http://www.belgium.fgov.be/abtb/engels/0007/0711291.htm

Eddy MERCKX (1945)

Eddy Merckx is considered to be the greatest Belgian sportsman of all
time.  He is the only Belgian athlete who was voted world sportsman of
the year three times (1969, 1971 and 1974).  His nickname was "the
cannibal", because of his eagerness to win every race.

As a little boy he admired Stan Ockers, another famous Belgian cyclist.
Merckx's career began in 1961 (juniors) and ended in 1978.  His record
of achievements is still unmatched.  Merckx was a complete cyclist.  He
was skilled in classics as well as in tours.  He was not only an
excellent sprinter but also an outstanding climber.  Neither time trials
or velodrome racing presented him with any problem.

Eddy Merckx won 445 races at the highest level.  He won his first
important title in 1964 as amateur world champion.  He became a
professional cyclist in 1965.  In 1966 he won the Milan-San Remo
classic, his first important victory as a profesional.  He won this race
seven times (1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975 and 1976).  He was world
champion three times (1967, 1971 and 1974).

Eddy Merckx won the Tour de France five times between 1969 and 1974, not
participating in 1973.  He won 34 Tour races, which is still a record.
He wore the yellow jersey on 96 days.  Merckx also recorded five wins in
the Tour of Italy (1968, 1970, 1972, 1973 en 1974).  He was able to wear
the competition's pink jersey on 76 days.  He also won other Tours such
as the Tour of Spain (1973), the Tour of Switzerland (1974) and the Tour
of Belgium (twice) in 1970 and 1971.

In 1972 Merckx added the one-hour world record to his name.  It lasted
for more than one decade and it wasn't broken until new types of
aerodynamic bicycles came into use in the eigthies.

Merckx was also succesful in classic races.  He won the Paris-Roubaix
race three times (1968, 1970, and 1973), the Liège-Bastogne-Liège race
five times, the "flèche wallonne" (Tour of Wallonia) three times and the
Tour of Flanders twice.  He also won victories in other races such as
Paris-Nice, Ghent-Ghent, Ghent-Wevelgem, the Tour of Lombardy, the Tour
of Sardinia and the Grand Prix of the Nations.  He was champion of
Belgium once in 1970.

With this record of success in a rather tough sport, Eddy Merckx was
honoured many times.  He won the Belgian Trophy of Sports Merit (1967),
which one can only win once.  Between 1969 and 1974 he was Belgian
sportsman of the year six times.  Sports journalists elected him Belgian
Sportsman of the century.

In 1996 King Albert II accorded Eddy Merckx the Olympic Order in the
name of the International Olympic Committee for his contribution to the
development of cycling.  Already chevalier of the Order of Leopold, Eddy
Merckx was awarded the title of baron in the same year.  Also in 1996 a
sculpture was erected beside the Toulouse-Bayonne highway to honour the
heroes of the Tour de France.  Eddy Merckx is shown wearing the yellow
jersey, as he triumphantly reaches the finishing line.