"Cannibal" is 75 years old

Eddy Merckx was born on 17 June 1945 in Meensel-Kiezegem, Flanders. He grew up in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, a suburb of Brussels, where his parents opened a grocery store. The hyperactive, constantly moving little boy got his first bike at the age of three, and although he tried several sports, figuratively speaking, he didn’t get off the saddle from then on. He started his first amateur competition at the age of sixteen, a year later he was already a Belgian champion in his age, he won the amateur world championship at the age of 19, and he was already competing among the pros at the age of twenty.

He won his first major road race in 1966, the following year a gold medal was hung around his neck at the World Road Cycling Championships, and he won the World Cup in 1971 and 1974 as well. He first started the Tour de France in 1969 and won right away. He won six stages, including the most difficult mountain stage, where he finished increasing his advantage eight minutes ahead of the others. After the Paris finish, he was able to put on not only the yellow jersey that was the overall winner, but also the green that triumphed in the points race and the polka dot that was the best mountain cool - no one had managed to triple before or since.

The 1970 Touron lost the green jersey by a few points, but as well as winning the title of "King of the Mountains" in the complex, even though he was tormented by stomach cramps in the Pyrenees, he had to be put in an oxygen tent after one particularly difficult stage. That year, he made history again: in the Italian circuit, Girón (where he was disqualified in 1969, citing doping), he also won with a knee injury and nine stage victories. Until then, in 1964, the French legend Jacques Anquetil was able to do so, whose performance was then called unrepeatable. Mercx thoroughly rebuked the experts, winning the two most prestigious battles twice more (1970,1972) in the same year.

The 1971 Touron fought a huge duel with the Spanish Luis Ocana, who attacked back completely unexpectedly on a mountain stretch and eventually beat him for nine minutes. Merckx did everything it could to cut off its disadvantage, but in the end it was decided by an unfortunate accident: on one of the slopes in the Pyrenees, they both fell in the pouring rain and the Spaniard was unable to continue the race. Merckx wasn't happy to take the lead like this, so he didn't even pull on his yellow jersey the next day. The 1972 race was again about a duel between the two of them, but the fight ended again prematurely: the Spaniard fell again in the mountains, got a puncture, and two weeks later had to give up the race due to an infection that attacked his lungs. Merckx - after his fourth win in a row - missed the Tour in 1973 (according to his contract, he had to start in the Italian and Spanish rounds, and he would have had three races already), but he returned in 1974, and if not with such a convincing advantage, as before, but also collected his fifth priority.

At the 1975 circuit in France, he had only counterattackers, as the pride of the Gauls would have been hurt if Merckx had won six times, breaking the record of their national hero Jacques Anquetil. The tempers were so degenerate that in the longest 260-kilometer stage, a spectator cut the Belgian in the kidneys and received only a symbolic, one-franc penalty for his deed. The increasingly tired Merckx fell in the Alps, broke his jawbone, injured his knees and hips, but did not give up, and eventually finished second.

His fanatical desire to win, and sometimes his ruthlessness that pushed the boundaries of fair play, referred to him in the press as the Cannibal because he "devoured" all his rivals. During his career, he competed in 1,585 races and won 525, leading 24 races as a rookie, 56 as an amateur, and 445 in the professional camp. Of the three major rounds, he won the Tour de France five times and also the Giro d'Italia five times, and once in 1973 the Vuelta a España. The Touron to date is his most, with 34 stage victories in number and he has worn the longest, 96, and 111 "jerseys" along with the yellow jersey 111 times. In addition to three professional world championship gold medals, in 1972 he also set a one-hour world record with 49,431 kilometers. This peak was only overthrown in 1984, and today it has been up and running for nearly 53 kilometers, but Merckx has not yet ridden a bike made with today’s super-technology.

Retired in 1978 and embarked on bicycle manufacturing, Merckx machines are a great success. From 1986 to 1996, he was the head coach of the Belgian road cycling team, and he also provides expert advice, organization and on-site coverage of cycling competitions.

The Belgian rider, who has dominated the sport for 13 years, was voted the cyclist of the century in 1999 and the best road cyclist of the 20th century in 2000. He is a national institution in his homeland, he became a baron in 1996, he became a Belgian athlete of the century, he has been named after a metro station in Brussels since 2003, he has a statue in his hometown, and a cycling stadium near Tours in France. The cycling legend married the daughter of the amateur national team coach in 1967, and one of her two children also became a professional cyclist.

(Source: Source: sportrajongo.hu, mti / Photo: pixabay)