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Lance is the greatest cyclist ever. There have been other greats - Indurain, Mercck, etc.
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Sorry but Lance is not even close to Merckx.
Main Victories/Achievements
5 times Tour de France winner (1969-72, 1974) and 35 stage wins. Wore yellow jersey for a record 96 days.
5 times Giro d'Italia winner (1968, 1970, 1972-74) and 25 stage wins.
Vuelta a Espana winner (1973)
World Champion (1967,1971,1974)
Hour record (49.431 km, 1972-84)
3 times Paris-Nice winner (1969-71)
Tour of Switzerland (1974)
7 times Milan-San Remo winner (1966-67, 1969, 1971-72, 1975-76)
Tour of Flanders (1969,1975)
Paris-Roubaix (1968, 1970, 1973)
Liege-Bastogne-Liege (1969, 1971-73, 1975)
Amstel Gold Race (1973,1975)
Tour of Lombardy (1971-72)
Het Volk (1971,1973)
Ghent-Wevelgem (1967, 1969-70, 1973)
Fleche-Wallonne (1967, 1970, 1972, 1975)
Paris-Brussels (1973)
Henninger Turm (1971)
Grand Prix des Nations (1973)
Edouard Louis Joseph Merckx was born on 17 June 1945 in the village of Meenzel-Kiezegem, Belgium, the eldest child of Jules Merckx and Jenny Pittomvils. In August 1946 they moved into a grocers shop in Sint-Pieters-Woluwe, a suburb of Brussels.
Merckx is almost unanimously considered the world's greatest cyclist with 445 professional victories. He won the world amateur championship in 1964. Three years later he was to hold the professional title.
Eddy Merckx was voted Belgian sportsman of the year six times and on three occasions he earned the title International Sportsman. On December 15 2000 Merckx was voted Belgian sportsman of the century.
In a career spanning 17 years he was the only cyclist to win the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a Espana and Tour of Switzerland. He was one of only two cyclists, along with Stephen Roche, to win the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and world championship in the same year (1970). He was one of two cyclists (with Miguel Indurain) to take the Tour de France and the hour record in the same year. In 1969, Merckx won all three major classifications (overall, points, and King of the Mountains) of the Tour de France.
Eddy Merckx retired from the sport in May 1978 due to persistent back problems.
http://www.kings5.freeserve.co.uk/merckxpalmares.htm