sentences:  Riders' performances in the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, Milan–San Remo, Paris–Roubaix, Tour of Flanders, La Flèche Wallonne, Paris–Brussels, Paris–Tours and the Giro di Lombardia counted towards the competition.The Tour de Suisse was added in 1949, Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 1951, the Vuelta a España in 1958.The first winner was Belgian Briek Schotte, who won the Tour of Flanders and also world road race championship of the 1948 season.