Eddy Merckx (78) says in a rare interview conducted before his intestinal operation that he would not like to race today. Because sitting on a mountain for one match is not for him. ‘De Kannibaal’ preferred to ride them all, from classics to Giro and Tour. “I was obsessed with cycling, it was my life. Now it is all much more controlled.”
LOOK. Merckx visits Bruyneel: “I wouldn’t have liked to race today”
Eddy Merckx in the seat with Johan Bruyneel. The Cannibal looks relaxed and laughs often. The podcast episode is only now appearing online, but Johan Bruyneel confirms to HLN that the recordings date back to before New Year’s. So before March 26. Then, at night, Merckx was taken to the emergency department of the University Hospital in Jette with an intestinal crisis, where an intestine turned out to have been tilted. Last week he made his first public appearance for the opening of a new cycling museum in Aywaille. Then it was noticed that Merckx had lost a lot of weight.
So no update on his health. No, Bruyneel wants to go back in time in a ‘legend’ episode of his podcast ‘THE MOVE’ – for the occasion without co-host Lance Armstrong – but also talk about the current cycling world. He himself grew up in the ‘Merckx mania‘ and once even went to buy a bicycle from Eddy Merckx’s factory. “I noticed how maniacally you were working with material,” says Bruyneel. “I had to test the bike immediately, ride a lap around the church and while you walked along to see if I was sitting correctly on the bike.”
Now it is all much more controlled and directed. You have to realize that my first racing bikes weren’t even custom. They took a bicycle from a rack and I had to start racing with it.
Eddy Merckx
“That’s actually sickening of me,” Merckx responds. “In my career I was sometimes too busy with the material, it was a passion. My bike was my tool, I always tried to improve it. Not always for the better. I made a lot of mistakes, but I was working on them day and night. I was obsessed with cycling, it was my life.”
Bike off the rack
A big difference with contemporary cycling. Merckx also notes this himself. “Now it is all much more controlled and directed. You have to realize that my first racing bikes weren’t even custom. They took a bicycle from a rack and I had to start racing with it. So I won my first world title on a regular standard bike.”
Merckx mentions it several times in the podcast: his price period can no longer be compared to today’s. Back then there were no altitude training courses and people did not sit on a mountain for weeks to prepare for one specific competition. When asked by Bruyneel whether he sees himself functioning in today’s cycling world, which is being approached much more scientifically, Merckx is clear: “Honestly, I wouldn’t have liked to race today. Because I shouldn’t have participated in all the competitions. I just enjoyed racing too much. If I had been told then that I was not allowed to drive a classic… No, I don’t imagine myself in that world today.”
195 days
“Racing is pure fun, isn’t it? Yes, I liked to train too. But always train according to… Today they have about 80 racing days. I had a year in which I raced for 195 days. You just can’t compare it anymore. But the young riders are so used to that now. The riders now don’t really know anything else.”
That is why Merckx thinks it is great what Tadej Pogacar is doing. Because of the Giro-Tour combination. But also that he will participate in a few more classics, such as this year’s Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. With success then. Just like Merckx used to do. “The Tour de France is important, but not the only race that matters. Jonas Vingegaard only focuses on the Tour. What he does there is very exceptional.”
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