210 Facts About Eddy Merckx

Edouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx, better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional road and track bicycle racer who is among the most successful riders in the history of competitive cycling.

Eddy Merckx played several sports, but found his true passion in cycling.

Four times between 1970 and 1974 Eddy Merckx completed a Grand Tour double.

Eddy Merckx broke the hour record in October 1972, extending the record by almost 800 metres.

Eddy Merckx acquired the nickname "The Cannibal", suggested by the daughter of a teammate upon being told by her father of how Merckx would not let anyone else win.

Eddy Merckx was successful on the road and on the track, as well as in the large stage races and one-day races.

Eddy Merckx is almost universally regarded as the greatest and most successful rider in the history of cycling.

Eddy Merckx began his own bicycle brand, Eddy Merckx Cycles, in 1980 and its bicycles were used by several professional teams in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.

Eddy Merckx coached the Belgian national cycling team for eleven years, stopping in 1996.

Eddy Merckx helped start and organize the Tour of Qatar from its start in 2002 until its final edition in 2016.

Eddy Merckx assisted in running the Tour of Oman, before a disagreement with the organizers led him to step away in 2017.

Edouard Louis Joseph Eddy Merckx was born in Meensel-Kiezegem, Brabant, Belgium on 17 June 1945 to Jules Eddy Merckx and Jenny Pittomvils.

Eddy Merckx was a competitive child and played several sports, including basketball, football, table tennis and boxing, the latter in which he won some local boxing tournaments.

Eddy Merckx even played lawn tennis for the local junior team.

However, Eddy Merckx claimed he knew he wanted to be a cyclist at the age of four and that his first memory was a crash on his bike when he was the same age.

Eddy Merckx began riding a bike at the age of three or four and would ride to school every day, beginning at age eight.

Eddy Merckx would imitate his cycling idol Stan Ockers with his friends when they rode bikes together.

In summer 1961, Eddy Merckx bought his first racing license and competed in his first official race a month after he turned sixteen, coming in sixth place.

Eddy Merckx rode in twelve more races before winning his first, at Petit-Enghien, on 1 October 1961.

Eddy Merckx won his second victory on 11 March 1962 in a kermis race.

Eddy Merckx competed in 55 races during the 1962 calendar year; as he devoted more time to cycling, his grades at school began to decline.

Eddy Merckx finished the season with 23 victories to his name.

Eddy Merckx was selected for the men's road race at the 1964 Summer Olympics, where he finished in twelfth position.

Eddy Merckx remained an amateur until April 1965, and finished his amateur career with eighty wins to his credit.

Eddy Merckx won his first race in Vilvoorde, beating Emile Daems.

Eddy Merckx chose to sign; however, since he was a minor the contract was invalid.

Eddy Merckx took the race lead for a single stage before losing it to Jacques Anquetil and eventually coming in fourth overall.

Eddy Merckx attacked on the climb and reduced the field to a group of eleven, himself included.

Eddy Merckx was advised by his manager to hold off on sprinting full-out to the finish line until as late as possible.

Three other riders reached the line with him; Eddy Merckx beat them in the sprint.

Eddy Merckx finished 1966 season with a total of 20 wins, including his first stage race win at the Tour of Morbihan.

Eddy Merckx opened the 1967 campaign with two stage victories at the Giro di Sardegna.

Two stages later, a teammate, Tom Simpson, attacked with several other riders on a climb and was nearly 20 minutes ahead of Eddy Merckx, who remained in a group behind.

Eddy Merckx was able to establish a firm advantage, but obeyed orders from his manager to wait for the chasing Simpson.

Eddy Merckx won the stage, while Simpson secured his overall victory.

Eddy Merckx attacked on the Capo Berta and again on the Poggio, leaving only Gianni Motta with him.

Eddy Merckx won the twelfth and fourteenth stages en route to finishing ninth in the general classification.

Eddy Merckx chose to switch over in order to be in complete control over the team he was racing for.

The next day, Eddy Merckx started the men's road race at the 1967 UCI Road World Championships in Heerlen, Netherlands.

At the behest of his team, Eddy Merckx raced the Giro d'Italia instead of the Tour de France.

Eddy Merckx won the race's second stage after he attacked with one kilometer to go.

Eddy Merckx attacked and was able to get a sizable distance between himself and the group he left before he stopped to change his wheel in order to slow down due to orders from his team manager.

