Merckx's Hour record (Mexico 1972) is the most amazing cycling achievement, in my opinion.
Just imagine he started tests late september to check if he could adapt to high altitude, in Liège and Milan. But in the meantime, he still raced. Won the invitational climb race in Montjuich (break the race record in TT) on September 24th, won the GP Magne (a good race in the Ardennes) on Sep. 29th, won the Giro dell'Emilia on October 4th, won the Giro di Lombardia on Oct. 7th 1'27" ahead of Guimard and Gimondi. The very next day, he won another invitational climb race À travers Lausanne + the two stages, caught Ocaña in the TT. And in the evening of that same day, won a critérium in Sallanches (5 wins in just 2 days). He next won the Baracchi Trophy on the 11th (TT ridden by pairs) partnering Roger Swerts, with a 2'33 advantage over Gimondi and his mate.
Flew over to Mexico on the 20th (drank two whiskies in the plane ), while all the other riders have been on holiday. The attempt was on the 25th (had to be postponed because of the rain).
During this attempt, he started incredibly fast and ...
Broke the 10km World Record ! (even Boardman wasn't that fast after 10km)
Broke the 20km World Record !!
And set a new Hour mark at 49 431km (780km more than Ritter)
The next generations (Moser,...)would need supersonic bikes with aerodynamic frames and everything to break this record. It's just unbelievable. Boardman rode only 10km more 30 years later.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-U0gWRhIh4
Merckx - Ronde van Vlaanderen 1975
A masterpiece. He attacked on the Kwaremont with about 100 to go. Nobody thought he could go to finish but ... Frans Verbeeck. But Eddy took his share of the job much more often than Verbeeck did, attacked him with 5km to go. 30" ahead of Verbeeck and more than 5' ahead of Demeyer, 3rd. Frans' words just after are legendary "Goh Fred [De Bruyne] t'is ongelooflijk te rijden hoe dat hij rijdt. Ik ben formidabel afgezien. Hij rijdt 5 per uur te snel voor ons" (wow Fred it's unbelievable to ride the way he rides. I've wonderfully suffered. He rides 5kmh too fast for us).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnSVG_fjHH0
Merckx - 1st stage of the Giro di Sardegna 1968 Rome - Civitavecchia
This is a lesser known one but in 187km he finished 6'27" ahead of Luciano Armani. Roger Bastide said it was just out of proportion. In the GC he eventually had a 7'28 advantage over Bitossi.
Merckx - Mourenx 1969
Merckx - Paris- Roubaix 1970
5' advantage over De Vlaeminck despite puncture.
Merckx - Ronde van Vlaanderen 1969
Merckx - Tre Cime di Lavaredo 1968
Orcières-Marseille 1971 win for Luciano Armani
The Molteni attacked right from the start with Wagtmans (suspected for having attacked before the real start) and a group of a dozen rider resisted the peloton with Merckx and 2 team mates (Wagtmans & Huysmans) + Van der Vleuten, the others did not collaborate and yet Merckx could take 2' from Ocaña, bonuses included, despite the work of Ocaña's whole team + Guimard's team who wished to protect his Green Jersey + the Spanish teams who allied with Ocaña. Bruyère had a mechanical problem and was waited by 5 Molteni's, which meant that they could not break the chase of the peloton. Fuente finished out of the time limits that day and was shamefully let through. He went on to win 2 stages.
Coppi - Sestrière 1952
De Vlaeminck - Giro dell'Emilia 1976
This is a much lesser known one but that day De Vlaeminck attacked with 85km to go with team mate De Muynck but De Muynck could just hold the pace for 5km, which means De Vlaeminck made an 80km solo. Cribiori told him many times to let the peloton come back. But Roger wanted to get rid of all the frustration of not being selected for Ostuni and of a rotten season in which he didn't win a classic so far. He would actually next win the Agostoni and Lombardy, the 3 races in the same week.
Just imagine he started tests late september to check if he could adapt to high altitude, in Liège and Milan. But in the meantime, he still raced. Won the invitational climb race in Montjuich (break the race record in TT) on September 24th, won the GP Magne (a good race in the Ardennes) on Sep. 29th, won the Giro dell'Emilia on October 4th, won the Giro di Lombardia on Oct. 7th 1'27" ahead of Guimard and Gimondi. The very next day, he won another invitational climb race À travers Lausanne + the two stages, caught Ocaña in the TT. And in the evening of that same day, won a critérium in Sallanches (5 wins in just 2 days). He next won the Baracchi Trophy on the 11th (TT ridden by pairs) partnering Roger Swerts, with a 2'33 advantage over Gimondi and his mate.
Flew over to Mexico on the 20th (drank two whiskies in the plane ), while all the other riders have been on holiday. The attempt was on the 25th (had to be postponed because of the rain).
During this attempt, he started incredibly fast and ...
Broke the 10km World Record ! (even Boardman wasn't that fast after 10km)
Broke the 20km World Record !!
And set a new Hour mark at 49 431km (780km more than Ritter)
The next generations (Moser,...)would need supersonic bikes with aerodynamic frames and everything to break this record. It's just unbelievable. Boardman rode only 10km more 30 years later.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-U0gWRhIh4
Merckx - Ronde van Vlaanderen 1975
A masterpiece. He attacked on the Kwaremont with about 100 to go. Nobody thought he could go to finish but ... Frans Verbeeck. But Eddy took his share of the job much more often than Verbeeck did, attacked him with 5km to go. 30" ahead of Verbeeck and more than 5' ahead of Demeyer, 3rd. Frans' words just after are legendary "Goh Fred [De Bruyne] t'is ongelooflijk te rijden hoe dat hij rijdt. Ik ben formidabel afgezien. Hij rijdt 5 per uur te snel voor ons" (wow Fred it's unbelievable to ride the way he rides. I've wonderfully suffered. He rides 5kmh too fast for us).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnSVG_fjHH0
Merckx - 1st stage of the Giro di Sardegna 1968 Rome - Civitavecchia
This is a lesser known one but in 187km he finished 6'27" ahead of Luciano Armani. Roger Bastide said it was just out of proportion. In the GC he eventually had a 7'28 advantage over Bitossi.
Merckx - Mourenx 1969
Merckx - Paris- Roubaix 1970
5' advantage over De Vlaeminck despite puncture.
Merckx - Ronde van Vlaanderen 1969
Merckx - Tre Cime di Lavaredo 1968
Orcières-Marseille 1971 win for Luciano Armani
The Molteni attacked right from the start with Wagtmans (suspected for having attacked before the real start) and a group of a dozen rider resisted the peloton with Merckx and 2 team mates (Wagtmans & Huysmans) + Van der Vleuten, the others did not collaborate and yet Merckx could take 2' from Ocaña, bonuses included, despite the work of Ocaña's whole team + Guimard's team who wished to protect his Green Jersey + the Spanish teams who allied with Ocaña. Bruyère had a mechanical problem and was waited by 5 Molteni's, which meant that they could not break the chase of the peloton. Fuente finished out of the time limits that day and was shamefully let through. He went on to win 2 stages.
Coppi - Sestrière 1952
De Vlaeminck - Giro dell'Emilia 1976
This is a much lesser known one but that day De Vlaeminck attacked with 85km to go with team mate De Muynck but De Muynck could just hold the pace for 5km, which means De Vlaeminck made an 80km solo. Cribiori told him many times to let the peloton come back. But Roger wanted to get rid of all the frustration of not being selected for Ostuni and of a rotten season in which he didn't win a classic so far. He would actually next win the Agostoni and Lombardy, the 3 races in the same week.