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Cycling legend Eddy Merckx is back home and recuperating after recent emergency surgery.
The 78-year-old Belgian woke in strong pain the night of March 26 and was brought by his wife to the emergency department of the University Hospital in Jette.
A bowel obstruction was diagnosed and he was operated on at 3am. According to HLN.be, a large part of his intestine was removed.
The newspaper said that he was not in danger, and that the operation proceeded without complications.
Merckx continues to recover and is said to be doing well, but has lost a considerable amount of weight.
He is regarded as the best rider in cycling history with a staggering 525 victories. These include five Tours de France, five Giri d’Italia, one Vuelta a España and three world road championships.
He also took seven editions of Milan-San Remo, five of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, three Paris-Roubaix, and two editions apiece of the Giro di Lombardia and the Tour of Flanders.
Merckx racked up countless other successes, with his dominance in the sport reflected in his seven victories in the Super Prestige Pernod International, a measure of season-long success.
The Belgian could have been even more dominant: weeks after winning his first Tour by over 10 minutes, he was involved in a bad crash in a moto-paced omnium event on the Blois velodrome.
His derny pacer was killed and Merckx was left unconscious for 45 minutes, suffering a concussion and a number of other injuries.
These included a twisted pelvis and he was left with discomfort for many years. He said that he was ‘never the same again’ after his fall, yet went on to clock up a list of victories which will likely never be beaten.
