The Cannibal Thread - Eddy Merckx

[DJR]

I recently did some research into Eddy Merckx for a build project and thought I'd share it here. Feel free to correct mistakes and add pictures and stories of your own bikes. (It will run as a series over the next week and cover his whole career.)  

 

1 - Eddy Merckx - Introduction

Eddy Merckx is widely credited as the overall most successful rider in the history of bicycle racing.
His victories include eleven Grand Tours (5 Tours de France, 5 Giros d’Italia, 1 Vuelta Espana), all 5 the Monuments of Cycling (Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Giro de Lombardia), 3 World Championships, a 1 hour record, and all the major European 1 day races except one. He also won numerous time trials, track races, kermesse and criteriums.
From 1961 to 1965 he won 80 races as an amateur before turning professional in 1965. His appetite for winning quickly gained him the nickname "The Cannibal". Merckx achieved 525 victories over his 18 year professional career. However, sadly, he was caught in three separate doping incidents during his career.
In 1978 Eddy Merckx retired from racing and in 1980 started his own bicycle factory. His bicycles quickly built a reputation for excellence and were used by several successful professional racing teams in the 1980s and 1990s. He stayed involved in cycling as a coach and an ambassador for the sport.

[WIPEOUT 1000]

I still like this logo more than the new one

 

logo.png

I recently did some research into Eddy Merckx for a build project and thought I'd share it here. Feel free to correct mistakes and add pictures and stories of your own bikes. (It will run as a series over the next week and cover his whole career.)  

 

1 - Eddy Merckx - Introduction

Eddy Merckx is widely credited as the overall most successful rider in the history of bicycle racing.
His victories include eleven Grand Tours (5 Tours de France, 5 Giros d’Italia, 1 Vuelta Espana), all 5 the Monuments of Cycling (Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Giro de Lombardia), 3 World Championships, a 1 hour record, and all the major European 1 day races except one. He also won numerous time trials, track races, kermesse and criteriums.
From 1961 to 1965 he won 80 races as an amateur before turning professional in 1965. His appetite for winning quickly gained him the nickname "The Cannibal". Merckx achieved 525 victories over his 18 year professional career. However, sadly, he was caught in three separate doping incidents during his career.
In 1978 Eddy Merckx retired from racing and in 1980 started his own bicycle factory. His bicycles quickly built a reputation for excellence and were used by several successful professional racing teams in the 1980s and 1990s. He stayed involved in cycling as a coach and an ambassador for the sport.

[FirstV8]

The ultimate professional , won all the grand tours , all the classics , world champ and got doping as well   Made a career out of the sport he loves  My next road frame i buy will be a Merckx . 

[DJR]

2 - Eddy Merckx - Early life & Amateur Career

Merckx was born on 17 June 1945, in Brabant, Belgium, where his family owned a grocery story. He is the first child and has 2 younger siblings. As a child Eddy was hyperactive and always preferred active outside play.
He was very competitive from a young age and played several sports, including basketball, boxing, tennis, football, and table tennis while in school. However, Merckx claimed he already knew he wanted to be a cyclist at the age of four and that his earliest life memory was that of a bike crash at that age. Merckx would ride his bike to school every day, during summer as well as winter. 
In 1961 Merckx competed in his first amateur race a month after he turned sixteen, finishing sixth. Twelve races later he got his first win! As he devoted more time to cycling and racing, his grades at school, which he did not enjoy, dropped. After winning the Belgian amateur road race title, he is quoted as having said “I won, hurray, now I don’t have to go to school anymore!” Shortly after, he dropped out of school to train and race full time.
At the 1964 Olympics, at age 19, Merckx finished twelfth in the road race. Later the same year he won the amateur road race at the UCI World Championships.  In 1965 he turned professional and his amateur career came to an end with eighty wins to his credit.

[DJR]

The ultimate professional , won all the grand tours , all the classics , world champ and got doping as well   Made a career out of the sport he loves  My next road frame i buy will be a Merckx . 

Amusing story about Merckx' wins in the Classics. He managed to win all except one, the Paris-Tours. The closest he came to winning that was a sixth place in 1973.

 

Another Belgian, unknown Noël van Tyghem, who won Paris-Tours is quoted as having said: "Between us, I and Eddy Merckx have won every classic that can be won."

[Flemish Lion]

Nice research

 

Birth place is Meensel-Kiezegem, Brabant is too broad. I mean I was born in Vlaams-Brabant but 40 km from his birth place. 40 km in Belgium is HUGE

[DJR]

Nice research

 

Birth place is Meensel-Kiezegem, Brabant is too broad. I mean I was born in Vlaams-Brabant but 40 km from his birth place. 40 km in Belgium is HUGE

I'll rely on you to fill in and correct. All my info is off the net, chopped, edited, mixed, added, reduced, cooked up........like a Cannibal recipe!

