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Eddy Merckx, 1970 Tour de France

$150.00

Eddy Merckx “525” Limited Edition

Merckx goes flat out at Stage 23 of the 1970 Tour de France. This 54km individual time trial was the last stage of the Tour, and Merckx already had the Tour all but sewn up: his 10’14” overall lead over second-place Joop Zoetemelk was virtually insurmountable. Not one to rest on his laurels, “Le Canibale” /”de Kanibaal” felt his job was not done until he crushed his competitors once more by winning the time trial stage by 1’47”. With that, the second of what in his career would eventually be five Tour de France victories were complete!

This limited edition series is set at 525 numbered lithographs to correspond and celebrate Eddy Merckx’s unprecedented 525 career victories.

Each 24″ x 20″ lithograph has been personally signed by Eddy Merckx and comes with a certificate of authenticity from The Horton Collection.

Lithograph printing was done by AMP Printing in Dublin, California on Daiei TopKote 111 pound acid-free archival quality stock using a Heidelberg press.

Size 20 x 24 inches

In stock

SKU: SLS-007 Category:

Description

Eddy Merckx was the big favorite to win the 1970 Tour de France which consisted of 23 stages over 4,358.3 km. This photo captures beautifully his concentration and focus during the 54 km Stage 23 individual time trial. In 1970 Merckx won his second Tour de France along with taking first in the Mountains Classification and second in the Points classification.

In 1970, Eddy Merckx became the third cyclist to win the Tour-Giro double in one year at only 25 years old; only Fausto Coppi and Jacques Anquetil had done it before. Merckx’s dominance in the 1970 Tour was so great, that race director Félix Lévitan attempted to introduce changes in order to make the race more competitive.

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Despite our efforts to find the name of the photographer of this image, it currently remains a mystery. As was common practice at the time, original photographs often had no reference as to the name of the photographer. Rather, there were crop marks and other notations written on the back of the original photograph that was used in the print publication process. As always, we welcome any knowledge regarding the awesome photographers that so deftly captured and continue to capture the vibrant landscape of cycling.

Additional information

Weight 3 lbs

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