Vintage Eddy Merckx Print

Pictured on the 1969 Tour podium, the Belgian Merckx is widely seen as the most successful rider in the history of competitive cycling. His victories include an unequalled eleven Grand Tours (five Tours of France, five Tours of Italy, and a Tour of Spain), three World Championships, the Hour Record, every major one-day race other than Paris-Tours, and extensive victories on the track.

Merckx won six stages in 1969 and remains, as at the completion of the 2016 Tour de France, the rider with the most stage wins in the history of the Tour with 34 (followed hotly by current rider Mark Cavendish with 30). In total Merckx rode 111 stages of the Tour de France in the leader’s yellow jersey, the “maillot jaune”, far more than any other rider