Eddy Merckx

Baron Eddy Merckx /'merks/ (born Edouard Louis Joseph Merckx on June 17, 1945 in Meensel-Kiezegem, Belgium) is considered by many to be the greatest cyclist of the 20th century and arguably of all-time. He is the five-time champion of the two most important races in professional cycling, the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, is one of only four cyclists to have won all three of the Grand Tours (Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España) in a career, and one of only two men to have won the Triple Crown of Cycling (the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and the World Cycling Championship in the same year). In his 13 year professional career, Merckx entered 1582 road races and won 525?a winning rate of 35.5%. http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/8230.0.html, and is one of only three riders (all Belgian) to have won all five Classic cycle races at least once during his career. He also won the season-long Super Prestige Pernod International competition a record seven consecutive times.

Significant victories by race

Grand Tours

• 5x Tour de France
• 5x Giro d'Italia
• 1x Vuelta a España

Other tours

• 1x Tour de Suisse
• 2x Ronde van België/Tour de Belgique

Classic cycle races

• 7x Milan-San Remo
• 5x Liège-Bastogne-Liège
• 3x Paris-Roubaix
• 2x Giro di Lombardia
• 2x Tour of Flanders

World titles

• 4x World Championships

Track races

• 17 six-day races