Eddy Merckx - the cyclist
Created | Updated Apr 16, 2003
Between 1961 and 1977, Eddy Merckx totally dominated the sport of cycling. He is one of the few cyclists to earn lasting recognition as a great world athlete. He was nicknamed 'The Cannibal' for his aggressive attacking style, and it was said that if he took it into his mind that he wanted to win a race - any race - nobody else stood a chance.
Merckx was born in June 1945 in Meensel-Kiezegem, part of the cycling-obsessed Flemish region of Belgium, he enjoyed a typically spectacular amateur career, contributing to an unbroken world record number of non-professional wins as well as professional.
He is best remembered for being a five-time winner of the Tour De France*, a record only equalled by Bernard Hinault, Jacques Anquetil and Miguel Indurain and exceeded by none. However, during his career he also won the Giro d'Italia a total of five times, 35 major One-day Classics, 4 World Championships, 7 successive seasons of the Super Prestige series (predecessor to the modern World Cup), one-week races, plus mountain-bike and track races, not once but many times over. There is a cycling joke from the time when he was most dominant:
"Today, Eddy Merckx, Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali [has strongest competitiors in the Tour] were all fined by the cycling authorities. Coppi and Bartali were caught hanging onto the back of a truck and allowing it to pull them up a mountain. Merckx was pulling the truck."
The only major race that Merckx failed to win* was the Vuelta a Espana and, to this day, no rider has succeeded in winning all three major three-week races * in a single career.
Although he is still considered a superstar in cycling, especially in his home country of Belgium, Merckx has never been at ease in the limelight, and is in fact reasonably shy and self-effacing. He only infrequently takes part in publicity and advertising events, most notably for the Amaury Sport Organisation* and the Ride For The Roses, fellow multiple Tour-winner and cancer-survivor Lance Armstrong's annual event in aid of cancer research. He does, however, run a self-named bike manufacturing company, with which he supplies and part-sponsors several amateur and professional cycling teams.
Eddy's son Axel Merckx is today a professional rider * and, while nowhere near as talented as his father, has been praised for his determination, work-rate and ability to suffer in races, giving him a number of notable career wins including the Belgian national championships.
In 2001, new rules were introduced by the UCI* on the types and measurements of bikes allowed in racing. As a result, Merckx's record for the longest distance covered in one hour on a bike (long considered a reasonable measure for the Fastest Man in the World) was reinstated, all subsequent records being disqualified. Until that point, British pro Chris Boardman had held the record and, in his final act as a professional, he broke the Merckx record on a low-tech, 'Merckx-style' bicycle at the Manchester Velodrome.
