Eddy Merckx Quotes

It’s a shame to mix sports and politics.

I’d have no problem with Cavendish winning 34 or 35 Tour stages.

Miracles can sometimes happen in cycling.

I always thought Mario Cipollini was difficult to beat but I think Cipollini would have found it very hard against Cavendish.

When the terrible accident occurred, at least I escaped with my life. I was the lucky one, that was my reaction.

Everything being equal, no sickness or crashes, there’s nobody who can beat Lance Armstrong at the Tour de France.

Ride as much or as little, or as long or as short as you feel. But ride.

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.

If I’m going to have to do all the work, I might as well do it alone.

Being in a team with a good atmosphere and where the people hang out, you can always outdo yourself there.

I’m not saying that every time I race I go to the very limit of my strength. But when the opportunity appears I consider it immoral not to take them.

I’ve never been that bothered by numbers; the history of cycling evolves and follows its own course.

If you think back to the days of Phil Anderson, when there were very few Australians to now when you have a Tour de France winner in Cadel Evans, a professional team in GreenEDGE, and classics winners in Stuart O’Grady and Matt Goss – the sport is bigger and bigger in Australia.

When you are number one, the pressure is on you. It’s not only physical but mental. You become tired.

If you win once, you want more. You are not satisfied.

I’ve made up my mind. Lugano was my last World Championships as a coach.

The Tour is the No. 1 event in cycling.

I always rode for myself.

With a wife and two children to support, I didn’t have enough money for me to do nothing. So I started my business.

I find it difficult, the method of working in the cycling union, the lack of professionalism.

Cyclists live with pain, if you can’t handle it you will win nothing.

I always had a strong lieutenant to help me, but Hinault doesn’t need one.

I sleep very well, thank you.

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.

I agree it is the most important, but cycling is not only about Tour. If everybody thinks like Armstrong, there will be only one race.

I have decided to give up competition. I cannot train properly for the Tour de France which I had hoped to ride for the last time as apotheosis to my career. Doctors are forbidding me to ride anymore in high level competition and I bow to them.

Riders are not criminals.

The only event that counts is the Tour, it’s the only race that all the media go to. It’s far more important than it was in my time, but as I see it cycling is more than the Tour de France.

Winning big Tours and stage races is often about pain management.

The closest I have come to death was when I had my crash at the Blois outdoor velodrome in central France in September 1969.

You need just as much drive to be a good businessman as you do to excel as an athlete.

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 have great memories, but I’m not terribly nostalgic.

The sport will benefit when star riders start races.

The day when I start a race without intending to win it, I won’t be able to look at myself in the mirror.

I wore the yellow jersey 96 times. It is the best memory of my career. It still gives me goosebumps.

The smaller races were where you made your money.

It’s difficult for him, carrying the name. But Axel is doing what he likes to do, and for me, if Axel’s happy, I’m also happy.

I do not want to continue cycling until I am 35. I want to make something else out of my life, too. There are other things besides a bike and racing.

Cycling always receives a bad name. It’s always cycling that’s attacked and other sports are never attacked.

You need talent as a rider and I think I had that in my genes. But I think I also had a talent for suffering, which I thought was important, but also determination.

I still cannot walk around anywhere in Belgium.

I can tell you I preferred my era. Yes, they make much more money now but I preferred my cycling. The passion for racing. I like more racing. Now riders they train all the time. Not so much racing.

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.