Eddy Merckx got back on his bike and caught the leading breakaway and rode past it to the finish, where he won the stage and took the race lead.

Eddy Merckx went on to win the race, along with the points classification and mountains classification.

Eddy Merckx finished the season with 32 wins in the 129 races he entered.

On 30 March 1969 Eddy Merckx earned his first major victory of the 1969 calendar with his win at the Tour of Flanders.

Eddy Merckx made a move on the Kapelmuur and was followed by a few riders.

Eddy Merckx had won four of the race's stages and held the race lead going into the sixteenth day of racing.

Eddy Merckx won the race's sixth stage through attacking before the leg's final major climb, the Ballon d'Alsace, and then outlasting his competitors who were able to follow him initially.

Eddy Merckx shifted into a large gear, attacked, and went on to cross the summit with a 45-second advantage.

Eddy Merckx rode over the Col du Soulor and Col d'Aubisque, increasing the gap to eight minutes.

Eddy Merckx was down fifty-four seconds going into the second day and attacked eight kilometers from the finish, on the slopes of the Bereldange.

Eddy Merckx rode solo to catch the leading rider Jacques Anquetil, whom he dropped with a kilometer remaining.

Eddy Merckx won the stage and gained enough time on the race leader Gimondi to win the race.

Wambst chose to avoid the derny by going below it, but the leader's derny came back down and collided with Wambst, while Eddy Merckx's pedal caught one of the dernies.

Eddy Merckx remained unconscious for 45 minutes and awoke in the operating room.

Eddy Merckx sustained a concussion, whiplash, trapped nerves in his back, a displaced pelvis, and several other cuts and bruises.

Eddy Merckx remained at the hospital for a week before returning to Belgium.

Eddy Merckx later stated that he "was never the same again" after the crash.

Eddy Merckx entered the 1970 campaign nursing a case of mild tendonitis in his knee.

Eddy Merckx attacked thirty-one kilometers from the finish and went on to win by five minutes and twenty-one seconds, the largest margin of victory in the history of the race.

The next weekend, Eddy Merckx attempted to race for teammate Joseph Bruyere in La Fleche Wallonne; however, Bruyere was unable to keep pace with the leading riders, leaving Eddy Merckx to take the victory.

Eddy Merckx started the race and won the second stage, but four days later showed signs of weakness with his knee as he was dropped twice while in the mountains.

However the next day, Eddy Merckx attacked on the final climb into the city of Brentonico to win the stage and take the lead.

Eddy Merckx won the stage nine individual time trial by almost two minutes over the second-place finisher, expanding his lead significantly.

Eddy Merckx did not win another stage, but expanded his lead a little more before the race's conclusion.

Eddy Merckx won the Tour's opening prologue to take the race's first race leader's yellow jersey.

Eddy Merckx won three of the five stages contested within the next four days, including a summit finish to Mont Ventoux, where upon finishing he was given oxygen.

Eddy Merckx won two more stages, both individual time trials, and won the Tour by over twelve minutes.

Eddy Merckx finished the Tour with eight stage victories and won the mountains and combination classifications.

Eddy Merckx became the third to accomplish the feat of winning the Giro and Tour in the same calendar year.

The first major victory for Eddy Merckx came in the Giro di Sardegna, which he secured after attacking on his own and riding solo through the rain to win the race's final stage.

Eddy Merckx's attack succeeded and he won his fourth edition of the race.

Eddy Merckx rode solo until around three kilometers to go when Georges Pintens caught him.

The Tour de France began with a team time trial that Eddy Merckx's team won, giving him the lead.

Eddy Merckx lost the lead after stage 1b, but regained it after stage 1c due to a time bonus that he earned from winning an intermediate sprint.

The group finished nine minutes ahead of the peloton as Eddy Merckx came around Roger De Vlaeminck during the sprint to win the day.

Bernard Thevenet attacked on the lower slopes and Eddy Merckx was unable to counter.

The group of four finished a minute and a half ahead of Eddy Merckx, giving Zoetemelk the lead.

Eddy Merckx's group finished two minutes in front of the peloton that was led by Ocana's Bic team.

Eddy Merckx fell again on the descent and took the race lead as Ocana was forced to retire from the race due to injuries from the crash.

Eddy Merckx declined to wear the yellow jersey the following day out of respect for Ocana.

Eddy Merckx won two more stages and the general, points, and combination classifications when the race finished in Paris.

Seven weeks following the Tour, Eddy Merckx entered the men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships that were held in Mendrisio, Switzerland.

