Eddie Merckx
Eddy
Merckx won five times in the
grueling “Tour de France”, cycling’s hardest test.
A
Belgium bicycle racer who is considered one of the greatest competition cyclists
of all time.
He
was born in a suburb of Brussels. He started bike racing at age 14 and four
years later he became the world amateur champion. Then he got the hang of it
when he was 19. He was nicknamed the Cannibal because he seemed to devour his
competition, and had an unstoppable appetite for victory. In 1964 he won the
Amateur World Champion cyclist. In 1965 he became a professional cyclist. In 1969 suspended during the Tour of
Italy on suspicion of illegal drug taking ,but these charges were dropped.
He
was the first Belgium in thirty
years to win the Tour de France. He was first noticed on the cycling scene when
he broke the unwritten rules and hurtled off during a race leaving his team and
leaders behind. Then he went on to win numerous one-day classic races and
although he was not at his peak during 1971-2 he still beat all rivals. He won
three world road Championships. Merckx covered 49.432km 30.717 miles in 60
minutes to break the world hour record.
In
1978 he retired, Merckx now works in his company in Belgium. Which supplies
high-quality bicycle frames to cyclists worldwide.
Amanda
Murray