Racing cyclist, born in Woluwe St Pierre, C Belgium. He won the Tour de France five times (196972, 1974), the Tour of Italy five times, and all the major classics, including the MilanSan Remo race, seven times. World Amateur Road Race champion in 1964, he won the professional title three times. He won more races (445) and more classics than any other rider. He retired in 1978 and established his own bicycle manufacturing company.
Eddy Merckx
Cover of Cycle Sport America celebrating Merckx's legend.
|
|
Personal information
|
|
Full name
|
Edouard Louis Joseph Merckx
|
|
Date of birth
|
June 17, 1945
|
|
Country
|
Belgium
|
|
Team information
|
|
Current team
|
retired
|
|
Professional team(s)
|
1966-1967
1968-1970
1971-1976
1977
|
Peugeot-BP
Faema
Molteni
Fiat
|
|
Major wins
|
|
5x Tour de France 34 stages Tour de France 5x Giro d'Italia 24 stages Giro d'Italia 1x Vuelta a España 6 stages Vuelta a España 3x Paris-Nice 1x Dauphiné Libéré 1x Tour de Romandie 1x Tour
de Suisse 1x Tour of Catalonia 7x Milan-Sanremo 5x Liège-Bastogne-Liège 3x Paris-Roubaix 2x Tour of Flanders 2x Tour of Lombardy 3x World Cycling Champion 7x Super Prestige Pernod
International 3x Gent-Wevelgem 3x La Flèche Wallonne 2x Amstel Gold Race 445x Prof winners
|
Edouard Louis Joseph Merckx (IPA: ['merks]) (born June 17, 1945, Meensel-Kiezegem, Vlaams Brabant, Belgium) is a retired Belgian professional cyclist.
Racing career
Successes in stage racing and single day races
Merckx started competing in 1961.
In 1968 Merckx started his domination of the Grand Tours by becoming the first Belgian to win the Giro d'Italia.
In his Tour de France debut in 1969, Merckx immediately won the yellow jersey (overall leader), the green jersey (best sprinter) and the red polka-dotted jersey ("King of the Mountains"
- best climber in the mountain stages). No other cyclist has achieved this trifecta in the Tour de France, and only Laurent Jalabert has been able to match this feat at the Grand Tour
level, in the 1995 Vuelta. If the young riders' white jersey (for best rider in the Tour under 25 years of age) had existed at that time, Merckx would have won that one as well, as he
had only just turned 24. It was the first time a Belgian won the Tour de France since Sylvère Maes thirty years earlier, and because of this Merckx became a national hero. Then Lance Armstrong
broke the record and went on winning the Tour for a sixth (2004) and a seventh (2005) time. Merckx still holds the records for stage wins (34) and number of days in the Yellow Jersey (96).
In addition to these well-known Grand Tour successes, Merckx also has an impressive list of victories in one-day races (for a comprehensive list, see lower down). Among the highlights are a
record of seven victories in the race Milan-San Remo, which to this day is unequalled, five times Liège-Bastogne-Liège and three wins in Paris-Roubaix, the Hell of the North. He also won
the World Road Racing Championship a record three times in 1967, 1971 and 1974, and every single one of the Classic cycle races, except Paris-Tours.
Merckx retired from racing in 1978, at the age of 33.
Setbacks and lesser days
The blackest day in Merckx's career dates from 1969, when he crashed in a derny race towards the end of the season. A pacer and a cyclist fell in front of Merckx's pacer, Fernand Wambst,
causing both Wambst and Merckx to crash. At that year's Tour de France, he attempted to win his sixth, but became a victim of violence. Merckx held the yellow jersey for eight days of the race,
which raised his record to 96 total days, but during stage 14 a French spectator leapt from the crowd and punched him in the liver area.
Hour record
In addition to his achievements in regular professional cycling, Merckx also set the bicycle hour speed record in 1972. On the other hand, Merckx had raced a full road season winning the Tour,
Giro and four Classics, while Boardman was a time trial specialist who had retired from road racing and had prepared specifically for the 2000 Hour Record.)
After retirement
Having retired from competitive cycling, Eddy Merckx now has a bicycle factory and is a race commentator.
Other records and achievements
Eddy Merckx is five-time champion of the two most important races in professional cycling, the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia and one of only four cyclists to have won all three of the
Grand Tours He is the one of only two men to have won the Triple Crown of Cycling (
Tour de France,
Giro d'Italia, and the World Cycling Championship) in the same year. In addition,
he is one of only three riders (all Belgian) to have won all five “Monument” one-day classic races at least once during his career, and won the season-long
Super Prestige Pernod
International competition a record seven consecutive times. Overall, Merckx entered 1582 road races in his 13 year professional career, and won 525 of them —this implies a winning rate above
33% (approx. He preferred to go flat out at all times, and wanted to win every single race he participated in, never "arranging" a race with another competitor. Despite his spectacular career,
Merckx never won the classic race Paris-Tours. Cyclist Noël Van Tyghem, who did win this race, was once quoted saying "Together with Merckx, I won all classics that can be won. I won Paris-Tours,
Merckx all the rest…" Eddy Merckx has a namesake who is a multiple Belgian Champion and world champion 2006 in three cushion billiards.
