Eddy Merckx Has a Cobbled Sector of Paris-Roubaix Named After Him
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
On the 15th anniversary of his third and final Paris-Roubaix victory, Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx has had a cobbled sector of The Hell of The North named in his honor.
19 kilometers from the finish line in Roubaix, the 1.8-kilometer sector—formerly known as Camphin-en-Pévèle—will henceforth be called Secteur Eddy Merckx.
“It's an emotional moment. This is how you stay immortal,” Merckx told Belgian sports site Sporza before Thursday evening’s unveiling event at Roubaix’s indoor velodrome, which is just a short walk from the Roubaix Velodrome, where the Monument has finished almost every year since 1943. The ceremony included a ceremonial unveiling of the column that will announce the start of the sector, fitted with a plaque bearing Merckx’s name.
The newly minted Merckx sector is the fifth of 29 sectors in this year’s parcours and lies just a few hundred meters from the Belgian border.
Merckx’s three wins came in 1968, 1970, and 1973. His inaugural win came while Merckx was in the world champion’s rainbow jersey; his second was won with a gap of more than five minutes; and his third was won in a torrent of rain.
Merckx’s most famous ride at Paris-Roubaix, however, is one he didn’t win. Merckx finished sixth in 1976’s edition, a race immortalized in the film A Sunday in Hell, which is widely regarded as not only one of the best cycling films, but one of the best sports documentaries ever made.
With his eponymous sector, Merckx joins five other winners of L’Enfer du Nord—John Degenkolb, Marc Madiot, Gilber Duclos-Lassalle, Frédéric Guesdon, and Bernard Hinualt—in having sectors named for them.
It’s a fitting honor, considering the Belgian’s status as perhaps the greatest bike racer of all time, however Merckx never actually raced on the sector, as it was first introduced into the Paris-Roubaix parcours in 1980. Merckx retired two years prior, in May 1978.
You Might Also Like
