The Classic cycle races are the most prestigious one-day professional cycling road races in Europe. Most of the events have been fixtures on the professional calendar for decades and are normally held at roughly the same time each year. The five most revered races are sometimes described as the 'Monuments'.

From 2005, the Classics have formed part of the UCI ProTour run by the Union Cycliste Internationale. This competition also incorporates various stage races including the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a España, Paris-Nice and the Critérium de Dauphiné Libéré, and various non-Classic single day events. The ProTour replaced the UCI World Cup series which contained only one-day races.

The 'Monuments'

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• Milan-Sanremo () – the first true Classic of the year, hence its Italian name, La Primavera (the spring), this race is normally held in late March. First run in 1907.
• Tour of Flanders () – The Ronde van Vlaanderen, the first of the 'Spring Classics', is normally raced in early April. First held in 1913.
• Paris-Roubaix () – the "Queen of the Classics" or l'Enfer du Nord ("Hell of the North") is traditionally one week after the Tour of Flanders, and was first raced in 1896
• Liège-Bastogne-Liège () – late April. La Doyenne, the oldest Classic, was first held in 1892 as an amateur event; a professional edition following in 1894.
• Tour of Lombardy () – the Giro di Lombardia, also known as the "Race of the Falling Leaves", is normally held in October. Initially called the Milan-Milan in 1905, it became the Tour of Lombardy in 1907.

Only three riders, all Belgians, have won all five “Monument” one-day races during their careers: Roger De Vlaeminck, Rik Van Looy and Eddy Merckx.

Year	Milan-Sanremo	Tour of Flanders	Paris-Roubaix	Liège-Bastogne-Liège	Giro di Lombardia
2006	Filippo Pozzato	Tom Boonen	Fabian Cancellara	Alejandro Valverde
2005	Alessandro Petacchi	Tom Boonen	Tom Boonen	Alexander Vinokourov	Paolo Bettini
2004	Oscar Freire	Steffen Wesemann	Magnus Backstedt	Davide Rebellin	Damiano Cunego
2003	Paolo Bettini	Peter Van Petegem	Peter Van Petegem	Tyler Hamilton	Michele Bartoli
2002	Mario Cipollini	Andrea Tafi	Johan Museeuw	Paolo Bettini	Michele Bartoli
2001	Erik Zabel	Gianluca Bortolami	Servais Knaven	Oscar Camenzind	Danilo Di Luca
2000	Erik Zabel	Andrei Tchmil	Johan Museeuw	Paolo Bettini	Raimondas Rumsas
1999	Andrei Tchmil	Peter Van Petegem	Andrea Tafi	Frank Vandenbroucke	Mirco Celestino
1998	Erik Zabel	Johan Museeuw	Franco Ballerini	Michele Bartoli	Oscar Camenzind
1997	Erik Zabel	Rolf Sørensen	Frederic Guesdon	Michele Bartoli	Laurent Jalabert
1996	Gabriele Colombo	Michele Bartoli	Johan Museeuw	Pascal Richard	Andrea Tafi
1995	Laurent Jalabert	Johan Museeuw	Franco Ballerini	Mauro Gianetti	Gianni Faresin
1994	Giorgio Furlan	Gianni Bugno	Andrei Tchmil	Evgeni Berzin	Viatcheslav Bobrik
1993	Maurizio Fondriest	Johan Museeuw	Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle	Rolf Sørensen	Pascal Richard
1992	Sean Kelly	Jacky Durand	Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle	Dirk de Wolf	Tony Rominger
1991	Claudio Chiappucci	Edwig van Hooydonck	Marc Madiot	Moreno Argentin	Sean Kelly
1990	Gianni Bugno	Moreno Argentin	Eddy Plankaert	Eric van Lancker	Gilles Delion

Other Classics

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Other European professional events commonly regarded as Classics include:

• Omloop "Het Volk" () – normally held in early March
• Gent-Wevelgem () – normally held mid-week between the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix
• Amstel Gold Race () – normally held mid-April. First run in 1966
• La Flèche Wallonne () – The Walloon Arrow is traditionally held mid-week between the Amstel Gold and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. First run in 1936.
• Rund um den Henninger Turm ()
• Clásica de San Sebastian ()
• Züri Metzgete ()
• Paris-Brussels (/)
• Paris-Tours ()

Some past Classics are no longer run. These include the gruelling 560km, partly motor-paced event, Bordeaux-Paris, run from 1891 to 1988.

See also

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List of important cycling events

UCI ProTour | Classic cycle races

Radklassiker | Classiche | Wielerklassieker | Klasyk (kolarstwo)