Eddy Merckx
King Eddy on black velvet
Eddy is the king.
With over 500 wins during his career as a bike racer, Belgian Eddy Merckx definitely earned his status as the best bike racer who ever lived. “The Cannibal” raced bikes for 18 years, and during that time Eddy essentially won every third race that he entered (and was on the podium about half of the time). He won five Tours de France (collecting 34 individual stage victories), five Giri d’ Italia, one Vuelta Espana, the World Championship and nearly every classic and minor stage race on the calender.
While racing the 1969 Tour de France Eddy managed to win six individual stages, the climbers’ classification, the sprinters’ jersey, the combination classification, the combativity award and he walked away with the yellow jersey for the final victory. He did this at the age of 24, so if they awarded the best young rider jersey back then, he would have won that as well.
So, how do you properly honor a king? We decided to go a popular (and classy!) route. A portrait painted on black velvet. In a frame worthy of a velvet Jesus or a velvet Elvis. Like Elvis Presley, Eddy rocked some impressive sideburns in the 1970’s.
The artist, Ken Sellen, gave us an older and somewhat regal Eddy to watch over the cyclists who make the pilgrimage to Classic Cycle.
By the way, Ken Sellen is an extremely talented and versatile artist. If you would like to see some other great examples of his work (or commission a painting for yourself) check out kensellenart on Instagram or call the shop and we can put you in contact with him.