Significant victories by race
Grand Tours
5× Tours de France, 34 stage wins 5× Giro d'Italia, 24 stage wins 1× Vuelta a España, 6 stage wins
Other tours
1× Tour de Suisse 2× Ronde van België/Tour de Belgique 3× Paris-Nice 1× Tour de Romandie 1× Dauphiné Libéré 1× Midi Libre 4× Tour of Sardinia
Classic cycle races
7× Milan-San Remo 5× Liège-Bastogne-Liège 3× Paris-Roubaix 2× Giro di Lombardia 2× Tour of Flanders 2× Amstel Gold Race 3× La Flèche Wallonne 1× Paris-Brussels 3× Ghent-Wevelgem
World titles
3× World Championships 1× Amateur World Championships
Track races
17 six-day races 3× European Championships 7× Belgian Madison Championships (with Patrick Sercu)
Significant victories by year
1964
World Amateur Road Race Champion
1965
Six Days of Gent (with Patrick Sercu)
1966 (Team Peugeot-BP)
Milan-Sanremo Trofeo Angelo Baracchi, with Ferdi Bracke Championship of Flanders Tour de Morbihan
1967 (Team Peugeot-BP)
World Pro Road Race Milan-Sanremo La Flèche Wallonne Gent-Wevelgem Trofeo Angelo Baracchi, with Ferdi Bracke 2 stages, Giro d'Italia Critérium des As Six Days of Gent (with Patrick Sercu)
1968 (Team Faema)
Giro d'Italia, including KoM Points Competition 4 stages Tour of Catalonia Tour de Romandie Paris-Roubaix Tre Valli Varesine Tour of Sardinia G.P. Lugano A travers Lausanne
1969 (Team Faema)
Tour de France, including Climbers Competition Points Competition 6 stages Paris-Luxembourg Milan-Sanremo Tour of Flanders Liège-Bastogne-Liège Paris-Nice, including 4 stages Super Prestige
Pernod Trophy
1970 (Team Faema-Faemino)
Tour de France, including Climbers Competition 8 stages Giro d'Italia, including 3 stages Paris-Nice Tour of Belgium Paris-Roubaix La Flèche Wallonne Gent-Wevelgem Critérium des As Super
Prestige Pernod Trophy
1971 (Team Molteni)
Tour de France, including Points Competition 4 stages World Pro Road Race Milan-Sanremo Liège-Bastogne-Liège Tour of Lombardy Rund um den Henninger Turm Omloop "Het Volk" Paris-Nice Dauphiné
Libéré GP du Midi Libre Tour of Belgium Super Prestige Pernod Trophy
1972 (Team Molteni)
Tour de France, including Points Competition 6 stages Giro d'Italia, including 4 stages Milan-Sanremo Liège-Bastogne-Liège Tour of Lombardy La Flèche Wallonne Giro dell'Emilia Giro del
Piemonte Grote Scheldeprijs Trofeo Angelo Baracchi, with Roger Swerts Hour Record - 49.431 km Super Prestige Pernod Trophy
1973 (Team Molteni)
Giro d'Italia, including Points Competition 6 stages Vuelta a España, including Points Competition Sprints Competition 6 stages Paris-Roubaix Liège-Bastogne-Liège Grand Prix des Nations
Amstel Gold Race Gent-Wevelgem Omloop "Het Volk" Paris-Brussels GP Fourmies Super Prestige Pernod Trophy
1974 (Team Molteni)
Tour de France, including 8 stages Giro d'Italia, including 2 stages World Pro Road Race Tour de Suisse, including Points Competition KoM 3 stages Critérium des As Super Prestige Pernod
Trophy
1975 (Team Molteni)
Milan-Sanremo Tour of Flanders Liège-Bastogne-Liège Amstel Gold Race Catalan Week 2 stages, Tour de France 1 stage, Tour de Suisse Super Prestige Pernod Trophy Six Days of Gent (with Patrick
Sercu)
1976 (Team Molteni)
Milan-Sanremo Catalan Week
1977 (Team Fiat)
1 stage, Tour de Suisse Mediterranean Tour Six Days of Munich (with Patrick Sercu) Six Days of Zurich (with Patrick Sercu) Six Days of Gent (with Patrick Sercu)
User Comments Add a comment…