The legendary name of cycling: Who is Eddy Merckx?

When the subject of legends comes up: when football is mentioned, Pele and Maradona come to mind; When considering tennis, stars such as Nadal, Federer, and Jimmy Connors; For basketball, athletes such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird who truly deserve the word legend come to mind. There is a name and a legend equivalent to these stars for cycling; Eddy Merckx.

In the years when the "Festina" scandal had not yet occurred in cycling, when helmets were not compulsory equipment, when athletes wore their hats and competed, and most importantly when equipment technology was not that developed, there was a name that broke many records and could not be taken away from these records for many years; Eddy Merckx.

Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx (born 17 June 1945), is a Belgian former professional road and track cyclist racer who is the most successful rider in the history of competitive cycling. His victories include an unequalled eleven Grand Tours (five Tours de France, five Giros d'Italia, and a Vuelta a España), all five Monuments, setting the hour record, three World Championships, every major one-day race other than Paris–Tours, and extensive victories on the track.

HE; A pure cycling talent who could climb mountains, sprint to the finish without fear when necessary, and run the best races against time, participated in more than 800 road races and won 525 of them, as well as breaking records and winning races in the velodrome, he was an indisputable legend.

Even when we try to list his achievements and degrees, an incredible list appears before us. If we briefly look at the achievements of the legend, Eddy Merckx competed for 13 seasons during his career and is the only person to have competed in professional races for 10 years until today. He competed in between 111 and 151 races each season between 1967 and 1977. By winning the Tour de France and Italy 5 times and the Tour of Spain once, he became the man who won the most grand tours in history, with a total of 11 grand tour victories. He became the cyclist who won the most stages by winning 64 stages in total, including 34 stages in the Tour de France and other grand tour stages. In addition to having 19 monumental one-day victories, he is the only winner of the Milan – San Remo race 7 times. There is no other cyclist who has won all the monumental races at least twice. He broke the hour record in 1972, and this record could only be broken 28 years later by Chris Boardman.

Eddy Merckx, who was born in the village of Meensel-Kiezegem in Belgium on June 7, 1945, answers with one word when asked why he chose cycling despite playing different sports: PASSION. Perhaps this passion made him appear as a legendary name in cycling history. He sometimes became an unpopular man due to his constant desire to win and his ability to attack at any moment, which prevented other racers in the peloton from winning. In his own way, he created a philosophy called "la course en tête", which consists of constantly attacking. His powerful attacks and destructive style were called "Merckxissimo" by the Tour de France race director.

His dedication, passion, and desire to win always pushed him to do his best. Immediately after each victory, he set out for the next victory to do better. He never hesitated to express his opinion against the reactions by saying "The day I start a race without thinking about winning, I will not be able to look at myself in the mirror" when asked questions about his desire to win and his constant attack. French journalist Pierre Chany once responded to Merckx's criticism that he won all the races but damaged the bicycle, saying, "If you think so, you should say that Bach harmed music, Moliere harmed theatre, Cezanne harmed painting and Chaplin harmed cinema."

Eddy Merckx's ambition to win was at such a level that on the 17th stage of the 1969 Tour de France, even though he was 45 seconds ahead of the favorites group, he continued his attack without even blinking, even though the team director told him to wait for the group, and when he came to the finish, he increased the gap between him and the favorites group to 8 minutes.

Eddy Merckx, who rode 50 kilometers alone, suffered hypoglycemia at the end of the stage and completed the race in great pain. He says one of his unforgettable words to the journalists waiting at the finish line. “I hope I have now done something to make you see me as a worthy winner.”

Although Merckx said that these were conspiracies and that this substance was not in the drug he used, his career report also included his relations with doping. In his interview, he stated that the first of the doping allegations and perhaps the event that shook him the most was the 1969 Tour of Italy. At the Giro earlier that year he tested positive for fencamfamine, a drug that is not on the banned list but has effects similar to amphetamines. Even though he was in the first row of the tour, he was immediately kicked out by race director Vincenzo Torriani and suspended from racing for a month. Merckx still thinks this whole thing is suspicious.

This time our dates show 1973 and a bombshell news falls on cycling. Merckx, who won the monumental classic Giro di Lombardia a month ago, tested positive for doping and it was stated that he had norephedrine in his blood. Merckx, who had a second test, was shaken by the positive result again. The incident was later clarified and it became clear that the problem was caused by a cough syrup prescribed by the doctor of his current team, Molteni. However, this did not change the result that he was doping and the first place was taken away from him and given to the second place racer and rival Gimondi. In addition, Merckx admitted his mistake in taking the medicine but also stated that the name of the substance norephedrine was not on the bottle of cough syrup he used.

It was slowly becoming apparent to all cycling fans that his career was coming to an end. Merckx did not win another grand tour after 1975. In the following years, he completed the Tour of Italy without winning a stage, and the more he raced, the more he started to lose. Now his empire was collapsing and an era was coming to an end. Merckx was able to compete in only 5 races in his final season. Then he announced that he was going on vacation and everyone predicted that he would retire upon his return. After returning from vacation, Merckx announced to the entire cycling community that he was retiring upon the advice of his doctors.

When we look at his professional career, we can think that it is obvious why he was nicknamed "Cannibal" with his 438 first places.

Even after his retirement, Merckx never gave up his passion, cycling. He managed the Belgian National Team between 1986 and 1996. He was the organizer and race director of various races. A bicycle brand he founded under his own name is still distributed to many parts of the world. In October 2019, Merckx had an accident during a tour with his friends and was hospitalized. From this date on, he would never ride a bicycle again.

Merckx has always managed to be an icon as well as his athlete identity. It was blessed by Pope John Paul in Brussels in 1990. In 1996, he was given the title of baron by King Albert of Belgium. Merckx was also awarded the "Cavaliere", an award for outstanding service in Italy.