Eddy Merckx
Eddy Merckx ( born June 17, 1945 in Meensel - Kiezegem, Belgium; actually Edouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx ) is a former Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He won five times the two main tours, the Tour de France and the Giro d' Italia. From a large part of the cycling experts, he is now regarded as the greatest racing driver of the cycling history to do so. Among others, Lance Armstrong, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain as the Cycling Hall of Fame
Merckx is - measured at both the quantity and the quality of his victories - the most successful male cyclist of cycling history. He also provided in all disciplines of cycling outstanding performance, winning classic, great tours and Six Days, he dominated in the mountain stages, time trials and sprints. Because of his victories hunger, he was also known as the Cannibal.
If all races - including in the Netherlands and Belgium very popular fair races and other smaller events - so Merckx won 1965-1978 a total of 530 Race:
- Victories on the road: 525 - including 445 professional victories
- Victories on the track: 98
- Victories in cyclo-cross races: 2
From 1969 to 1975, he won seven times the rating Super Prestige Pernod, which corresponded to the time of the later cycling World Cup or UCI World Tour ranking.
Driver Profile and athletic development
Just turned 18 and moved up to the amateur class, Belgium coach and later father Lucien Acou took him in 1963 in the national team, where he played the Sweden - tour and both start in the GDR ( against the East German top drivers Täve Schur, Klaus Ampler, Manfred White leather and others) in Sebnitz and Dresden ended as the winner.
After Merckx - just 19 years old - was on September 5, 1964 became the youngest world amateur champion of all time, he won at the age of 20 years in 1966 for the first time the famous professional one-day race Milan - Sanremo. In the next two years, his subsequent dominance in international cycling began to emerge: he won in addition to numerous classics for the first time in the road Cycling Championship (1967 ) of professionals and in 1968 his first major tour of the country, the Giro d' Italia.
In 1969, he first participated in the Tour de France and dominated the race in the same outstanding manner: In addition to the overall victory he won seven stage wins and won by a margin of 17:54 min. The most difficult stage in the Pyrenees over the passes of Tourmalet and Aubisque he finished with seven minutes and 56 seconds ahead. In addition, he became the only driver in history at the same time the mountains classification ( the polka-dot jersey, however, was not introduced until 1975) and the green jersey for the best sprinter. Thus, the Belgians had already won as a 24- year-old almost all important cycling race. At the same time however, this was only the beginning of the " era Merckx ", as the years 1968-1975 should be referred to later. The following year he won the Tour even eight stage wins with a margin of 12:41 min. He spent this era among the professionals Faema (1968-1970) and Molteni ( 1971-1975 ).
Until his career end in May 1978 won Merckx, who because of his unwillingness to leave victories once other (as it should be for a " Patron" ), was given the nickname " Cannibal ", more races than any other driver and put countless bests on. He won the Tour de France as second from the current five riders five times for himself, wore the yellow jersey 96 days ( record ) and took 34 stage wins (a record ). The French sports newspaper L' Équipe chose Merckx 2003 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Tour de France for the most Tour Champion.
However, unlike other tour winners, he also won virtually every other race: He won the Giro d' Italia also five times (a record, together with Alfredo Binda and Fausto Coppi ). Since 1973 he also won the Vuelta a España, he is one of the only five riders who managed to win all three Grand Tours. The Tour de Suisse he won in 1974.
In addition, there are three Road World Championship titles (a record, together with Alfredo Binda, Rik Van Steenbergen and Óscar Freire ) should be recorded for Merckx. Exceptional is also his list of successes in the biggest one-day races, the five so-called monuments of cycling. Each "Monument" he could win at least twice ( record, Rik Van Looy and only Roger De Vlaeminck succeeded at least one win ):
- 7 × Milan - Sanremo ( record )
- 2 × Tour of Flanders
- 3 × Paris -Roubaix
- 5 × Liège -Bastogne -Liège ( record )
- 2 × Tour of Lombardy
He also shone in the discharged in the hall during the winter Six Days, where he won a total of 17 times.
In 1972 he won in Mexico City and the hour record: With a normal wheel, he drove in 60 minutes 49.431 km far. This world record was under the same conditions - surpassed only 30 years later - using a normal train wheel with the traditional handlebar bracket, which enforces a much less favorable aerodynamics.
Curious: In his first World Cup start in 1964 as an amateur, he was first - at the last World Cup appearance in 1977 Last! ( 33 )
Doping
Eddy Merckx was expelled in 1969 under mysterious circumstances today for doping from the Giro d' Italia. He stressed his innocence and accused the organizers conscious manipulation. He was originally up to the start of the Tour de France locked into the lock but was later overturned - which allowed him his first Tour victory. During the tour emerged allegations that he had received administered by the former Tour doctor Lucien Maigre doping agent, which was denied by this. 1973 and 1977 he tested positive for Tour of Lombardy and of Walloon Arrow in the one-day races. After end of his career became known that Merckx regularly used cortisone, which, however, only in 1980 came to the UCI doping list.
Honors
Merckx was three times World Sportsman of the Year (1969, 1971, 1974), twice Europe's Sportsman of the Year (1969, 1970) and was elected in Belgium Sportsman of the Century. Finally it to the world cycling federation UCI has named the best cyclist of the 20th century.
In 1996 Merckx was raised by the Belgian king to the nobility and granted the title of Baron. In Brussels, a subway station opened in 2003, which is named after Eddy Merckx.
In December 2005, the former professional cyclist on Belgian television reached in an election for the greatest Belgian of all time third place and was about the classified at the highest surviving candidate.
On the occasion of his 65th birthday, gave the Belgian Post 2010 a stamp with a picture of Eddy Merckx out ( value 1.18 Euros ).
Private and entrepreneur
Today Eddy Merckx operates under his name a company that makes racing bikes. He also works with many cycling as an organizer and commentator.
His son Axel Merckx was also professional cyclist, winning, for example, at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, the bronze medal in the road race. He finished the 2007 season as a professional for the team "T -Mobile " his active career in cycling.