Cycling is a very popular sport in Belgium. It is governed by the
Royal Belgian Cycling League, which is split between the Dutch-speaking WBV and the French-speaking FCWB. Many Belgian cyclists have been successful, and some of the greatest cycle races take place in Belgium, especially in road bicycle racing, though other bicycle racing disciplines such as
mountain bike racing or
track cycling also count a number of Belgian champions and races. The best Belgian cyclist of all time,
Eddy Merckx, nicknamed the Cannibal, won the
Tour de France and
Giro d'Italia 5 times each, won the
Vuelta a España once, the
UCI Road World Championship 3 times, had many
classic cycle race wins and set the
hour record, among other achievements. Belgium has been one of the most successful countries in road cycling since the origins of the sport, with one of the oldest races being held in Belgium,
Liège–Bastogne–Liège, which was first held in 1892. At the Olympic Games, Belgium has won four gold medals for road cycling, with two victories for the Belgian men's team in the team time trial (at the
1948 and
1952 Summer Olympics) and two for
André Noyelle and
Greg Van Avermaet for the individual race. Belgium has had the most World Championship gold medals (25) with 3 victories by
Rik Van Steenbergen and Eddy Merckx and 2 by
Georges Ronsse,
Briek Schotte,
Rik Van Looy and
Freddy Maertens. Belgian cyclists have also performed very well in the 3
grand tours. Ten cyclists have won the Tour de France 18 times between them, making of Belgium the country with the most Tour de France wins behind France. Besides Eddy Merckx,
Philippe Thys won the most prestigious tour 3 times while
Firmin Lambot and
Sylvère Maes won it twice. The last Belgian winner at the Tour de France however was
Lucien Van Impe in
1976. At the Giro d'Italia, Belgium has had 7 wins, being the second most successful country in terms of wins after Italy.
Michel Pollentier and
Johan De Muynck (the most recent Belgian to win the Giro in 1978) are with Eddy Merckx the 3 Belgian winners of this tour. Belgium also has had 7 wins at the Vuelta a España, with 2 wins by
Gustaaf Deloor, the first winner of the race in
1935 and
1936. The last Belgian winner of the Spanish tour was
Remco Evenepoel in 2022. Many Belgian cyclists have won one of the five
monument cycle races. At the
Tour of Flanders, Belgium counts 68 wins in 96 editions with 3 wins for
Achiel Buysse,
Eric Leman,
Johan Museeuw and
Tom Boonen.
Roger De Vlaeminck holds the record of wins at
Paris–Roubaix together with Tom Boonen (4), and Belgium is the most successful country in this race with 55 wins in 110 editions.
Liège–Bastogne–Liège has been won 59 times out of 98 by Belgian cyclists. Eddy Merckx holds the record of the most individual wins (5). At the
Giro di Lombardia, Belgium counts 12 titles in 105 editions, with only Italy performing better.
Milan–San Remo was won 7 times by Eddy Merckx, who holds the record of the most wins, and Belgium has won 20 times out of 103, being the second most successful country after Italy in this race. Unlike the grand tours, which have not been won by a Belgian since 1978, cyclists from Belgium are still successful in the monument races. At Paris–Roubaix, Tom Boonen has won 4 times and Johan Museeuw 3 times since 1996, and
Peter Van Petegem and
Johan Van Summeren have also won the race once each. At the Tour of Flanders, Belgium has 12 wins since 1993, with 3 by Johan Museeuw and Tom Boonen, 2 by Peter Van Petegem and
Stijn Devolder and 1 by
Andreï Tchmil and
Nick Nuyens. In the other 3 monuments, Belgians has been less successful recently, with Andreï Tchmil being the only Belgian winner of Milan–San Remo (in 1999) since
Fons De Wolf in 1981.
Philippe Gilbert has been the only Belgian winner of the Giro di Lombardia since Fons De Wolf in 1980, with wins in 2009 and 2010 and only 4 Belgians have won Liège–Bastogne–Liège since
Joseph Bruyère in 1978:
Eric Van Lancker in 1990,
Dirk De Wolf in 1992,
Frank Vandenbroucke in 1999 and Philippe Gilbert in 2011. Among the best-known road races in Belgium are two out of the five monuments of cycling: the Tour of Flanders and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Other classic one day races in Belgium include
La Flèche Wallonne,
E3 Harelbeke and
Gent–Wevelgem, all part of the
UCI World Tour, as well as
Paris–Brussels,
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad,
Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne,
Grand Prix de Wallonie and
Dwars door Vlaanderen. The best-known stage-races in Belgium are the
Tour of Benelux, created in 2005, the
Tour of Belgium and the
Tour of Wallonie. Belgium has currently two professional cycling teams competing in the
UCI ProTour:
Etixx–Quick-Step and
Lotto–Soudal. In
mountain biking,
Filip Meirhaeghe won the
2002 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup and the 2003
UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships and was a silver medalist at the
2000 Summer Olympics. In
mountain bike trials,
Kenny Belaey has won the 26-inch wheel trial World Cup in 2002, 2005 and 2006. In
cyclo-cross, Belgian competitors have gained 25 gold medals at the
UCI Cyclo-cross Men World Championships since 1950 and 54 medals overall, making it the best country in cyclo-cross, ahead of France with 10 golds out of 34 medals.
Erik De Vlaeminck has the most world titles in cyclo-cross with 7 World Cup wins between 1966 and 1973. Other multiple Belgian world champions are
Roland Liboton (4 titles),
Mario De Clercq (3),
Wout van Aert (3),
Erwin Vervecken (3),
Sven Nys (2), and
Bart Wellens (2). In
track cycling,
Matthew Gilmore and
Etienne De Wilde won the gold medal in the Men's Madison event at the
1998 UCI Track Cycling World Championships and the silver medal in the Men's Madison at the
2000 Summer Olympics.
Roger Ilegems won the gold medal of the Men's points race at the
1984 Summer Olympics while
Patrick Sercu held several world records and won the gold medal of the Men's 1 km time trial at the
1964 Summer Olympics. ==Field hockey==