It was the 133 km long 6th stage from Mulhouse to the Ballon d’Alsace at the Tour de France 1969, when Eddy Merckx celebrated his first Tour de France stage victory. Although Merckx was a Tour de France debutant in 1969, the peloton already knew him very well. He already won the Giro d’Italia (1968) and several one-day classics (including 4 of the 5 monuments).
Eddy Merckx won Milano-Sanremo seven times (1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976). When he crossed tge finish line on Via Roma in Sanremo before anyone else on 20th March 1966, he was only 20 years old, which makes him the youngest ever Milano-Sanremo winner. MOE EDDY MERCKX ON PELOTONTALES [su_posts posts_per_page=”3″ tax_term=”83″ order=”desc” orderby=”rand”]
During his extraordinary career, Eddy Merckx won Paris-Nice three times (1969, 1970 and 1971). The edition in 1969 was one of those few times, when he had the chance to compete against Jacques Anquetil, who rode his last Paris-Nice that year. Merckx became 1st, Anquetil 3rd, and it’s quite symbolic, that the thord man on the final podium was Raymond Poulidor. MORE EDDY MERCKX ON PELOTONTALES BLOG [su_posts posts_per_page=”3″ tax_term=”83″ order=”desc” orderby=”rand”] MORE RAYMOND POULIDOR ON PELOTONTALES BLOG [su_posts posts_per_page=”3″ tax_term=”740″ order=”desc” orderby=”rand”] MORE JACQUES ANQUETIL [su_posts posts_per_page=”3″ tax_term=”78″ order=”desc” orderby=”rand”]
Eddy Merckx leads the list of cyclists with the most Milano-Sanremo victories with seven occasions. Fun fact: at the time of Merckx’s big triumphs Cipressa was not introduced to the race yet . (It happened only in 1982.) Eddy Merckx (BEL) 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976 Costante Girardengo (ITA) 1918, 1921, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1928 Gino Bartali (ITA) 1939, 1940, 1947, 1950 Erik Zabel (GER) 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001 Fausto Coppi (ITA) 1946, 1948, 1949 Roger De Vlaeminck (BEL) 1973, 1978, 1979 Óscar Freire (ESP) 2004, 2007, 2010
There are only three riders, who managed to win at least a stage in all the three specialities (sprint and mountain stages and individual time trial) during a Tour de France: Eddy Merckx 1974 Bernard Hinault 1979 Wout van Aert 2021 MORE CYCLING FUN FACT ON PELOTONTALES [su_posts posts_per_page=”7″ tax_term=”425″ order=”desc”]
It’s not only the early days of road cycling, but sometimes unique moments with animals could (and can) happen in more modern times during a cycling event. Like this one from (most likely )the Tour de France in 1975, when a horse was eager to run alongside with Eddy Merckx and co. MORE UNIQUE VINTAGE CYCLING MOMENTS ON PELOTONTALES [su_posts posts_per_page=”7″ tax_term=”682″ order=”desc” orderby=”rand”]
Eddy Merckx rode Vuelta a España only once during his extremely successful carreer, in 1973. He won the race, managed to achieve the first ever Vuelta-Giro double in the history of road cycling races, also became the third cyclist after Jacques Anquetil and Felice Gimondi, who has won all the three grand tours at least once. The 28th edition of Vuelta Cyclista a España was held between 26 April and 13 May 1973. Merckx won six stages (3 of them were individual time trials). He took the overall lead only after the 11th stage. The biggest rivals of Merckx were Luis Ocaña ( who that year, with the absence of Merckx would win the Tour… Read More »Eddy Merckx’s results at Vuelta a España
As La Vuelta ciclista a España (19 August-11 September 2022), the last three-week race of of the season is nearing, let’s talk about the cyclists who won all the three grand tours at least one time. Jacques Anquetil was the first rider to achieve this, when he finally won the Vuelta in 1963. At that point of his career, he already had a Giro d’Italia and 3 Tour de France victories. The full list of his grand tour triumphs: Tour de France 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964 Giro d’Italia 1960, 1964 Vuelta a España 1963 Felice Gimondi also managed to win all the three big races at least one time: Tour de France 1965 Giro… Read More »Topic of the month in August: the giants of the grand tours
Before the 17th stage of Tour de France 1969 Eddy Merckx’s first overall victory was almost secured. He led the general classification with more than 8 minutes. The 214, 5 km long stage between Luchon and Mourenx included the “big four” ascents of the Pyrenees: Peyresourde, Aspin, Tourmalet, Aubisque. Eddy Merckx (Faema) attacked right before the top of Tourmalet, only to collect some mountain points. A few km later he realized, that nobody went with him. Lomme Driessens, the Directeur Sportif of Faema told him to wait for the rest of the peloton. But Merckx decided differetly. It was still 105 km to go. Merckx rode it solo. He finished almost 8 minutes ahead of… Read More »Eddy Merckx’s epic solo ride in the Pyrenees
Eddy Merckx won the Giro d’Italia five times (1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974) during his extraordinary career. The 51st Giro d’Italia was held between the 20th May and 12th June 1968. This was Merckx’s second participation. A year earlier, he finished 9th in the general classification. During the Giro d’Italia in 1968, Merckx won a total of 4 stages, including the hilltop finish on Tre Cime di Lavaredo.