Eddy Merckx was a part of a five-man breakaway as the race reached five laps to go.

Eddy Merckx closed out the 1971 calendar with his first victory in the Giro di Lombardia.

Eddy Merckx made the winning move when he attacked on the descent of the Intelvi Pass.

Eddy Merckx lost the race lead in the final stage to Raymond Poulidor and finished in second place overall.

Three days later, in La Fleche Wallonne, Eddy Merckx was a part of a six-man leading group as the race neared its conclusion.

Eddy Merckx won the uphill sprint to the finish despite his derailleur shifting him to the wrong gear, forcing him to ride in a larger gear than anticipated.

Eddy Merckx lost over two and a half minutes to Spanish climber Jose Manuel Fuente after the Giro's fourth stage that contained a summit finish to Blockhaus.

Eddy Merckx gained over four minutes on Fuente and became the new race leader.

Eddy Merckx expanded his lead by two minutes through the stage 12a and 12b time trials, winning the former.

Eddy Merckx eventually reconnected with the two on the final climb of the stage.

Eddy Merckx proceeded to attack and went on to win the stage by forty-seven seconds.

Eddy Merckx lost two minutes to Fuente due to stomach trouble during the seventeenth leg that finished atop the Stelvio Pass, but went on to win one more stage en route to his third victory at the Giro d'Italia.

Eddy Merckx took the opening prologue and expanded his advantage over all the other general classification contenders, except Ocana, by at least three minutes.

Eddy Merckx was criticized for attacking while Ocana had a flat, but Eddy Merckx responded that the year before Ocana had done the same thing while the race was in the Alps.

Eddy Merckx won the following stage, regaining the lead which he had lost after the fourth leg.

Eddy Merckx won three more stages before crossing the finish line in Paris as the race's winner, thus completing his second Giro-Tour double in the process.

Eddy Merckx arrived in Mexico on the 21st to prepare for his attempt, but two days were lost due to rain.

Eddy Merckx's attempt started at 8:46 am local time and saw him finish the first ten kilometers twenty-eight seconds faster than the record pace.

However, Eddy Merckx started off too fast and began to fade as the attempt wore on.

Eddy Merckx decided to race the Vuelta a Espana and the Giro d'Italia, instead of racing the Tour de France.

Eddy Merckx won the opening prologue of the Vuelta to take an early lead.

Four days after the conclusion of the Vuelta, Eddy Merckx lined up to start the Giro d'Italia.

Eddy Merckx won the opening two-man time trial with Roger Swerts and the next day's leg as well.

Eddy Merckx won the eighth stage which featured a summit finish to Monte Carpegna despite Fuente attacking several times on the ascent.

Eddy Merckx won the race after leading from start to finish, a feat only previously accomplished by Alfredo Binda and Costante Girardengo.

Eddy Merckx became the first rider to win the Giro and Vuelta in the same calendar year.

Eddy Merckx's move was marked by Freddy Maertens, Gimondi, and Ocana.

Eddy Merckx attacked on the final lap, but was reeled in by the three riders.

Eddy Merckx won both legs of A travers Lausanne, as well as the Giro di Lombardia, but a doping positive disqualified him.

Eddy Merckx closed the season with over fifty victories to his credit.

The 1974 season saw Eddy Merckx fail to win a spring classic for the first time in his career, in part due to him suffering from various illnesses during the early months.

Eddy Merckx lost time early in the race to Fuente, who took the race's first mountainous stage.

Eddy Merckx gained time on Fuente in the race's only time trial.

Eddy Merckx attacked from two hundred kilometers out two days later in a stage that was plagued by horrendous weather.

Fuente lost ten minutes to Eddy Merckx, who became the race leader.

Fuente and Gianbattista Baronchelli attacked on the climb, while Eddy Merckx was unable to match their accelerations.

Eddy Merckx finished the stage only to see his lead shrink to twelve seconds over Baronchelli.

Eddy Merckx held on to that lead until the race's conclusion, winning his fifth Giro d'Italia.

Three days following his victory at the Giro, Eddy Merckx started the Tour de Suisse.

Eddy Merckx won the race's prologue and rode conservatively for the rest of the race.

Eddy Merckx took the final leg, an individual time trial, to seal his overall victory.

At the Tour, Eddy Merckx won the race's prologue, giving him the first race leader's maillot jaune, which he lost the next day to teammate Joseph Bruyere.

