Idle Musing of a Hack Columnist:

by R Mc on Jan 16, 2011 9:14 PM EST

Many here will be familiar with the horrific Derny-racing crash (which killed the Derny-driver instantaneously) that seriously injured Eddy Merckx towards the end of the 1969 racing season. Aside from making all of Mr. Merckx's results thenceforward amazing (because he has often repeated just how much pain riding his bike caused him almost constantly). I mean, think about it: in addition to being the winningest cyclist ever, Merckx is the exemplar of HTFU.

But . . . as I was thinking of something completely different to slam out a column about for The Racing Post, I wondered: what might Merckx's post-1969 career have been like had he access to modern diagnostic and rehabilitation techniques, not to mention current fit techniques?

Does anyone know what sort of treatment and therapy he received?

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Only things I really found:

Merckx was knocked unconscious and was bleeding heavily from a head wound.

Merckx suffered a concussion and required stitches to close the gaping wound. The worst lingering effect from the accident was that Merckx cracked one of his vertebrae and twisted his pelvis. This made climbing painful and, despite his amazing victory record, may have limited his winning to some extent.

From: http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/riders/rider_bio.asp?rider_id=1

My hips were twisted. I had to stay six weeks in bed, and then start again. In that time, there was not the same level of physiotherapy. So I started again with my hips completely wrong. It made it very hard after that, because I don’t think after the crash I was as good as before. Especially in the mountains. I was suffering more because I always had problems with my back.

From: http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/riders/2005/interviews/?id=eddy_merckx05

Sidenote: I know he was dominate and won a ton, but jesus! When you read about all the victories, it really is astounding – 19 monuments, 7 MSRs, 5 LBLs, 11 GTs …and he retired at 32, but last won a major race between 29 and 30 years old. Damn! That crash must have shortened his career some…good project idea!

"I briefly played on a soccer team where we took great joy yelling 'come on fuschia'" by Willj

by JustJoshinYa on Jan 17, 2011 8:31 AM EST reply actions

The CN interview also says:

CN: There are many photographs of you taken during races of that era, adjusting your bike position.

EM: Yes, that is because of my crash. It was only a few years after that when I learned that my hips were turned. I tried to get it fixed, but it was very late.

Not sure what “fixed” involves, but that seems to be the key injury and work needed…but looks like it never happened?

"I briefly played on a soccer team where we took great joy yelling 'come on fuschia'" by Willj

by JustJoshinYa on Jan 17, 2011 8:32 AM EST up reply actions

You can get your pelvis re-aligned if it ends up getting twisted a bit...it happened to a Cat 1 buddy of mine but he had to take a whole year off the bike to rehab.

Tommeke!, Tommeke!, Tommeke!, Tommeke!

by Vlaanderen90 on Jan 17, 2011 4:01 PM EST up reply actions

There's a bit of discussion

in this (originally from cyclesport in 04)

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/473676/eddy-merckx-interview.html

One of better bits

Would he have won more races if it hadn’t happened? “No, not more, but I would have won with greater facility, greater élan. I would have won stage races, like I did the 1969 Tour, by many minutes instead of just a few.”

by andrewp on Jan 17, 2011 3:03 PM EST reply actions