1945: The Birth of a World-Class Cycling Champion

June 17, 1945

Eddy Merckx, who would achieve unparalleled success as a rider in competitive cycling, was born in the town of Meensel-Kiezegem (part of the municipality of Tielt-Winge) in Belgium. He grew up in the municipality of Woluwe-Sain-Pierre, which is 20.7 miles (33.4 kilometers) southwest of Meensel-Kiezegem.

Merckx developed a passion for cycling early on in life. He acquired his first bicycle by the time he was only four years old. Starting at the age of eight, he pedaled his way to and from school every day.

Merckx began participating in cycling races in 1961; he achieved his first victory in this sport in October of that year in the Belgian town of Petit-Enghien. He went on to win 80 competitions as an amateur racer. Merckx turned professional in 1965. He earned his first major victory the following year when he finished first in the Milan-San Remo, an annual road cycling race in northwestern Italy.

Over the next several years, Merckx built on that victory and ultimately achieved hundreds of cycling triumphs as a professional racer. He became only one of three individuals who have won all five of the classic cycle races collectively known as the Monuments. These include not only the Milan-San Remo but also the Giro di Lombardia, likewise in Italy; the Tour of Flanders in his native Belgium; Liège-Bastogne-Liège, likewise in Belgium; and Paris-Roubaix in France. Merckx has the added distinction of being the only person who has won each of those races at least twice.

Merckx’s tough-to-match record and reputation as a fierce competitor led to his being nicknamed De Kannibaal (the Dutch phrase for “The Cannibal”). French professional cyclist Bernard Hinault, who also proved to be a high-achieving champion, cited Merckx when once asked to describe the ideal cyclist. Hinault asserted in that interview, “One takes Merckx’s legs, Merckx’s head, Merckx’s muscles, Merckx’s heart and Merckx’s zeal for victory.”

Merckx officially retired from professional cycling in 1978. His extensive range of activities in the years since then have included launching Eddy Merckx Cycles, a Belgian brand of road bikes. Merckx has been honored in numerous ways for his accomplishments. Eddy Merckx metro station in Brussels was opened in 2003, for example, and a statue of him in Meensel-Kiezegem was publicly unveiled in 2015.

Photo Credit: Chris Protopapas (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en)

Additional information on the cycling achievements of Eddy Merckx is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_career_achievements_by_Eddy_Merckx