Formative families in cycling: The father a "cannibal", the son a talent promoter
TOUR Online
· 25.11.2023
Eddy Merckx commented live on his son's greatest victory for Belgian television. As a TV pundit, he accompanied the big cycling races at the time, including the Giro d'Italia in 2000, where Axel Merckx took the stage win on stage 8 as a soloist - and when he crossed the finish line, Eddy Merckx gave the viewers a personal note: "Axel has more class than he realises. He's not as formidable as I am, but he's about to forge a first name for himself." Because the surname Merckx, as his father Eddy also knew, is automatically associated with his successes in cycling.
Why was Eddy Merckx so good?
Eddy Merckx is still the benchmark for the greats in cycling today. The 78-year-old Belgian still tops a number of leaderboards: With five overall victories each, he is one of the record winners of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, and no rider has worn the leader's jersey more often in both tours. His CV also includes three world championship titles and 19 victories in the cycling monuments - Merckx triumphed seven times in Milan-San Remo alone.
Eddy Merckx - the "cannibal"
Merckx won a total of over 500 races between 1965 and 1978. Unrivalled in cycling. His merciless riding style and insatiable hunger for victory earned him the nickname "Cannibal". He is still revered in Belgium to this day: in 1996, the King elevated him to the peerage, a metro station in Brussels bears his name and in 2005, his fellow countrymen voted him the third greatest Belgian in history in a major media survey (De Grootste Belg).
His legacy still weighs heavily on Belgian cycling to this day: anyone who shows talent as a young Belgian pro has to put up with the question of how much Merckx there is in them. Remco Evenepoel has been no different for a few years now. There are huge footprints in which you inevitably have to feel uncomfortable - especially if you are also a Merckx, like Eddy Merckx's son Axel. Even as a junior, he had to realise that the competition only ever raced against him in order to beat a "Merckx". Throughout his career, Axel Merckx never got rid of the adjective "he is the son of ...".
Axel Merckx now team boss at Hagens Berman Axeon
And yet Axel Merckx basically had a solid career. He received his first contract with Team Telekom in 1994 and was subsequently part of the professional peloton until 2007. In addition to winning a stage at the Giro, he won the Belgian road championship in 2000, finished tenth in the Tour de France in 1998 and won bronze at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. But the expectations placed on his name were basically unrealisable.
Axel Merckx, who now lives in Canada, only found his own path to success after his active career. Since 2009, the 51-year-old has managed one of the most renowned junior teams in cycling, which now operates under the name Hagens Berman Axeon. In his team, Merckx developed today's top riders such as Jasper PhilipsenJasper Stuyven, Tao Geoghegan Hart and Neilson Powless. According to the team, a total of 45 riders have made the leap to the World Tour over the years.
The family is also successful in sport outside of cycling. Eddy Merckx's daughter Sabrina married the Argentinian tennis player Eduardo Masso, once ranked number 56 in the world. Their son Luca Masso won the Olympic gold medal with the Argentinian hockey team in 2016.
