Eddy Merckx is a formerly -professional Belgian, bicycle racer. He competed in 1585 races in his 13 year-long career. So today I will tell you about Eddy Merckx biography. That will really inspire you to succeed in life and how can you change your future by working in the present day. So get ready to read about him.
Introduction-
Eddy Merckx is a formerly -professional Belgian, bicycle racer. He competed in 1585 races in his 13 year-long career. He is one of the most celebrated cyclists of all time, with 11 Grand Tour wins, three World Championships and the world Hour Record to his name.
Eddy Merckx's full name is Edouard Louis Joseph Merckx. He was born on June 17, 1945, in Belgium, to Jennie Merckx and Jules Merckx.
Early life and Cycling Career -
He began cycling at the mere age of 4 and got his first racing licence in 1961. He dropped out of school to pursue his passion. In 1962 persuaded his parents to let him drop out of the school to pursue competitive cycling full- time.
it soon proved to be the right choice. In 1962, he entered 55 races as an amateure and won 23 of them, including Belgium's national championship. He soon began to dominate cyclists in other European countries. In 1964 he won the Amateure World Championship Road Race, and the next year he turned professional. His first major victory came in 1966 before he was even 21, at the Milan-San Remo cycle race in Italy.
Eddy Merckx's Domination in Cycling Competetions-
Merckx won Belgium's national championship and was beginning to dominate the sport. His next victory came in 1964 at the Amateure World Championship Road Race. The following year he started competing professionally and signed with Rik Van Looky's Belgian team, Solo Superia. During his time with Solo Superia, he took part in more than seventy races.
In 1966, he moved to Peugeot's cycling team and got his first major win as a professional at the Milan San Remo cycle race at the age of twenty. He won twenty races in 1967.
In 1967, Merckx started his first Grand Tour and won several stages of the race. At the end of the year, he was ranked 9th overall. He became the world champion after winning the UCI Road World Championships in the Netherlands, and also won the same in 1971 and 1974. In 1968, he took part in the Giro did Sarddegna, which he won. During that season he sadly had to pull out from races like the Paris Nice Race and Tour of Flanders due to a knee injury. Despite that, he attended the 1968 Giro d'Italia race and won. He scored a total of 32 victories that season.
Between 1968 to 974 he won the Paris Nice Race and Tour de France, the Giro de Italia, and the Vuelta a Levante. He participated in the Paris Luxembourg cycle race but suffered from an accident that could have been fatal.
the riders word to be followed by pacers. His pacer was Fernand Wambst. A collision occurred between Merckx, his pacer and another pacer. Wambst died in the accident and Merckx was heavily injured; it took him months to recover.
Between 1969 and 1975 Merckx won about half the races he participated in. He was a cycling legend when it came to fitness. An experiment was also conducted on Merckx to study how he managed to race for such long periods. The result showed that he had the ability to maintain his speed even with high levels of lactic acid in his body.
in 1972, he set the record for the greatest distance covered by a cyclist in one hour----- 49.431 km or about 30.715 miles. He broke the record in the difficult and high altitude terrain of the Mexico track. In 1977 he got a new sponsor: FIAT. He started the season by winning the Tour Mediterraneen and Grand Prix d'Aix. He completed the year by winning the Kermis race. Eddy Merckx began competing in only a few selected races in order to focus more on his health.
Merckx's Announcement for retirement -
In May 1978, he announced his retirement from bicycle racing. After retirement, he started Eddy Merckx Cycles in 1980. Despite facing many difficult problems, the company went on to achieve success among professional cyclists. For a decade, Merckx helped manage the World Championships for the Belgian team. Even after he retired, Merckx was involved with the sport in some way or the other. In 2002, He helped in arranging the Tour of Qatar and recognized the Tour of Oman road races.
In his entire career, Merckx won over 445 races, which is a record in itself. He is recognized as the first athlete to have covered a record distance with 49.431 km in one hour.
Eddy Merckx's Marriage Life-
Eddy Merckx married with Claudine Acou on December 5, 1967. The couple are proud parents of two children. Eddy's son , Alex Merckx, is also a professional cyclist.
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