Merckx: Half Man, Half Bike

The Sunday Times Number One bestselling biography of Eddy Merckx, the greatest cyclist of all time, by William Fotheringham, Britain’s top cycling writer.

THE SUNDAY TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLER

What makes a man the greatest of all time? Eddy Merckx is to cycling what Muhammad Ali is to boxing or Pele to football- quite simply, the best there has ever been.

Merckx was a machine. It wasn’t just the number of victories (445); it was his remorseless domination that created the legend. He didn’t just beat his opponents, he crushed them. But his triumphs only tell half a story that includes horrific injury, a doping controversy and tragedy. He was nicknamed ‘The Cannibal’ for his insatiable appetite for victory, but the moniker did scant justice to a man who was handsome, sensitive and surprisingly anxious. Britain’s leading cycling writer, William Fotheringham, goes back to speak to those who were there at the time and those who knew Merckx best to find out what made Eddy Merckx so invincible.

‘The full unvarnished of one man’s heaven, and hell, on wheels’ Independent

Author Biography

William Fotheringham writes for the Guardian and Observer on cycling and rugby. A racing cyclist and launch editor of procycling and Cycle Sport magazines, he has reported on over twenty Tours de France. He is the critically lauded author of Fallen Angel, Roule Britannia, and Put Me Back on My Bike, which Velo magazine called ‘The best cycling biography ever written.