What was Eddy Merkx's Specialty?
06-13-13, 02:52 PM
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What was Eddy Merkx's Specialty?
Climber? Sprinter? What?
06-13-13, 03:52 PM
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Really? You ask this in a forum rather than simply look up his palmares?
Merckx was a great time-triallist, a very good but not great sprinter, a climber who could crush all but the absolutely great, and a rouleur who repeatedly annihilated the opposition in the classics. His career statistics are close to incredible. In his most successful years ( which came after an horrific crash that left him with a twisted pelvis) he won 50% of the races he entered, and he raced more than 100 times a year.
The man was a colossus. Buy William Fotheringham's recent biography. A top, top rider is quoted in there as saying that coming second to Merckx counted as a victory.
Merckx was a great time-triallist, a very good but not great sprinter, a climber who could crush all but the absolutely great, and a rouleur who repeatedly annihilated the opposition in the classics. His career statistics are close to incredible. In his most successful years ( which came after an horrific crash that left him with a twisted pelvis) he won 50% of the races he entered, and he raced more than 100 times a year.
The man was a colossus. Buy William Fotheringham's recent biography. A top, top rider is quoted in there as saying that coming second to Merckx counted as a victory.
06-13-13, 05:21 PM
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06-13-13, 07:06 PM
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Professional Fuss-Budget
Winning
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06-13-13, 09:08 PM
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Thanks for the responses, guys.
No offense, but many of you come off as pretty smug on this forum. I am 23 years old. Part of the reason I posted the question was to stimulate discussion as well as satisfy my own curiosity.
No offense, but many of you come off as pretty smug on this forum. I am 23 years old. Part of the reason I posted the question was to stimulate discussion as well as satisfy my own curiosity.
06-13-13, 09:15 PM
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What was his specialty? Amphetamines
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Birth Certificate, Passport, Marriage License Driver's License and Residency Permit all say I'm a Fred. I guess there's no denying it.
06-13-13, 10:12 PM
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Really? You ask this in a forum rather than simply look up his palmares?
Merckx was a great time-triallist, a very good but not great sprinter, a climber who could crush all but the absolutely great, and a rouleur who repeatedly annihilated the opposition in the classics. His career statistics are close to incredible. In his most successful years ( which came after an horrific crash that left him with a twisted pelvis) he won 50% of the races he entered, and he raced more than 100 times a year.
The man was a colossus. Buy William Fotheringham's recent biography. A top, top rider is quoted in there as saying that coming second to Merckx counted as a victory.
Merckx was a great time-triallist, a very good but not great sprinter, a climber who could crush all but the absolutely great, and a rouleur who repeatedly annihilated the opposition in the classics. His career statistics are close to incredible. In his most successful years ( which came after an horrific crash that left him with a twisted pelvis) he won 50% of the races he entered, and he raced more than 100 times a year.
The man was a colossus. Buy William Fotheringham's recent biography. A top, top rider is quoted in there as saying that coming second to Merckx counted as a victory.
By the way, I actually am 70 pages into "Half Man, Half Bike."
06-13-13, 10:29 PM
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The greatest cyclist of all time that entered everything. Track, Classics, Tours and Grand Tours and won them all. He was called the Cannibal because he ate up all the points in races. He started as a pure sprinter and developed into the greatest GC rider of all time.
The greatest cyclist of all time that entered everything. Track, Classics, Tours and Grand Tours and won them all. He was called the Cannibal because he ate up all the points in races. He started as a pure sprinter and developed into the greatest GC rider of all time.
06-14-13, 03:05 AM
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Cyclists seem to be really overly-confident boobs. lol
06-14-13, 03:57 AM
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By the way, I actually am 70 pages into "Half Man, Half Bike."
06-14-13, 06:07 AM
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calm down.
That which separates us from the fleshy eye to eye reality of meeting another human being in relationship (driving, as another example) seems to bring out negative human qualities.
