking back on the Roubaix careers of five great Belgian winners.

Back in the 1930s, Gaston Rebry became the first Belgian three-time winner of the race, following in the slipstream of Frenchman Octave Lapize, who had scored a treble prior to World War I, before the Belgian ascendancy. Rebry's podium finish in his debut in 1926, at the tender age of 21, heralded the rise of a true Roubaix specialist. He also won Paris–Nice in 1934 and went toe to toe with the stars of the Tour on several occasions.