TOUR HISTORY
order after each breakaway,
then adroitly offered up
victory to teammate Julien
Stevens, who also took over
the race lead.
From then on, those
watching the race speculated
and postulated… would the
Belgian go the distance,
would he succumb to fatigue,
how would his experienced
rivals react? In short,
everyone was hypothesising
while Merckx was simply
getting on with racing.
When the first climbs
arrived on Stage 5, his
opponents were already on
the ropes. At the top of the
Col du Firstplan, Merckx
broke away with ease from
the group of favourites.
The next day, on a short
and nervy stage, he took
advantage of the finish at
the summit of the Ballon
d’Alsace to put his pursuers
to the sword. Winner of the
stage, he opened a gap of
four minutes and 21 seconds
on his principal rivals. He not
only took the yellow jersey
(that he would hold to the
Tour’s finish), but he also led
the mountains, points and
combined classifications.
The Cannibal had emerged...
Ever increasing lead
Winning the time trials at
Divonne-les-Bains (Stage 8a)
and Revel (Stage 15) gave
Merckx even more of a buffer.
Not even Roger Pingeon’s
victory in Chamonix on Stage
9 did anything to change
the destiny of the 1969 Tour.
That’s because two days
later, to make a race that he
found a little slow “tougher”,
Merckx pushed hard on the
Col d’Allos and broke away
on the descent of the Col de
Corobin before winning the
sprint at Digne ahead of a
dehydrated Felice Gimondi,
to whom the Belgian offered
his bottle. The incident made
French journalist Antoine
Blondin describe Merckx as
“cold and despotic”.
Bizarrely, the only thing
that managed to worry Eddy
Merckx was a wasp. He was
stung by an insect on Stage
14 and stopped at the side
of the road, where an old
woman went to pick some
herbs, handed them to a race
follower and said, “Get the
young man to rub himself
with that.”
His opponents didn’t
irritate the “young man”
in similar fashion. It has
to be said that at the start
of the queen stage in the
Pyrenees between Luchon
and Mourenx, Merckx had
revealed his colours: “I’ll treat
myself to the first person to
“I’LL TREAT MYSELF TO THE FIRST PERSON TO ATTACK”
Merckx was unbeatable in
1969, leaving opponents
like Felice Gimondi to
keep up if they could.
attack.” As a result, nobody
moved a muscle. And, after
passing the Tourmalet in the
lead, Merckx covered the last
140km on his own, taking the
time to change his rear wheel
in order to have the ideal
gear on the approach to the
climb of the Col d’Aubisque.
It didn’t prevent him from
increasing his lead!
With the Tour decided,
its followers lingered over
the reasons for Merckx’s
success. Besides his
extraordinary aerobic
capacity, that had been
measured with a spirometer
before the start, and his
ability to recover, he was
especially interested in his
diet. “Knowing what to eat
is now part of the rider’s
baggage,” L’Équipe stated,
before going on to describe
The Cannibal’s menu. Thus
it was revealed that the
champion didn’t rely on water
alone. Along with two pieces
of steak, Merckx confessed to
drinking two glasses of wine
each evening, Beaujolais to
be precise.
Then came the final action.
The Belgian was 16 minutes
ahead of the second-placed
rider when he started the
final time trial between Créteil
and the La Cipale velodrome
in the Bois de Vincennes.
Nervous, he missed a turn
and hit a barrier. What did this
signify? That Merckx himself
was his only real opponent!
But in the month when man
walked on the moon for the
first time, Merckx got up
and continued his race to
the stars by winning the
stage – and the first of his
five yellow jerseys. ●
EDDY MERCKX AND THE TOUR DE FRANCE
Winner of the general classification: 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 & 1974
Winner of the points classification: 1969, 1971 & 1972
Winner of the mountains classification: 1969 & 1970
Winner of the combined classification: 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 & 1974
Winner of the combativity prize: 1969, 1970, 1974 & 1975
A record 34 stage wins
2 0 1 9 TO U R D E FR ANCE
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