Eddy Merckx: The Cannibal

At just over six foot in height and with the sort of stocky build you would associate with a soccer midfielder, you could be forgiven for not recognizing cycling's greatest star, Eddy Merckx. The five times winner of the Tour de France, didn't really look much like a cyclist, but he had the all the skills of the cycling heroes who had preceded him, plus an incredible appetite for winning that made people call him the Cannibal.

Merckx was born in Belgium, a country not famous for much. In fact, Europeans have a joke: "What is the slimmest book in the World?" The answer being the book of famous Belgians. But Merckx dominated the world of professional cycling for ten years starting with his first major victory, in the 1966 Milan-San Remo, when only 20 years old.

The list of his victories include virtually every major race in the cycling calendar, with 19 wins in the major races, 11 in the major Tours (Tours of Spain, Italy, and France), 4 World Championships, and a total of 445 professional races.

What set Merckx apart from the opposition? He was the fastest time trialist; a speedy sprinter, beaten only by the very best; a rouleur (the name given to those capable of maintaining a high speed, or cadence, on flat stages) - and most important of all, one of the best climbers. But his main strength in the mountains was not so much his climbing ability as his skill on the descent. Most of the top climbers possess light frames, necessary to shift both their own weight and that of the bike up the mountains. The drawback for these riders comes on the descent when they reach speeds of upwards of 50 mph. With their light weights they cannot keep their back wheels on the ground at high speeds and have to slow down. Merckx, with his greater body mass, had no such trouble. He scored many legendary wins in the mountains.

But his descending skills didn't come into play when stage races began to finish at the top of a mountain. The 1975 Tour, in which he came second to Bernard Thevenet, had four such finishes, and this, coupled with being punched by a spectator on his ascent of the Puy de Dome, later crashing and fracturing his cheekbone, and all this on top of the fact that he had earlier that year been suffering from tonsillitis, led to his first defeat. The following year he missed the Tour de France due to insisting on completing the Giro (Tour of Italy) while suffering from a saddle boil.

But, perhaps the greatest skill he possessed was as a general in charge of his team. Prior to the appearance of Merckx on the racing scene, riders had generally ridden for themselves, aiding other team members only in minor ways. Merckx changed all that. He made sure that every member of the Molteni team for which he rode, knew that their purpose in a race consisted solely of helping him to win. He was the best; the star, and they existed only to make him shine. His team mates had no objections; they knew Merckx would earn them more money than they could ever hope to do on their own.

Eddy Merckx changed the way that bikes are raced. All the other riders were forced to improve just to be able to compete with him. Today many of the top cycling stars ride bikes that are built by him, ensuring that the name Eddy Merckx will remain the top one in cycling.