The first gift for his 80th birthday - which he celebrates today - was given to him by the King himself, receiving it last Thursday in his office at Laeken Castle. King Philippe handed over his personal birthday gift to Baron Eddy Merckx: a frame with three photos where the champion is portrayed in three special moments of his life with the last three kings of Belgium. With King Baudouin after his third Tour de France victory in 1971; with King Albert II when he was named baron in 1996; with King Philippe in 2019, for the 50 years since his first Tour de France victory, which started from Brussels in his honor.

"It was very nice and emotional - he told us, one of the greatest sports legends of all time - for me, a great honor".

He also walked with King Philippe, in the splendid castle gardens...

"A short walk, also because I've just recovered from the bicycle fall that happened last December: today it's much better, I'm getting back in shape, just to celebrate my birthday".

But who is Edouard Louis Joseph Merckx, called Eddy?

"A cyclist who gave everything to achieve the maximum possible. I won a lot, I don't know if I could have won more: like everyone, there are more races lost than won, but I limited the damage".

They wrote and said he was also a Cannibal.

"A nickname given to me by an eleven-year-old girl, Catherine, daughter of my teammate and then rival, Christian Raymond. One evening Christian called home and his daughter asked him: 'Doesn't Merckx ever let you win?'. And dad replied: 'Never. Merckx is hungry for victories'. 'Then he's a cannibal!'. And I was a cannibal forever".

He also became a unit of measurement...

"Yes, let's say so. Today it's Pogacar".

Do you like the Slovenian?

"How could I not like him: he's an absolute champion".

They say you were too greedy, not even leaving the circuits.

"If the organizers paid me handsomely, I had to give them the best of me".

The defeat at the Barcelona World Championship, won by Felice Gimondi, still doesn't sit well with him.

"Not because of Felice's victory, but because of Maertens' dirty trick, who did everything to make me lose. Gimondi won great, more than deservedly, but that one I still haven't forgiven today".

Would he have really given him that rainbow jersey with his own hands?

"Absolutely yes. Felice was an exceptional rider, of absolute value and great values, who made our sport great and made my victories even more beautiful. Tenacious and loyal, that jersey was truly a career award. Of course, I wasn't happy about losing, but I was furious about how Freddy Maertens raced, not Felice".

Do you still believe the young Maertens played a dirty trick...

"Not only do I believe it, but I'm certain. He raced to make me lose, did everything to chase me down at every progression. He played Ocaña and Gimondi's game and I'm still not over it. In 1973 I won about thirty races, with Gand-Wevelgem, Roubaix, Liège and Amstel, then Vuelta and Giro: I was flying. Even that day on the Barcelona circuit I had a great leg, but Maertens raced like a wretch. In any case, apart from myself, no one at that moment deserved that jersey like Felice".

Is this the defeat that hurts the most?

"Certainly yes".

Do you miss Felice?

"I miss him yes, because Felice was a dear friend, a true gentleman, a loyal man with a single word. I miss him like the dearest loved ones I've lost, like that other great man named Ugo De Rosa, an absolute top constructor".

Do you like today's cycling?

"Very much, it had been years since such beautiful races were seen".

Besides his family, who should he be grateful to?

"To Italy. From you, I learned to race. Thanks to Faema and Molteni, to Vittorio Adorni and Italo Zilioli, to Ernesto Colnago and Ugo De Rosa. Ugo, what a delightful man... I miss him enormously today".

Does he have many friends in Italy?

"I have a piece of heart, from time to time I come to you, I always like it a lot. With Italo (Zilioli, ed) I have a deep friendship, as well as with Federico Zecchetto, owner of several bicycle world companies (Alé, Dmt, Cipollini, ed): they are special people. But I owe a lot to Italy, because despite beating their favorites, it always appreciated me".

He also appreciates football a lot.

"Very much. When I stopped cycling, I played for several years with Anderlecht's amateurs, my heart team. And, in a Brussels suburb, in my future father-in-law's bar, I met my wife Claudine. For years I was also a Barcelona shareholder, I appreciated and discovered a very young Lukaku and thanks to Italo (Zilioli) I also have a sympathy for Torino, where Enzo Scifo played".

He has often told that the fall at the Blois velodrome (France, ed) in November 1969 (a derny race, behind motor, ed), deeply marked him.

"A very bad hit to the hip: uphill I never went like before".

On the Three Peaks he wrote memorable pages of his pink history: he won his first Giro in '68 and his last in '74...

"What effort! What joy! Tista had dropped me on the last climb. The fans, strangely, seeing me were shouting that I was finished. I multiplied my strength. I won by 12". Nothing, but for me it was everything".

What cycling...

"Beautiful. Italy was packed with champions".

Today it's not like that.

"It's a much more globalized and global cycling: you need patience, and maybe some ideas".

From Italy, he also has a not-so-beautiful memory, that of the Savona positive test at the 1969 Giro.

"That was a dirty trick I never digested. I felt betrayed".

By whom?

"I don't know, but that year they screwed me and if it were up to me, I would never have come to race with you again. Fortunately, I reconsidered".

What was his relationship with Felice?

"Beautiful. He was my main opponent, the most tenacious, continuous and loyal. He also left too soon, like Vittorio Adorni, for that matter. Felice and Vittorio were an important part of my life".

Never a gift to Felice?

"I never left anything to him, because I never gave gifts to anyone. What Felice took home, he did with his strength and intelligence. And Felice was strong and intelligent. But above all, he was a friend. A great friend".

Is it true that he failed to win the sixth Tour, which would have been a record - one more than Anquetil - because of a punch to the liver by a French "fan"?

"Very true and I should have retired like your Bartali in 1950, and I was wrong not to do so. For days I felt excruciating pain: my career essentially ended there".

Since 2003, he has also had a Brussels metro station named after him: Maelbeek/Maalbeek, served by lines 1 and 5, in the Anderlecht district. Does he ever take it?

"Never. That's a stop and I, if I can, still go running: by bicycle".

For everyone he was the Cannibal, because omnivorous and insatiable, for Gianni Brera a rider who would not have won a Grand Tour because his ancestors did not grow up on pasta. "He was wrong...", he says satisfied.