Bert
06/14/2025 (Sat) 09:29
[Preview]
No.17296
del
“ You cannot explain how good Eddy was if you never drove it ”: with Roger De Vlaeminck visiting Eddy Merckx ( 80 )
How do you celebrate the eightieth birthday of the greatest cyclist? With a visit of – we will say this time – the second largest. So we called, birthday present under his arm, with Roger De Vlaeminck ( 77 ) at Eddy Merckx. For a conversation about getting old, 30 Monuments on one step, cycling at 20 an hour, Pogacar and Pedersen, but especially about Merckx itself. “ Eddy? You can't explain that if you've never driven it, dude. "
Half an hour before he will ring the bell at Eddy Merckx's square farm, Roger De Vlaeminck marvels next to us about the busy traffic on the E40 on a weekday. “ Where does all that go, vent ”, he says three times. “ The gazet said that 30,000 cars are added every year. Can't they all drive to Eddy? ” Would it have been our idea to pay Eddy Merckx a surprise visit, may we put that away. At the same time, De Vlaeminck has already tapped Eddy Merckx's number on his phone. When recorded on the other side, he shouts: “ Ha, Eddy, say, I hear you're getting eighty. We're on our way, huh. I hope you are in shape. ” And when he hooks up again seconds later: “ I don't know why I'm asking Eddy to be in shape. Eddy is always in shape. He shouldn't tell me anything else. ”
In Sint-Brixius-Rode, the host Roger De Vlaeminck approaches the courtyard of his restored farm. Tuesday, on June 17, Eddy Merckx turns eighty. A rider with an honors list longer than a Monday morning file. While Roger De Vlaeminck is wondering out loud when he has been here – “ Have we not gathered here before the World Cup in Yvoir in ‘ 75?” — and Eddy tries to make it clear to him that this is difficult: “ I only came here in ’ 80, Roger ”, there are thirty monuments on one step on the stairs to the living area. Thirty victories in the biggest one-day races: Milan-Sanremo, Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour of Lombardy. Nineteen victories for the birthday boy. Eleven pieces for his visitor. Even Tadej Pogacar, number three in the eternal rankings,it should set — provisionally — by nine. That alone is worth a photo. And a cake. Claudine serves them in multiples for Eddy's birthday. We recognize strawberries, pistachio and chocolate. On the way earlier, De Vlaeminck has entrusted us that he is ‘ on regime ’. “ This afternoon I only ate a head of lettuce and some nuts. ” But he clearly does not turn down this strawberry cake. And to drink it may be “ a whiskey ”: “ Then I can chat better. Santé, hey, Eddy! ”And to drink it may be “ a whiskey ”: “ Then I can chat better. Santé, hey, Eddy! ”And to drink it may be “ a whiskey ”: “ Then I can chat better. Santé, hey, Eddy! ”
Getting eighty, what does that do to someone?
Merckx: “ Not so much. Eighty is just a number. But it has already been busy. Yesterday the Gazzetta dello Sport, tomorrow a Spaniard, the Rai who will call me later, it has been weeks of that. They haven't forgotten me yet. And my health is not yet famous. I still have problems in my hip. I fell on December 9. Normally they say you are cycling back three weeks after surgery. It has been six months with me now. Only recently have I been on my bike again. ”
The Vlaeminck: “ Eighty years. Where has all this time gone? I am 78 ( on August 24, ed. ). In about three years I will have my squat. This week. I take off my grass, I drive a well and I get a shock in my back. Always give everything as a driver, walked a lot after my career, that is now a mistake for me. My knees are bothering me. If it doesn't rain ’ in the morning I will still cycle. But only on the mountain bike. Forty kilometers, maximum, at twenty per hour. And you? ”