Eddy Merckx Biography

From 1961 until 1978, Édouard Louis Joseph (Eddy), Baron Merckx (Meensel-Kiezegem, 17 June 1945) was a competitive cyclist. With 525 contests under his belt, cycling enthusiasts consider him the most successful rider in history. He was dubbed the "best cyclist ever" by the French magazine Vélo in 2000, and many sports journalists refer to him as the "cycling god." He has won the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia five times each, has won all of the major races except the Paris-Tours, has won the Vuelta an Espana, has won the world championship as a professional and amateur, and has broken the world hour record. Stan Ockers was a hero to Eddy Merckx as a kid. When Ockers died in a car accident in 1956, Eddy, like many of his compatriots, was startled and heartbroken. Merckx began his riding career in 1961. He won the world amateur championship in Sallanches three years later (France). In 1966, he won the first of what would become seven Milan-San Remo victories, a record that has yet to be surpassed. He won world champion for road cycling in Heerlen, the Netherlands, a year later, a title he would repeat twice more. He married Claudine Acou in the same year. Merckx became the first Belgian to win the Tour of Italy in 1968. (the Giro). He went on to win the Giro d'Italia four more times. The Giro was more significant to Eddy's teams - he raced for the Italian teams Faema, Faemino, and Molteni – than the Tour de France. In 1969, Eddy won his first Tour, winning six stages, the overall classification (yellow jersey), the point aggregate (green shirt), and the climbing classification (green jersey). Merckx would have won the white jersey (best under-25) as well if it had been available at the time. In that year, he became a national hero since it had been precisely 30 years since a Belgian had won the Tour de France - Sylvère Maes. He won by eight minutes over the closest challengers. Merckx would win the Tour de France four times more, in 1970, 1971, 1972, and 1974. Merckx competed in the Vuelta (Spanish Tour) in 1973, winning the event. Merckx won the Tour de France five times, a record that Jacques Anquetil had previously matched, and which would only be surpassed by Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain following Merckx. Lance Armstrong beat Merckx's Tour record when he won the race for the sixth time in 2004 and then for the seventh time in 2005. Merckx crashed badly during a cycling race in Blois in late July 1969. Cycling became more difficult and taxing after that, which had been practically automatic for him up to that point. He was continually changing his saddle position. Even more surprising is the fact that, despite his bothersome ailment, he continued to win many of the events in which he competed. He even won 54 out of the 120 events he entered in 1971. He was dubbed The Cannibal because he was the greatest and his will to win drove him to "eat up" the competitors. In Mexico City in 1972, he set the world hour record; it would be another 12 years before it was beaten again, this time by Francesco Moser on a specially built cycle. The UCI ruled in 2000 that Moser's record would no longer be recognized. Merckx's record was reinstated, and anybody who beat it would only be recognized if they did it on a bicycle that was comparable to Merckx's in 1972. In Kemzeke, Eddy Merckx competed in his final official bicycle competition, the Tour of the Waasland in 1978. He retired from racing cycling on May 18, that year, and went on to create a successful bicycle firm in Meise, where he also resides. Eddy Merckx was one of 111 contenders for the title of "The Greatest Belgian" in 2005 after the King elevated him to a barony in 1996. He finished third in the Flemish vote and fourth in the Walloon vote. From 1993 through 2007, his son, Axel Merckx, rode professionally as a cyclist, following in his father's footsteps. Early in 2008, the former cyclist was named as an ambassador for the Damiaan Fund's new campaign. He was even able to personally see the organization's efforts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the battle against leprosy and TB. The latest Eddy Merckx book, MERCKXISSIMO, was unveiled in the Brussels City Hall on April 28, 2009. The pictures were taken by Stephan Vanfleteren, a well-known Belgian photographer. The book also includes 25 personal accounts from well-known guest writers concerning The Cannibal's career. The book is divided into 51 chapters, which corresponds to Merckx's start number when he won his first Tour de France.

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