Lucien Van Impe won the Tour de France on 18 July 1976, becoming the 18th Belgian to claim overall victory and, half a century later, still the country’s most recent winner.
Born on 20 October 1946 in Mere, near Aalst in East Flanders, Van Impe quickly established himself as one of the finest climbers of his generation. By 1976, he had become one of the leading favourites for the Tour.
With Eddy Merckx absent, the battle for the yellow jersey was wide open. Van Impe faced strong competition from defending champion Bernard Thévenet of France, Dutch rider Joop Zoetemelk and the 40-year-old Raymond Poulidor.
Sprinter Freddy Maertens dominated the early stages, which passed through Belgium, but the general classification contenders came to the fore in stage nine, which finished on Alpe d’Huez. Van Impe was narrowly beaten to the line by Zoetemelk, but the Belgian still pulled on the yellow jersey, although he lost it again a few days later.
The decisive moment came in the queen stage. Following orders from team manager Cyrille Guimard, Van Impe attacked more than 70 kilometres from the finish, bridged across to the breakaway and then rode clear to win solo at Pla d’Adet.
That move gave the rider known as “the Little Man from Mere” a commanding advantage of three minutes and 18 seconds over Zoetemelk. At 29, Van Impe then held firm in the time trial and on the Puy-de-Dôme, leaving his overall victory beyond doubt.
Zoetemelk finished second, four minutes and 14 seconds behind, while Poulidor took third at 12 minutes and eight seconds.
Belgium then had to wait three decades for another Tour podium finish. Jurgen Van den Broeck was eventually classified third in 2010, and the next Belgian to finish in the top three was Remco Evenepoel, who came third in 2024.
