Eddy Merckx

Eddy Merckx

Merckx in 1973
Personal information
Full name	Édouard Louis Joseph Merckx
Nickname	The Cannibal
Born	(1945-06-17) 17 June 1945 (age 71) Meensel-Kiezegem, Brabant, Belgium
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	74 kg (163 lb; 11.7 st)
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road and track
Role	Rider
Rider type	All-rounder
Amateur team(s)
1961–1964	Evere Kerkhoek Sportif
Professional team(s)
1965	Solo–Superia
1966–1967	Peugeot–BP–Michelin
1968–1970	Faema
1971–1976	Molteni
1977	Fiat France
1978	C&A
Major wins
Grand Tours Tour de France General classification (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974) Points classification (1969, 1971, 1972) Mountains classification (1969, 1970) Combativity award (1969, 1970, 1974, 1975) Combination classification (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974) 34 individual stages (1969–1975) Giro d'Italia General classification (1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974) Points classification (1968, 1973) Mountains classification (1968) 24 individual stages (1968–1974) Vuelta a España General classification (1973) Points classification (1973) Combination classification (1973) 6 individual stages (1973) Stage races Paris–Nice: (1969, 1970, 1971) Tour de Suisse: (1974) One-day races and Classics Milan–San Remo (1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976) Tour of Flanders (1969, 1975) Paris–Roubaix (1968, 1970, 1973) Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975) Giro di Lombardia (1971, 1972) Super Prestige Pernod International (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975) National Road Race Championships (1970)
Medal record Representing  Belgium Road bicycle racing World Championships 1964 Sallanches Amateur's road race 1967 Heerlen Professional road race 1971 Mendrisio Professional road race 1974 Montréal Professional road race

Grand Tours

Stage races

One-day races and Classics

Édouard Louis Joseph, baron Merckx (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈmɛrks]) (born 17 June 1945), better known as Eddy Merckx is a Belgian former professional road and track bicycle racer widely thought of as the most successful rider in the history of competitive cycling. His palmarès include a unequalled eleven Grand Tours (five Tours of France, five Tours of Italy, and a Tour of Spain), all five Monuments, three World Road Race Championships, the Hour Record, every major one-day race apart from Paris-Tours, and extensive victories on the track.

He was born in Meensel-Kiezegem, Brabant, Belgium. He grew up in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre where his parents ran a grocery store. He played several sports, but found his true passion in cycling. Merckx got his first bicycle at the age of three or four and competed in his first race in 1961. His first victory came at Petit-Enghien in October 1961, and after winning eighty races as an amateur racer, he turned professional on 29 April 1965 when he signed with Solo–Superia.

His first major victory came in the Milan–San Remo a year later, after switching to Peugeot–BP–Michelin. After the 1967 season, Merckx moved to Faema, and won the Giro d'Italia, his first of eleven Grand Tour victories – a record that still stands today. Four times between 1970 and 1974, Merckx completed a Grand Tour double. His final double also coincided with winning the men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships to make him the first rider to accomplish cycling's Triple Crown. Merckx broke the hour record in October 1972, extending the record by almost 800 meters.

...
Wikipedia