Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx, better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional road and track bicycle racer who is among the most successful riders in the history of competitive cycling. His victories include an unequalled eleven Grand Tours, all five Monuments, setting the hour record, three World Championships, every major one-day race other than Paris–Tours, and extensive victories on the track.
The Triple Crown of Cycling is a term used in road bicycle racing to denote the achievement of winning three major titles in the same season, usually the Giro d'Italia general classification, the Tour de France general classification and the UCI Road World Championships Road Race.
Axel Eddy Lucien Jonkheer Merckx is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer and the son of five-time Tour de France champion Eddy Merckx. He is team director of UCI Continental team Hagens Berman Axeon.
Christopher Miles Boardman, is a British former racing cyclist. A time trial and prologue specialist, Boardman won the inaugural men's World time trial championship in 1994, won the individual pursuit gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics, broke the world hour record three times, and won three prologue stages at the Tour de France.
Merckx is a Dutch patronymic surname, from the given name Merk / Merkus, a regional form of Mark / Marcus. While in Belgium the spelling Merckx is dominant, in the Netherlands the variants Merks, Merkus, Merkx, and Merx are more common. Notable people with the surname include:
The 1971 Tour de France was the 58th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The 3,608-kilometre (2,242 mi) race consisted of 22 stages, including three split stages, starting in Mulhouse on 26 June and finishing at the Vélodrome de Vincennes in Paris on 18 July. There were three time trial stages and two rest days. Eddy Merckx of the Molteni team won the overall general classification, defending his title to win his third Tour de France in a row. Joop Zoetemelk (Flandria–Mars) finished second, 9:51 minutes behind, and Lucien Van Impe was third (Sonolor–Lejeune), just over 11 minutes in arrears.
The 1972 Giro d'Italia was the 55th running of the Giro, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in Venice on 21 May, with a 5.2 km (3.2 mi) prologue and concluded with a 197 km (122 mi) mass-start stage, on 11 June. A total of 100 riders from ten teams entered the 20-stage race, that was won by Belgian Eddy Merckx of the Molteni team. The second and third places were taken by Spaniards José Manuel Fuente and Francisco Galdós, respectively.
The 1969 Giro d'Italia was the 52nd edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The 3,851-kilometre (2,393 mi) race consisted of 23 stages, one of which was a split stage, starting in Garda on 16 May and finishing Milan on 8 June. There were two time trial stages and a single rest day. Felice Gimondi of the Salvarani team won the overall general classification, his second victory. Italians Claudio Michelotto placed second, 3 min and 35 s slower than Gimondi, and Italo Zilioli (Filotex) was third, over four minutes behind Gimondi.
The 1970 Giro d'Italia was the 53rd edition of the Giro, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The 3,292-kilometre (2,046 mi) race consisted of 20 stages, starting in San Pellegrino Terme on 18 May and finishing Bolzano on 7 June. There was one time trial stage and a single rest day. Eddy Merckx of the Faemino team won the overall general classification, his second victory. Italians Felice Gimondi (Salvarani) placed second, 3 min and 14 s slower than Merckx, and Martin Van Den Bossche (Molteni) was third, nearly five minutes behind Merckx.
Edwig Van Hooydonck is a former professional road racing cyclist from Belgium. He won the prestigious Tour of Flanders twice and Brabantse Pijl four times. Van Hooydonck retired from professional cycling because he felt he could no longer compete with other cyclists, who were at the time starting to dope themselves, without himself cheating too. At this time Erythropoietin (EPO) was becoming a widely used doping agent in the sport. He is the uncle of current professional cyclist Nathan Van Hooydonck.
Christian Raymond is a French former professional road bicycle racer. In 1970 Raymond won a stage in the 1970 Tour de France. He also competed in the individual road race at the 1964 Summer Olympics.
The Maiella is a massif in the Central Apennines, in Abruzzo, central Italy.
Yves Duval was a Belgian comics author who mainly worked for Tintin magazine, but also wrote comics, stories, and articles for other magazines.
The Men's Individual Road Race of the 1987 UCI Road World Championships cycling event took place on September 6 in Villach, Austria. The route consisted of twenty-three laps totaling to a length of 276 km (171 mi). Irishman Stephen Roche won the race, while Italian Moreno Argentin and Spaniard Juan Fernández finished second and third, respectively. By winning the race, Roche also completed the Triple Crown of Cycling, which consists of winning two Grand Tour races and the men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships in a calendar year.
Flandria was a Belgian professional cycling team that existed from 1957 to 1979. It was sponsored by Flandria a bicycle manufacturer located in West Flanders that also manufactures mopeds, lawnmowers, and motorbikes.
This is a list of records and statistics in the Tour de France, road cycling's premier competitive event.
S.A. Cycles Eddy Merckx Rijwielen N.V., better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian brand of high end road bikes, founded by former professional road cyclist Eddy Merckx in 1980. It is considered to be one of the most prestigious bicycle brands in the world.
The Men's Individual Road Race of the 1974 UCI Road World Championships cycling event took place on August 25 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The route consisted of twenty-one laps around a circuit that contained two climbs within it, totaling to a length of 262.5 km (163.1 mi). Belgian Eddy Merckx won the race, while French riders Raymond Poulidor and Mariano Martínez finished second and third, respectively. This was Merckx's third victory in the men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships, equaling the record. In addition, he also completed the Triple Crown of Cycling, which consists of winning two Grand Tour races and the men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships in a calendar year.
Celebrity comics are comics based on the fame and popularity of a celebrity. They are a byproduct of merchandising around a certain media star or franchise and have existed since the mass media and comics came into existence in the 19th century. Celebrity comics are usually not held in high esteem by critics, because of their purely commercial nature. They are solely created to capitalize on media trends and therefore published so quickly and cheaply that drawings and narratives tend to be of very low quality.
Faemino–Faema was a professional cycling team that existed from 1968 to 1970. Faema's most prominent rider was Eddy Merckx who won his first four grand tours with the team.