Cycling Monuments

Cycling's definition of a Classic is: “A single day race of the highest standard with lasting significance.” Of these races 5 are known as the “Monuments”:

Milan–San Remo - "the Spring classic" ("la classica di Primavera") – the first true Classic of the year is held in late March. It is the longest professional one-day race at 298 km. First edition 1907. 

The Tour of Flanders - Ronde van Vlaanderen is held in Belgium every spring, a week before the Paris–Roubaix. First edition 1913. Some comments (from: Wikipedia) about the race:

• "I told the organisers it wasn't a race but a war game. It's hard to explain what the Koppenberg means to a racing cyclist. Instead of being a race, it's a lottery. Only the first five or six riders have any chance: the rest fall off or scramble up as best they can. What on earth have we done to send us to hell now?" - Bernard Hinault

• "As a Belgian, winning Flanders for the first time is far more important than wearing the maillot jaune in the Tour" - Johan Museeuw.

Paris–Roubaix, also known as the Hell of the North, a Sunday in Hell, the Queen of the Classics or la Pascale: the Easter race. First edition 1896. 

Liège–Bastogne–Liège, often called La Doyenne ("the oldest"), was first held in 1892 as an amateur event; a professional edition following in 1894.

Giro di Lombardia  – “the classic of the dead (falling) leaves" (la classica delle foglie morte) is traditionally held in October. However, in 2012, it will held in late September. Initially called the Milano–Milano in 1905, it became the Giro di Lombardia in 1907.

Many riders dream on winning all five monuments. One of these riders is Cancellara:

"My dream is five monuments and I have three now. There aren’t so many riders in the peloton that have three. My motivation is always geared towards more than one race. Okay, now I have [Flanders], but in the next few years, it's possible I'm going to work on other ones,” Cancellara said two yars ago for Cyclingnews.

Only three riders have won all five 'Monuments' during their careers: Roger De Vlaeminck, Rik Van Looy and Eddy Merckx. All are Belgians!

Sean Kelly almost joined this group. He had victories in all the other Monuments, but Tour of Flanders. He finished second in the Flanders on three occasions (1984, 1986 and 1987). Dutch rider Hennie Kuiper won each Monument, except Liège–Bastogne–Liège in which he finished second in 1980. In addition, Belgian rider Fred De Bruyne also came close to “Big Five”, finishing second in the Giro di Lombardia in 1955 and winning the other four races during his career.

 

Cyclists who won more than two 'Monuments'

Cyclist	Nationality	First win	Latest win	M–S	ToF	P–R	L–B–L	GdL	Total
Eddy Merckx	Belgium	1966	1976	7	2	3	5	2	19
Roger De Vlaeminck	Belgium	1970	1979	3	1	4	1	2	11
Costante Girardengo	Italy	1918	1928	6				3	9
Fausto Coppi	Italy	1946	1954	3		1		5	9
Sean Kelly	Ireland	1983	1992	2		2	2	3	9
Rik Van Looy	Belgium	1958	1965	1	2	3	1	1	8
Gino Bartali	Italy	1939	1950	4				3	7
Tom Boonen	Belgium	2005	2012		3	4			7