I think this was the Worlds that was the subject of the famous feud between Merckx and Maertens, in which Merckx claimed his Belgian teammate chased him down. Merckx, in his book the "Wonderful World of Cycling" (or something like that), hinted vaguely at some sort of feud but claimed that he and Freddy were later reconciled. But Freddy had an interview in Cycle Sport not too long ago in which he said that Merckx is still very cool towards him. Merckx has many admirable qualities and I think will never be rivaled as the greatest cyclist ever, but his huge ego is legendary. He could not abide a rival, particularly not a fellow Belgian, who did not clearly acknowledge Merckx's superiority, and Maertens was always a maverick, not inclined to pay homage to anyone.
Even if Maertens had chased him down, I think Eddy made a bit much of it. After all, this is a routine occurence among the Italian team, as it seems that in many years the rival Italian stars would rather see a foreignor win the title than be beaten by by one of their countrymen.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, TX
aldoross4 <aldoross4@siscom.net> wrote: According to "Cycling Hall of Fame", today is Freddy Maerten's 54th birthday:
http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/
One of my favorite pieces of cycling film is from "La Course en Tete", showing Maertens as he leads-out Merckx, Gimondi, and Ocana in the final sprint of the 1973 World Championships in Barcelona. The camera is right there with the riders for the final few hundred meters - Extraordinary!
But cyclinghalloffame says that Maertens had chased-down Merckx in the final stages... anyone know more of the story? At the finish he was clearly leading-out for Merckx.
Aldo Ross Middletown, Ohio
----- Original Message Follows -----
From: "Brandi Matteo"
To: "classicrendezvous"
Subject: [CR]messengers
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 16:21:30 +0100
> Joel
>
> I believe that also Bartali did some sort of local
> "bike-transport"Few da ys ago i was reading(on a rush
> actually) about Bartali being awarded pos t-mortem for
> his "smugglin" of paperwork (inside the pipes of the
> frame) for jewish refugees that were hidin around Florence
> and local hills,proba bly there i ssomething about it on
> the web, Matteo Brandi Firenze Italy