30/04/2026
If Eddy Merckx had followed his first sport, football, or gone into the family grocery business like his father had planned, we might be saying this great Italian rider was the greatest ever.
His name is Felice Gimondi, and he was unlucky to have his career at the same time as Merckx. He was 2 years older, they became professionals in the same year 1965, but by the time Merckx won his 1st grand tour (Giro 1968) Gimondi had won all 3.
He’d also won Paris-Roubaix and Il Lombardia in 1966, but in 1969 Merckx became ‘The Cannibal’ and pickings much slimmer for Gimondi. He handled it with great dignity, doing everything he could to go head-to-head with Merckx. A great respect grew between them.
Gimondi never dodged Merckx but chose to go head-to-head with him. He always said his attitude was to train and live well, be professional, and that way if he got his chance he could take it. They were both in top form for the road race world championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland in 1971.
It was a hard hilly circuit, a contrast to Leicester the previous year when Gimondi was 2nd to Belgian, Jean-Pierre Monseré and Merckx was shackled by team tactics. There was nothing tactical about Mendrisio. It was a race that let the strongest emerge in the last few laps. They were Eddy Merckx and Felice Gimondi.
They left the rest and quickly established a lead, then Gimondi started attacking. He really went for it, jumping clear time after time and forcing Merckx to chase. It was to no avail, it came to a sprint, which the more explosive Merckx won, but that victory was special.
Merckx punched the air as he crossed the line and kept punching it afterwards. He’d beaten the rival he most respected when that rival was on top form. Merckx’s joy was a tribute to Gimondi’s class, and Eddy talks about his respect for the Italian in a long and candid interview about his life in our book, Cycling Legends 04 Flandriens, cult heroes of the cobbles - https://cyclinglegends.co.uk/products/cycling-legends-04-flandriens-by-chris-sidwells
🖋 Chris Sidwells
