CYCLIST

Eddy Merckx

1945 - Today

Photo of Eddy Merckx

Icon of person Eddy Merckx

Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx (born 17 June 1945), known as Eddy Merckx (Dutch: [ˈɛdi ˈmɛr(ə)ks], French: [ɛdi mɛʁks]), is a Belgian former professional road and track cyclist racer who is the most successful rider in the history of competitive cycling. His victories include an unequalled eleven Grand Tours (five Tours de France, five Giros d'Italia, and a Vuelta a España), all five Monuments, setting the hour record, three World Championships, every major one-day race other than Paris–Tours, and extensive victories on the track. Born in Meensel-Kiezegem, Brabant, Belgium, he grew up in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre where his parents ran a grocery store. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Eddy Merckx has received more than 2,580,670 page views. His biography is available in 66 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 64 in 2019). Eddy Merckx is the most popular cyclist, the 33rd most popular biography from Belgium (up from 41st in 2019) and the most popular Belgian Cyclist.

Eddy Merckx is most famous for being the first person to win the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia in the same year, which he accomplished five times. He also won the Tour de France five times and the Giro d'Italia three times.

Memorability Metrics

  • 2.6M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 70.38

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 66

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 8.85

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.22

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among CYCLISTS

Among cyclists, Eddy Merckx ranks 1 out of 1,613. After him are Fausto Coppi, Federico Bahamontes, Jacques Anquetil, Raymond Poulidor, Gino Bartali, Maurice Garin, Bernard Hinault, Lucien Petit-Breton, Miguel Induráin, Felice Gimondi, and Lance Armstrong.

Most Popular Cyclists in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1945, Eddy Merckx ranks 20. Before him are Helen Mirren, Daniel Ortega, Jupp Heynckes, Priscilla Presley, Ehud Olmert, and Pete Townshend. After him are Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Mircea Lucescu, Yoshinori Ohsumi, Björn Ulvaeus, and Moshe Katsav.

Others Born in 1945

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

In Belgium

Among people born in Belgium, Eddy Merckx ranks 33 out of 1,190. Before him are Baudouin of Belgium (1930), Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy (1480), William III of the Netherlands (1817), Mary of Hungary (1505), Georges Lemaître (1894), and Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor (1697). After him are Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564), Abraham Ortelius (1527), Jacques Brel (1929), Guillaume Du Fay (1397), Eleanor of Austria (1498), and César Franck (1822).

Others born in Belgium

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Among CYCLISTS In Belgium

Among cyclists born in Belgium, Eddy Merckx ranks 1. After him are Rik Van Looy (1933), Roger De Vlaeminck (1947), Philippe Thys (1889), Lucien Van Impe (1946), Rik Van Steenbergen (1924), Patrick Sercu (1944), Odile Defraye (1888), Firmin Lambot (1886), Léon Scieur (1888), Freddy Maertens (1952), and Briek Schotte (1919).

Belgian born Cyclists

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous