Eddy Merckx won many races in his career and received many accolades. But this Thursday, a special inauguration took place. The Cannibal, three-time winner of the Inferno of the North, has become the sixth rider to have a cobbled section of Paris-Roubaix named following him.
“It’s been 50 years since I won Paris-Roubaix for the last time, seeing so many people makes me very happy“, explained Eddy Merckx at the microphone of Samuël Grulois.
A stele was also inaugurated in the Camphin-en-Pévèle sector, known as “La Justice” and which therefore becomes the Eddy Merckx sector. A paved sector classified 3 stars, 1800 meters long which has the particularity of offering a right-angle bend in the middle of the sector.
Placed just 20km from the finish, it is located just before the Carrefour de l’Arbre sector. It was chosen because it is the area closest to the Belgian border. On the other hand, Merckx has never driven in this sector of Camphin-en-Pévèle since it was introduced in 1980.
And Paris-Roubaix occupies a special place in the heart of the Belgian champion, marked by the cobblestones which are difficult to tame: “We call her the Queen of the classics and I think it really is because doing Paris-Roubaix in the conditions in which we did it, followingwards we are really broken, more than in the other classics“
