A biography for Eddy Merckxhasn’t been written yet.
“We're not millionaires, but we live well.”
“Cycling is a sport of the people. How many people in the world have never been on a bike? Not many.”
“I've never been that bothered by numbers; the history of cycling evolves and follows its own course.”
“After his success in the Tour of Italy and Tour de France in the same year, Pantani certainly made mistakes - but he was targeted by Italian justice who never let him go. I believe it was that that destroyed him.”
“My wife is a much better tourist than me.”
“It's not like at university where you graduate. Every cyclist must start again. At the end of the season you know if you are good or not.”
“The Tour is the No. 1 event in cycling.”
“I always rode for myself.”
“It's always the first Tour that is the most difficult to win.”
“When you are number one, the pressure is on you. It's not only physical but mental. You become tired.”
“You know when you are in the peloton and you come near the Ventoux, nobody's speaking anymore, you can hear a fly, because it's always very quiet because everybody's afraid about the Ventoux, because it's a hard climb.”
“I won 34 Tour stages by winning sprints, in the mountains, in time trials and going on the attack on the descents. Let's not forget the five yellow jerseys I've got at home plus the 96 days I wore it. Does that not seem much?”
“I have great memories, but I'm not terribly nostalgic.”
“I still cannot walk around anywhere in Belgium.”
“You know the cycling federation in the U.K. did a good job of going around schools and scouting young riders. The Belgian federation is not like that. It is asleep.”
“Cycling always receives a bad name. It's always cycling that's attacked and other sports are never attacked.”
“Being in a team with a good atmosphere and where the people hang out, you can always outdo yourself there.”
“It is not enough to have talent alone. You will have to train hard and motivate yourself to do your best. You should learn to live for your sport.”
“I won 34 in my career and I never thought that the record would last, that I'd be the person with the most stage wins.”
“I don't like it when people say I was the best ever. It's silly. I am not the best ever. I was the best of my time.”