Eddy Merckx

Eddy Merckx married Claudine Acou, daughter of the trainer of the national amateur team, on 5 December 1967.

The couple had a girl named Sabrina on 14 February 1970 and a boy named Axel Merckx on 8 August 1972. Axel grew up to become a professional cyclist.

Eddy Merckx was born on 17 June 1945, to Jennie Pittomvils and Jules Merckx, at Brabant, in Belgium. When Eddy was a year old his family moved to Brussels in Belgium. Eddy Merckx has a younger brother Michel and younger sister Micheline.

Eddy Merckx is known to have had an active childhood and he was involved in a variety of sports like boxing, football and so on. He began cycling at the age of three or four and procured his first racing license in the year 1961. He began focusing on cycling rather than attending school; eventually dropping out of school to pursue his passion of cycling.

Eddy Merckx began amateur bicycle racing in 1961 upon getting his riding license and he completed sixth in his first race. He competed in twelve other races that year and he won his first race at Petit- Enghein on October 1961. Later on that year, he went on to train under former bicycle racer Félicien Vervaecke.

In 1962 he had his second victory at the Kermesse; during this year he competed in approximately 55 races and won the Belgian amateur road race title. During that season he had almost 23 victories.

In 1964, he was selected for the Summer Olympics for Men’s Road Race and finished in the twelfth place. Later on in 1964, he won the amateur road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Sallanches, France.

Eddy Merckx turned professional in April 1965 and signed with Rik Vann Looy’s Belgian team, Solo-Superia. During his stint with Solo-Superia he contested in approximately 70 races of which he won about 9.

He soon signed up with the cycling team Peugeot-BP-Michelin and made his professional racing debut as a professional rider in 1966 at the Paris- Nice cycling stage race. During that year he was part of multiple cycling stage races like the Tour of Flanders, Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix, Tour of Morbhihan and the 1966 Union Cycliste Internationale Road World Championships where he finished twelfth. He won a total of 20 races during this season.

Eddy Merckx is known to be an iconic figure in the world of bicycle riding and cycle racing. He has dominated the sport for over ten years and was rightly referred to as ‘The Cannibal’ and ‘Cycling God’.

Eddy Merckx has to his credit 5 Tours De France, 5 Giro d’Italias, 3 World Championships, and 7 Milan–San Remos among his major victories.

He has a total of 525 victories, which is unequalled record. He has also the credit of breaking the World Hour Record with an unparalleled record distance of 49.431 km.