on 7/6/02 5:46 PM, Steven m Johnson at grisha2@juno.com wrote:
> ...The book picks up the the winners again in 1946 ( after WWII, chaper 6,
> pg 141) listing the winner, bike and derailleur. Interesting that when
> they list Eddy Merckx they have "Kessels" in parens under the bikes
> labeled with his name. I guess in 1973, when Ocana won, Eddy was second.
Eddy Merckx did not ride the 1973 Tour de France against Ocana; he rode the
Giro and Vuelta instead and won both. He was reported to have said that
riding all three major tours would have been too hard on his team.
> That was the year the dog ran out in front of him and he broke his jaw
> finishing second with his jaw wired shut?
That was the 1975 Tour, not the '73, when he went beyond all limits in order
to finish. He was knocked down by the Dane Ole Ritter in an accident prior
to a stage start, not by a dog. Ignoring the doctors' advice to quit was
"the most stupid thing I ever did in my career," Merckx has subsequently
said. (P.134 in the 1993 Merckx biography by Rik Van Walleghem--highly
recommended). He had two fractures of the jaw and a perforated sinus.
> Can anyone name the book with
> the photo montage of Eddy in a locker room after the spectator punched
> him in the back?
Again, this took place in the 1975 Tour; Merckx was punched in the liver by a rabid French spectator on the Puy de Dome a few days before he broke his jaw. The medication he had to take for this injury gave him serious problems finishing the Tour. Bernard Thevenet had great form that year, but he was also fortunate that Merckx had such bad luck. Merckx still managed to finish the Tour in 2nd place.
See also "The Fabulous World Of Cycing"--photos by Aldo Tonnoir and captions/comments by Eddy Merckx; 1982 for more info. (Highly recommended too.) Both these books have various photos of the punch's aftermath during Merckx's ill-fated 1975 Tour.
Bill Bryant
Santa Cruz, CA