9/9/08  Cannibal on Wheels

I see Lance Armstrong is un-retiring to try to better his very impressive seven Tour de France wins. Is he the best cyclist ever? You may want to consider Belgian Eddy "The Cannibal" Merckx for that title.

Just consider, in 1969, Merckx, in his first Tour de France, pulled off perhaps the greatest feat in the sport's history winning the yellow jersey, the King of the Mountains polka-dot jersey, the sprinter's green jersey and all three time trials. These days, no rider ever wins both the green and mountain polka-dot jersey in the same tour.

In his career, Merckx won the Tour de France five times and won 35 stages:

1969 - Won Tour, King of Mountains jersey and green jersey
1970 - Won Tour, King of Mountains jersey and eight stage wins
1971 - Won Tour, won green jersey
1972 - Won Tour, won green jersey
1974 - Won Tour

In 1971, Merckx won 54 of 120 races. Between 1969 and 1973, he won 250 of 650 races. During his professional career, he won 445 of the 1,582 races he entered. That's a lot of racing and an amazing win percentage. Nobody else has even come close to that.

I take nothing from Lance Armstrong, a great Tour de France racer. You can't win seven in a row without being phenomenal. Still, for my money Eddy Merckx was the best.

One thing I don't get, what is with the spelling of his last name? Merckx?