Eddy Merckx won the seventh stage of the race, and regained the lead, through attacking in the closing kilometers and holding off the chasing peloton.

Eddy Merckx put five minutes into Poulidor, his main rival, after dropping him on the Col du Galibier.

Eddy Merckx expanded his lead through several stage victories afterward, including one where he attacked with ten kilometers to go in a flat stage and held off the peloton to reach the finish in Orleans almost a minute and a half before the chasing group.

Eddy Merckx finished the Tour with eight stage wins and his fifth Tour de France victory, equaling the record of Anquetil.

Two days following the Catalan Week, Eddy Merckx participated in the Tour of Flanders.

Eddy Merckx launched an attacked with eighty kilometers to go, with only Frans Verbeeck being able to match his acceleration.

Verbeeck was dropped as the race reached five kilometers remaining, allowing Eddy Merckx to take his third Tour of Flanders victory.

Eddy Merckx refused to chase the break down, and the two lost fourteen minutes.

Eddy Merckx contracted a cold and, later, tonsilitis while racing in the spring campaign.

Eddy Merckx then rode in the Dauphine Libere and was not on par with Thevenet, who won the race.

Eddy Merckx placed second in the Tour de France's prologue.

Eddy Merckx won the stage six individual time trial and gaining more time on Thevenet and Zoetemelk.

Eddy Merckx won the next time trial into Auch as well.

Eddy Merckx followed at his own pace and kept the two riders within a hundred meters.

Eddy Merckx crossed the line thirty-four seconds behind Thevenet and proceeded to vomit after catching his breath.

The stage following the rest day featured five climbs, Eddy Merckx felt a pain on the third climb in the area of the punch and had a teammate get him an analgesic.

Gimondi, Van Impe, and Zoetemelk passed Eddy Merckx, who finished fifth and one minute and twenty-six seconds down.

Eddy Merckx lost two more minutes to Thevenet, who attacked on the Col d'Izoard.

Eddy Merckx crashed in the next leg, breaking a cheekbone, and gained some time on Thevenet before the finish in Paris.

Eddy Merckx finished in second place, the first time he had lost a Tour in his six starts.

Eddy Merckx followed with a victory in the Catalan Week, but suffered a crash in the final stage when a spectator's bag caught his handlebars, injuring his elbow.

Eddy Merckx entered the Giro d'Italia but failed to win a stage for the first time in his career.

Eddy Merckx finished the race in eighth overall while battling a saddle boil throughout the race.

Eddy Merckx took part in the men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships and finished in fifth position.

Eddy Merckx failed to win the Super Prestige Pernod International, a competition where riders were awarded points for their placements in certain professional races, for the first time since 1968.

Eddy Merckx got his season's first victories in the Grand Prix d'Aix and Tour Mediterraneen.

Eddy Merckx agreed to ride a light spring season in order to save himself for a chance at a sixth Tour victory.

Eddy Merckx admitted his poor form and anxiety about aggravating previous injuries going into the Tour de France.

Eddy Merckx held on to second place overall for two weeks.

Eddy Merckx raced a total of five races in the 1978 calendar.

Eddy Merckx came to the front of the race and put in a large effort before swinging off and quitting the race.

Eddy Merckx returned from travel to train more, but by this point the team sponsor knew he was going to quit.

Eddy Merckx almost went bankrupt at one point and was caught up in a tax repayment controversy.

Eddy Merckx would spend time giving input on the models as they were being produced.

Eddy Merckx stepped down as CEO in 2008 and sold most of his shares, but still tests the bikes that are created and has some input.

Cycling journalist Sam Dansie believes that Eddy Merckx Cycles has maintained a presence as an elite bicycle due to its adoption of new methods over time.

Eddy Merckx managed the Belgian national team world championships for eleven years, between 1986 and 1996.

Eddy Merckx acted as the race director for the Tour of Flanders for a brief period of time.

Eddy Merckx temporarily sponsored a youth developmental team with CGER Bank, a team that featured his son Axel.

Eddy Merckx helped organize the Grand Prix Eddy Merckx, which started out as an invitation only individual time trial event, later becoming a two-man time trial event.

Eddy Merckx played a pivotal role in getting the Tour of Qatar started in 2002.

In 2001 Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the former Emir of Qatar, reached out to Eddy Merckx and told him of his interest in starting a bicycle race to show off his country.