06-14-13, 09:25 AM
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06-14-13, 10:30 AM
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What was his specialty? Winning.
because he was strong enough in all of the above. .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_Merckx
06-14-13, 10:55 AM
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You must be a real pleasure when you get off the internet. Ironically, there is power in numbers in regards to bicycle initiatives. Most people would welcome newfound interest in bicycles, but hey, keep up the elitist attitude and you can keep the sport to yourself.
06-14-13, 01:03 PM
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Cyclists, boobs, not sure over confident though
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You could hit a tree and die.
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06-14-13, 01:05 PM
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One indicia of Merckx all around ability is that he won all the jerseys, green , yellow and polka dot in the same TDF.
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You could hit a tree and die.
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06-14-13, 01:42 PM
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30 seconds, really? Other than the unanimous sentiment that he is the best cyclist ever, I saw little that indicated his strengths.
You must be a real pleasure when you get off the internet. Ironically, there is power in numbers in regards to bicycle initiatives. Most people would welcome newfound interest in bicycles, but hey, keep up the elitist attitude and you can keep the sport to yourself.
You must be a real pleasure when you get off the internet. Ironically, there is power in numbers in regards to bicycle initiatives. Most people would welcome newfound interest in bicycles, but hey, keep up the elitist attitude and you can keep the sport to yourself.
06-14-13, 02:12 PM
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06-14-13, 02:55 PM
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Only Hinault has has matched the for a career. The year before he won all in the Giro. The only rider to match that in a career is ...
No one. He won the GC and Points Jerseys in the Vuelta the only time he entered it (and the only the Vuelta was arguably the toughest of the tours since it had the eventual winners of the Tour and Giro placing 2nd and first) and he missed the KOM by 4 points.
06-14-13, 03:22 PM
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One thing that you can look for in a rider is the Great exploit or the one great year or the special combination of races. Or even if he is a better tour or classics rider.
Some lack the exploit (Armstrong comes to mind). Many lack the one great year or some special combination of races (or jerseys)
The problem with Merckx if picking which of many. Triple Crown (Tour, Giro and Worlds in the same year) yup. Winning the Worlds and a Grand Tour in the same year multiple times, yup. Winning Paris Roubaix and aGrand tour in the same year yup (actually giro, Giro and Tour, Giro and Vuelta).
There are sites that do crank the numbers rankings and those usually calculate it for each year. Every one I know of agrees Merckx had the best year ever. They do not agree which year it was.
One possible pick for the exploit for Merckx would be stage 17 of the 1969 TDF. Technically that exploit started with 200 meters to go on the next to last climb. But it really started with the decent. Yup he was also a great decender.
When Merckx was riding 6 day events were big. Merckx has the best win rate and I'm pretty sure is only second in total wins to Patrick Sercu (Guess who the favorites were when they temed up, which they did pretty often.
Final thing. Merckx also broke the hour record. Almost everyone who knows cycling knows that. What not as many know is he originally intended ot break the records for 5, 10 and 20 kms on the way to the hour record. He decided that was not possible. So he reset his goals, just the 10 and 20 km records. He met those goals.
06-15-13, 02:24 AM
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He is what all riders will be judged against. Classic Merckx story, 1st time he came to the LA bike show, now what is Interbike. This is back in the early 80's when he was just getting his bike line going in the states..
He was to be part of a panel of expert builders and tell why there bikes are better than others.. Of course most builders got into the nitty gritty of geometry, what type of tubing they were using. Then it was eddy's turn to go in front of the audience of hundreds.. There was a generic bike on stage, he walks up to the bike and says - "This bike is no good, sell it and buy an Eddy Merckx" That's all he said and few could argue with the greatest cyclist in history.
He was to be part of a panel of expert builders and tell why there bikes are better than others.. Of course most builders got into the nitty gritty of geometry, what type of tubing they were using. Then it was eddy's turn to go in front of the audience of hundreds.. There was a generic bike on stage, he walks up to the bike and says - "This bike is no good, sell it and buy an Eddy Merckx" That's all he said and few could argue with the greatest cyclist in history.