525: The Unstoppable Eddy Merckx
The greatest bike racer the world has ever seen.
Eddy Merckx’s professional career – spanning 1965 to 1978 – comprised an insurmountable 525 wins, including five Tours de France, five Giri d’Italia, 19 Monuments, the Hour Record, three World Championships and hundreds more. Merckx is cycling’s most iconic rider and the undisputed champion of champions. But who really is Eddy Merckx? 525: The Unstoppable Eddy Merckx uncovers the man behind the legend. With insights from Eddy and his family, his greatest rivals, teammates, collaborators and admirers – this new documentary pays tribute to a true phenomenon of 20th-century sport.
DISCOVERING the man behind the legend
Merckx’s achievements defy comparisons to modern cycling. The number 525, utterly unimaginable in the contemporary era. It is a legacy that will stand forever, and which can only be contextualised by those closest to the man.
“Glory is ephemeral. The day he stops racing will be harsh.”
— Claudine Merckx
THE CAST
With a cast including Bradley Wiggins, Roger De Vlaeminck, Lotte Kopecky, Ernesto Colnago and Mark Cavendish, this is an intimate portrait of Eddy Merckx’s epic career.
“I think the only fact that matters is that it was Eddy’s name I was sharing.”
- MARK CAVENDISH
UNPRECEDENTED INSIGHT
Hear how a young man from Flemish Brabant became a living legend, as described by his peers, family, rivals, and those who followed in his wheel tracks. It’s this testimony that truly reveals the impact of his achievements.
“To be hungry for as long as he was is incredibly inspiring.”
- LIZZIE DEIGNAN
Eddy Merckx was brutalist: a rider whose form was dictated by function, with nothing wasted. Like the exposed, raw-concrete structures of béton, the way he rode demanded your attention. This hard-edged style of straight lines and powerful silhouettes dictated what happened around him—an economy of motion, a repetition of effort, an aesthetic of sheer inevitability.
“We wanted to make a film about my dad, not just the bike racer the world already knows, but the man behind it all. […] There were many people we hoped to interview, but hearing my mum speak in the film was probably the biggest triumph of all, as she had refused to be interviewed for a very long time.”
- Axel Merckx
His rock star aura and photogenic visage undoubtedly helped him transcend the sport, but his electric ambition, talent and unbreakable love for cycling made him the ultimate talisman for multiple generations to discover.
He had the athletic alchemy to win any race, the hunger to overcome every adversary, and the people around him to propel him to the highest echelons of his sport.
As well as the showings of the film, each premiere will be supported by exclusive insight into the making of the documentary. The London event will feature a Q&A compèred by Simon Mottram and featuring some of the famous voices from the film. The Brussels event Q&A will be with the man himself, Eddy Merckx, joined on-stage by his son, Axel.
Screening attendees will also have the opportunity to purchase an exclusive collector’s set of memorabilia. The Eddy Merckx 525 collector’s bundle includes: A premium cycling Casquette and a musette even the champion of champions would be happy to eat his lunch from. The text print features the dates of just some of the great man’s dazzling palmarès. A 32-page newspaper dedicated to the achievements of Eddy Merckx, including writing from Daniel Friebe, Herbie Sykes. Renaat Schotte, Hugo Coorevits & Lizzie Deignan, and illustrations by Matt Blease.
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