Thought-about to be the best bike owner of all time, Eddy Merckx gained an estimated 525 races on the worldwide calendar in his 18-year skilled biking profession, together with 11 Grand Excursions, all 5 Monuments, three World Championships and a number of other victories on the observe.
Many individuals know him just by his nickname, ‘the cannibal’, for his ravenous need for victories. His conquests cowl all forms of terrain and race sorts, demonstrating his energy and stamina in not solely the variety of occasions however the high quality of victories.
Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx was born within the Flanders area of Belgium on June 17, 1945. He competed in a number of sports activities as a younger youngster, together with tennis and soccer, however most popular to journey his bicycle. He started racing as a teen and gained his first race on the age of 16. The subsequent yr he gained the nationwide newbie title within the highway race. Two years later, in 1964, he gained his first of two Belgian nationwide newbie observe titles within the Madison, using with Patrick Sercu, and represented Belgium on the Olympic Video games in highway biking.
He turned skilled throughout the 1965 season, profitable a handful of races with Solo-Superia. In 1966 he switched to the Peugeot-BP-Michelin crew and gained his first main one-day race, Milan-San Remo. Two years later, with Faema, he gained the Giro d’Italia for his first Grand Tour title. He would go on to win 4 extra Giros, in addition to the Tour de France 5 instances and the Vuelta a España as soon as.
The five-time Giro champion continues to carry the document for carrying the maglia rosa for 77 days. Within the stretch between 1970 and 1974, Merckx scored the Giro-Tour double 3 times and the Vuelta-Giro as soon as (in 1973 when he didn’t race the Tour), with 1974 marking a uncommon triple crown when he additionally gained the UCI Highway Worlds. He’s the one rider nonetheless at this time who has gained the Giro and Tour in the identical yr 3 times; Fausto Coppi, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Induráin have completed the feat twice.
Considered one of his prime profession achievements, 34 stage wins on the Tour de France, was surpassed in 2024 by British sprinter Mark Cavendish, who scored his thirty fifth profession stage win on the Tour. Whereas Cavendish amassed his stage wins throughout 10 editions of the French Grand Tour in dash finishes, Merckx collected his victories in six editions of the Tour in a wide range of challenges from climbing days to flat finishes and time trials.
Merckx gained his first Tour de France in his inaugural look in 1969, carrying the yellow jersey for an unbelievable 19 days. He would additionally end in Paris because the winner of the Factors classification, the King of the Mountains classification, a Mixture classification and in addition earn the general combativity prize. No different rider has ever swept the main classification prizes on supply in a single Tour. In complete, he has worn the maillot jaune 96 instances.
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One-day races and the observe
Additionally within the document books stays his conquests of the highest one-day races, considered one of a handful of riders to not solely win all 5 Monuments, however he’s the one one to have gained all of them at the least two instances – Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia. Of these 5 one-day races, he gained Milan-San Remo eight instances.
In an interview with Cyclingnews in 2005, Merckx stated the rationale he did so properly on the early-season Milan-San Remo was attributed to his winter racing on the observe – profitable Six Days of Ghent seven instances – and participation in winter sports activities.
“I did a number of six-days and solely rested for 2 to a few weeks. I’d go on trip to the mountains, however once I was there, I did cross-country snowboarding. So I used to be all the time busy,” Merckx recollected.
“As regards to weight, it’s tough in the event you put an excessive amount of on within the winter to be good at first of the season. That’s the reason I did so properly in Milan-San Remo as a result of I used to be racing within the winter. Possibly the opposite riders weren’t doing as a lot. I used to be racing on the observe and usually saved in form, so after 250 kilometres I may beat them.”
In 1972 he set the World Hour document on the Mexico Metropolis Velodrome, marking a distance of 49.431 kilometres. The Madison was his favorite observe occasion and throughout his profession, he gained six elite Belgian nationwide titles with Patrick Sercu, in addition to three European championships.
Profession reflection
He concluded his professional racing profession in 1978, however retirement was not in his vocabulary as he launched the Eddy Merckx bike model, with highway bikes obtainable by 1980. He additionally labored because the director of Belgium’s nationwide crew for 11 years, managed the Tour of Flanders and helped organise the Tour of Qatar, beginning the race as a co-owner in 2002.
One race Merckx by no means gained on the Olympic Video games. Throughout his biking profession, he was solely eligible to characterize Belgium one time, on the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Video games, as professionals weren’t allowed to compete. He completed twelfth within the highway race.
What was the perfect victory of his profession? He couldn’t level to only one race when he spoke to Cyclingnews, noting that his Hour Report was particular as a result of he beat Ole Ritter by 700 metres. However his first Grand Tour wins in France and Italy stood out probably the most. He stated his first Giro was “vital” for his profession, with profitable “the stage to Tres Cime di Lavaredo, that was the perfect stage that I did in my profession”.
“Ah, for positive, one is the 1969 Tour de France. That was the perfect one,” he stated.”It was additionally 30 years since a Belgian rider had gained the Tour de France. So it was a dream, a present. The yellow jersey was magic.”
One of many causes that the Tour win was so particular in 1969 was that it adopted one of many few darkish durations of the Belgian’s profession. His Peugeot-BP-Michelin teammate and good friend Tom Simpson died two years earlier than on the Tour whereas climbing Mont Ventoux. It was decided that his loss of life, dominated as warmth exhaustion, had been intensified by by amphetamines and alcohol detected in his system. The UCI then applied necessary doping controls for the subsequent yr.
After profitable the 1968 Giro, Merckx then was on kind within the maglia rosa via 15 phases however organisers introduced he had examined optimistic at an in-race anti-doping check, and he needed to withdraw although sustaining innocence. With biking followers and plenty of media shops suspicious of the check outcomes, which allowed an Italian rider to win the race, a division of the UCI held a gathering to evaluation the circumstances and reversed the choice to droop Merckx for 30 days, which might have saved him out of the Tour.
Nearly 80 and all about bikes
Merckx stated he by no means based mostly his season across the Tour de France, however simply tried to win as many races as doable. Occasions have modified because the Nineteen Sixties and Nineteen Seventies with how riders put together for particular races on the calendar, what forms of gear can be found and so many different components. Merckx stated it’s tough to check every era on the identical stage.
Nearing the age of 80 Merckx stays within the information. He was on the 2021 Tour de France to personally congratulate Mark Cavendish when he tied the mark for many Tour stage wins. Three years later, when Cavendish broke Merckx’s Tour de France stage win document, Merckx congratulated him on social media.
Earlier in 2024 the model that also bears his identify, Merckx, launched a brand new vary of highway and gravel bikes, the enterprise he began now collectively owned by Belgian producer Ridley’s holding firm.
On the age of 79 he nonetheless rode a motorcycle, however not as onerous or as typically. A fall when using his bicycle throughout a railway crossing in December 2024 triggered a fractured hip, which required a complete hip alternative surgical procedure. He was anticipated to make a full restoration.
That very same month, Eddy and Claudine Merckx celebrated their 57th wedding ceremony anniversary. They’ve two youngsters, daughter Sabrina and son Axel, who competed as knowledgeable bike owner from 1993-2007 and gained a bronze medal within the highway race on the Athens Olympic Video games.