Eddy Merckx then contacted then Union Cycliste Internationale president Hein Verbruggen, who checked out Qatar's roads.

Eddy Merckx officially co-owned the race with Dirk De Pauw and helped organize it until the race was cancelled before the 2017 edition due to financial reasons.

Eddy Merckx briefly co-owned and helped start the Tour of Oman in 2010.

Eddy Merckx asked her father for permission to marry her between track races.

On 5 December 1967 Eddy Merckx married Acou after four years of courtship.

Eddy Merckx skipped a team training camp to be with his wife for Sabrina's birth.

Eddy Merckx was brought up speaking Flemish, but was taught French in school.

Eddy Merckx has become an ambassador for the Damien The Leper Society, a foundation named after a Catholic priest, which battles leprosy and other diseases in developing countries.

Eddy Merckx was blessed by Pope John Paul II in Brussels in the 1990s.

Eddy Merckx is an art lover and stated that his favorite artist is Rene Magritte, a surrealist.

In 2013, Eddy Merckx was given a pacemaker to help correct a heart rhythm issue.

Eddy Merckx stated that he never had any heart issues while racing, despite the fact that several males in his family died young of heart related problems.

On 13 October 2019, Eddy Merckx was hospitalised after a cycling accident, having suffered a haemorrhage and being unconscious for a while.

Eddy Merckx has been regarded by many as the greatest and most successful cyclist of all time.

Eddy Merckx rode well in the Grand Tours and in the one-day classics.

Eddy Merckx was a very good time trialist and climber.

Eddy Merckx was known for racing style that consisted of attacking constantly, which came to be known as la course en tete for which the documentary on Merckx, "La Course en Tete" was named.

Eddy Merckx would spend a day in a breakaway and then make another significant attack the following day.

Eddy Merckx entered over 1,800 races during his career and won a total of 525.

Between the years of 1967 and 1977 Eddy Merckx raced between 111 and 151 races each season.

Eddy Merckx admits that he was the best of his generation, but insists it's not practical to compare across generations.

Eddy Merckx finished his career with nineteen victories across the monuments, more than any other rider and eight more than the rider with the second most.

Eddy Merckx holds the record for most Grand Tour victories with 11, along with the record for most stage wins across all three Grand Tours with 64.

Eddy Merckx has completed the most Giro-Tour doubles in history with three.

Eddy Merckx was the first rider to win cycling's Triple Crown which has only been accomplished one other time, by Stephen Roche in 1987.

Eddy Merckx is the only rider to win the general, points and mountains classifications at the Giro d'Italia, in 1968, and at the Tour de France, in 1969.

When being inducted, Eddy Merckx was given the modern-day trophy with the winners engraved until 1974, the last year he won the race.

Eddy Merckx was given the nickname "The Cannibal" by the daughter of Christian Raymond, a teammate of Merckx's.

Raymond had commented on Eddy Merckx not allowing anyone else to win, to which his daughter referred to Eddy Merckx as a cannibal.

Gianni Motta told of how Eddy Merckx would ride without a racing cape when it was snowing or raining in order to go faster than other riders.

Eddy Merckx befriended Fiorenzo Magni when he began racing for an Italian team.

Eddy Merckx was criticized by opposing riders for his relentless pursuit of victory that prevented even lesser known riders from collecting a few victories.

Eddy Merckx was leading the 1969 Giro d'Italia upon the conclusion of the sixteenth stage in Savona.

The positive test meant Eddy Merckx was to be suspended for a month.

Race director Vincenzo Torriani delayed the start of the seventeenth stage in an attempt to persuade the president of the Italian Cycling Federation to allow Eddy Merckx to begin the stage.

The major part of the international press believed in Eddy Merckx' innocence, stating that with his lead, it was illogic he would use banned substances in an easy stage, moreover knowing a doping test was likely to follow.

On 8 November 1973, it was announced that Eddy Merckx had tested positive for norephedrine after winning the Giro di Lombardia a month earlier.

Eddy Merckx was disqualified from the race and the victory was awarded to second-place finisher Gimondi.

Eddy Merckx admitted his fault in taking the medicine but said that the name norephedrine was not on the bottle of cough syrup he used.

Years later, Eddy Merckx admitted he did take a banned substance, citing that he was wrong to have trusted a doctor.

The organizers stated that "[they] had to be role models", while Eddy Merckx wrote them off claiming them to be crazy.

Eddy Merckx was not alone, as several other riders were asked to keep their distance from the event.