2012

We cannot evaluate Merckx without evoking his immoderate love for cycling, his devotion and his respect for traditions. Emblematic champion of the first "live" TV shows in which his photogenic was simply wonderful. Merckx was present wherever the organ of the world calendar rang. He was the ruthless predator of the classics and the enlightened despot in the grand tours. Is the Tour de France an opera? He was the inspired tenor. Is the Giro a liturgy? It was the brave prophet whose memory still torments the snowy theater of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. In his palmares: 525 races, 32 Classics, 96 yellow jerseys, 76 Maglia Rosa. An hour record that Bernard Hinault never dared to attempt.Merckx was multiple, orchestral, to sum up, unattainable.Philippe Brunel. Leader of the cycling team on L’Équipe where he started working in 1977 under the direction of Jacques Goddet, the man who, in 1987, chose Brunel to report on the Tour de France. In 1980, as a special envoy, he discovered the Giro d'Italia and in 1982 the Tour. In total, he has followed more than 70 Grand Tours, telling, writing and living in close company with the champions.A journalist and writer, he is the author of, among others, "Vie et mort de Marco Pantani", "Rouler plus vite that la mort" and other notable novels praised by critics including "La Nuit de San Remo", which is also translated into Italian. A comic version of the book dedicated to Marco Pantani was created, which inspired a theatrical show.

Merckx is the normIn Dutch we have a word for an extraordinary and exceptional performance: 'Merckxiaans' or 'Merckxian'. 'The Cannibal' won his races in every way possible. Eddy Merckx is the lighthouse of the sport. Just take a look on YouTube and watch how he won Milano-Sanremo seven times; it will give you an image of his near-boundless capabilities and skills. No one descended faster on the Poggio than the – 75 years old this year – Eddy Merckx. He was simply the measure of all things. The norm. The standard. The world started to know him in the Giro of 1968. In that year he rode, unleashed, to the summit of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo and he won the first of his 11 Grand Tours. Merckxian victories galore. For example, in the Tour de France, he left the summit of the Tourmalet for a solo of 140km until Mourenx. In the Tour of Flanders he decided on a solo of 70km. He did not always win in a time trial, but he did break the World Hour Record in 1972 with an absolute minimum of preparation. If he had to, Merckx won bunch sprints, but he wasn't a natural sprinter à la Franco Bitossi. After a back-breaking grueling classic (he won 32 of them!) the four-time World Champion (once as an amateur, three times a pro) was also one of the fastest cyclists in the world. 'Merckxian', there's just no other word for his performances.Hugo Coorevits, Het NieuwsbladBorn in Zwevegem in 1959, Hugo Coorevits lives close to the pavés and hills of the Flemish Ardennes, which is the center of the Ronde van Vlaanderen. After starting writing for the newspaper Het Volk in 1983, the Four Days of Dunkirk 1989 was his first coverage as a professional journalist. Since 1999 he has worked for the Het Nieuwsblad newspaper (Mediahuis group), covering cycling all over the world.

Of course these things are always somewhat illusory. Sprinting is seldom significant in a GC context, and there's much more to stage racing than these five categories. Through it all, however, Merckx remains the most complete racing cyclist who ever raced (Coppi included), and there's an abyss between second-placed Hinault and the other inductees…Herbie Sykes is an award-winning cycling writer and historian. An Englishman living in Turin, he has authored four books about the Giro d’Italia, and is a former editor of the official English language Giro guide.