Edited September 10, 2018 by DJR

[DJR]

3 - Eddy Merckx - A rising star

Early Professional career - 1965 to 1967
In 1965 Merckx started out with team Solo-Superia (a Belgian margarine maker) but was unhappy. He used the fact that he was under the age of 21 when he signed his contract, which was thus invalid, to leave the team after the first season. While with Solo-Superia in 1965 he won 9 minor races. From the start it was clear that he was not going to make a good domestique!
In 1966 he then joined team Peugeot-BP-Michelin for a much improved salary and happier team dynamics. His first major victory came in 1966 in Milan-San Remo, one of the monuments of cycling. He finished the season with a total of 20 wins.
In 1967 Merckx won the Milan-San Remo a second time, and also added the Fleche-Wallonne. He rode his first Grand Tour, the Giro Italia, won 2 stages and finished 9th overall. He also won the 1967 UCI World Championship road race, which made him the third rider ever to win both the world road race amateur and professional titles. By winning the race he earned the right to wear the rainbow jersey as world champion. To this day that rainbow forms part of the Eddy Merckx logo. 
At the end of 1967 he signed with team Faema in order to become their team leader and have a whole team working for him to have a shot at the major races. Faema, the Italian team sponsor, was the manufacturer of coffee machines. (Caffeine was not on the banned substances list.  )

Edited September 10, 2018 by DJR

[eddy]

You called ?

 

 

[DJR]

You called ?

I love the Molteni orange. It is at least as distinct as the Bianchi Celeste, but way more "manly"!

[Kranswurm]

My son with Eddy some years ago

Edited September 10, 2018 by Kranswurm

[emme]

Facebook Lido Crema:The best of Cycling-Shared History has a wealth of photos of that era.

[Tim Brink]

I had a Team Joker yellow Reynolds 753 Merckx frame in the mid 80s - full Super Record with a Regal saddle and Mavic GEL280s, followed by a pearl white 753 as an insurance replacement after I tested the 753-crashes-but-once theory. Both bought through Bernard Martini at Chris Willemse's shop at the bottom of Long Street in Cape Town. Both were a joy. I miss them. 

 

The Joker one looked a little like this: 

 

 

 

 

[Christie]

If I have my facts right, in his first Tour de France in 1969 he won the overall, mountain and sprint classifications. The feat has not been repeated since. Another interesting note is that he was u25 at the time, and he would have won best young rider as well if the award existed in '69

Edited September 10, 2018 by Christie

[Christie]

Mine:

http://i1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag294/dilbertZA/20161106_085550_zpsigca9vij.jpg

 

I would like to get a steel one too. I saw an Arcobalenco in the classifieds once... but had no Randelas

Edited September 10, 2018 by Christie

[DJR]

4 - Eddy Merckx - winning big

Professional career - 1967 to 1970 - Team Faema 
In 1967 his first victory for team Faema came at Paris–Roubaix. His big win of 1968 came when he won the Giro d Italia, his 1st Grand Tour, where he won overall, 2 stages, on points as well as king of the mountains. 
1969 saw victories at the Paris–Nice, Tour of Flanders, Milan-San Remo, Paris-Luxembourg  as well as Liege-Bastogne.
During the 1969 Giro d Italia he won four stages and held the race lead, but going into day 16 he failed a doping test and was disqualified from the race and suspended for a month, thus ending his Giro prematurely. However, this was overturned soon afterwards and he was cleared due to the "benefit of the doubt”.
Later in 1969 Eddy won his 1st Tour de France. Merckx finished the race with six stage victories, overall, points, mountains, and the award for most aggressive rider.
Later in a 1969 omnium race, Merckx crashed so severely that he remained unconscious for 45 minutes. He sustained a concussion, whiplash, damaged nerves in his back and a displaced pelvis. He remained in hospital for a week and spent six weeks in bed before starting to ride again. Merckx later said that he "was never the same again" after that crash and afterwards constantly struggled with pain while riding. Afterwards he became severely precise about the geometry and fit of his bikes.
1970 - A Giro-Tour double - Merckx’ 1970 Giro d'Italia was plagued by injuries but he still managed to win 2 stages, the time trial and the overall classification.
Merckx won the 1970 Tour de France by over twelve minutes, including eight stage victories and won the mountains and combination classifications. His eight stage wins equaled the previous record in a single Tour de France. He also became the third person to accomplish the feat of winning the Giro and the Tour de France in the same year.
And if you thought he took it easy to save himself for the “big” races, think again: In 1970 he also won Paris-Nice, Gent-Wevelgem, Tour of Belgium, Paris-Roubaix, La Fleche Wallonne and the Belgian Road Race Championships!