{"id":179574,"date":"2020-09-21T09:59:59","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T09:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=179574"},"modified":"2020-09-21T09:59:59","modified_gmt":"2020-09-21T09:59:59","slug":"eddy-merckx-versus-the-world-at-the-1971-tour-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/09\/21\/eddy-merckx-versus-the-world-at-the-1971-tour-de-france\/","title":{"rendered":"Merckx Versus the World at the 1971 Tour de France"},"content":{"rendered":"

Merckx was nicknamed the Cannibal for a reason. He won everything. Not just all of the Grand Tours, classics, and championships but also small criteriums and exhibitions. He was envied by many for his accomplishments and big paychecks. Could all of his top competitors combine their power to take him down at the 1971 Tour?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The unofficial alliance across many teams had one goal \u2013 prevent Merckx from making the Tour a one-man show yet again. The new generation of climbers, namely Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk, Spaniard Luis Oca\u00f1a, and Frenchman Bernard Th\u00e9venet attacked Merckx right as the Tour arrived at the mountains. Oca\u00f1a won at Puy de D\u00f4me and stole 15 seconds from the Cannibal. Merckx held on to the yellow jersey but the psychological effect was real. The seeds of doubt were sown.<\/p>\n

\"1971<\/a>
Merckx followed by Oca\u00f1a. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Merckx had a mechanical during a downhill at stage 10. His competitors ignored that and gained 1 minute on him. At stage 11, Oca\u00f1a attacked again and, this time, it was on the first climb of five planned for that day. He set a blazing pace. Merckx wanted to answer but he couldn\u2019t and nobody was willing to help him. He lost the stage by 8 minutes and 42 seconds. Overall, Merckx was trailing by more than 10 minutes. It was an uncharacteristic gap for the Cannibal as he faced potentially the most devastating loss of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cOca\u00f1a was exceptional today,\u201d admits Merckx after the stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is at the height of his physical abilities. I can\u2019t imagine it\u2019s possible to bridge the gap he has created. Unless I\u2019m able to get a miraculous second wind or unless he does really poorly, I don\u2019t see him losing the lead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merckx shocked everyone with his statement. Was he already giving up? Not yet. He recovered during the rest day and attacked right from the start of stage 12. He arrived in Marseille half an hour earlier than the fastest expected time. Oca\u00f1a still kept more than 7 minutes of lead.<\/p>\n

\"Luis<\/a>
Oca\u00f1a leads in front of Belgian Lucien Van Impe and Dutch Joop Zoetemelk. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stage 14 had riders climb Col de Portet d’Aspet, Col de Ment\u00e9 and Col du Portillon. The weather was terrible. Merckx attacked at Col de Ment\u00e9 but Oca\u00f1a answered. Merckx tried again and again but Oca\u00f1a simply would not be left behind. The bad weather turned worse right before they reached the top of Ment\u00e9. There were thunder, lightning and heavy rain. The pass was foggy and visibility very limited. The road was lined with streams of running water, brakes weren\u2019t working anymore and riders had to use their feet to slow down.<\/p>\n

Eddy Merckx was an amazing downhill rider so he thought he would shake Oca\u00f1a while descending from Ment\u00e9. Oca\u00f1a was not an expert downhill rider and was even warned by the director of his team not to try and hang on to Merckx while descending. But he tried to regardless<\/a>.<\/p>\n

About 4 km into the descent, Merckx lost control of his bicycle and slipped into a small wall at the edge of the road. Fans hurried to his help as he got up. Oca\u00f1a was following closely after him and couldn\u2019t evade them all and fell. Merckx popped his chain back on and continued. Oca\u00f1a couldn\u2019t and requested a new bicycle from his team car. Zoetemelk who was just arriving at the scene evaded the car but crashed directly into Oca\u00f1a. Just a few moments later, Oca\u00f1a was hit also by Portuguese rider Agostinho and fell to the ground in pain and lost consciousness. A helicopter got him safely to a hospital but his dream of winning the Tour was gone.<\/p>\n

\"Luis<\/a>
A helicopter got Oca\u00f1a safely to a hospital. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Merckx got the yellow jersey as a result but he refused to accept it and wanted to quit the Tour altogether. His teammates and Tour organizers were begging him to continue. He did but refused to wear the yellow jersey out of respect for Oca\u00f1a. Four days after that, he won stage 17 in an escape and gained 2 minutes over Zoetemelk. He also won the final time trial and his third Tour de France title with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever happened, I lost this Tour because there will always be doubt,\u201d said Eddy Merckx.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Merckx was nicknamed the Cannibal for a reason. He won everything. Not just all of the Grand Tours, classics, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":179576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[4415,2140,954,2139,2138,433],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-179574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-1971-tour","tag-bernard-thevenet","tag-eddy-merckx","tag-joop-zoetemelk","tag-luis-ocana","tag-tour-de-france","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nEddy Merckx Versus the World at the 1971 Tour de France<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Merckx was nicknamed the Cannibal for a reason. He won everything. 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