Editing Eddy Merckx (section)

====1972: Breaking the hour record alongside a Giro–Tour double====
[[File:Raymond Poulidor, Tour de France 1966 (cropped).jpg|thumb|180px|upright|[[Raymond Poulidor]] (pictured at the [[1966 Tour de France]]) won [[1972 Paris–Nice|Paris–Nice]] after taking the lead away from Merckx in the race's final stage, an individual time trial.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=182}}|alt=A picture of a cyclist on a bike.]]
Due to his non-participation in track racing over the winter, Merckx entered the 1972 campaign in poorer form than in previous years.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=181}} In the Paris–Nice, Merckx broke a vertebra in a crash that occurred as the peloton was in the midst of a bunch sprint.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=181}} Against the advice of a physician, he started the next day being barely able to ride out of the saddle, leading Ocaña to attack him several times throughout the stage.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=181}} In the race's fifth leg, Merckx sprinted away from Ocaña with 150 meters to go to win the day.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=182}} Merckx lost the race lead in the final stage to [[Raymond Poulidor]] and finished in second place overall.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=182}} Two days removed from Paris–Nice, Merckx was victorious for the fifth time at the Milan–San Remo after he established a gap on the descent of the Poggio.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=182}}

In Paris–Roubaix, he crashed again, further aggravating the injury he sustained from Paris–Nice.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=183}} He won Liège–Bastogne–Liège by making a solo move forty-six kilometers from the finish.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=183}} Three days later, in La Flèche Wallonne, Merckx was a part of a six-man leading group as the race neared its conclusion.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=183}} Merckx won the uphill sprint to the finish despite his [[derailleur]] shifting him to the wrong gear, forcing him to ride in a larger gear than anticipated.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=184}} He became the third rider to win La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège in the same weekend.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=183}} Despite a monetary offer from race organizers for Merckx to participate in the [[1972 Vuelta a España|Vuelta a España]], he chose to take part in the [[1972 Giro d'Italia|Giro d'Italia]].{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=182}}

Merckx lost over two and a half minutes to Spanish climber [[José Manuel Fuente]] after the Giro's fourth stage that contained a summit finish to Blockhaus.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=187}} In the seventh stage, Fuente had attacked on the first climb of the day, the Valico di Monte Scuro.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=187}} However, Fuente cracked near the top of the climb, allowing for Merckx and Pettersson to catch and pass him. Merckx gained over four minutes on Fuente and became the new race leader.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=187}} He expanded his lead by two minutes through the stage 12a and 12b time trials, winning the former.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=188}} Fuente got Merckx on his own as the two climbed together during the fourteenth stage.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=188}} He and teammate [[Francisco Galdós]] attacked, leaving Merckx behind.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=188}} Merckx eventually reconnected with the two on the final climb of the stage.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=188}} He proceeded to attack and went on to win the stage by forty-seven seconds.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=188}} He lost two minutes to Fuente due to stomach trouble during the seventeenth leg that finished atop the [[Stelvio Pass]],{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=188}} but went on to win one more stage en route to his third victory at the Giro d'Italia.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=189}}

Merckx entered the [[1972 Tour de France|Tour de France]] in July where a battle between him and Ocaña was expected by many.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=189}} He took the opening prologue and expanded his advantage over all the other general classification contenders, except Ocaña, by at least three minutes.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|pp=189–190}} Going into the Pyrenees, Merckx led Ocaña by fifty-one seconds.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=190}} The general classification favorites were riding together as the race hit the Col d'Aubisque in the seventh leg.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=190}} Ocaña punctured on the climb, allowing for the other riders to attack.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=190}} Ocaña chased after the group but crashed into a wall on the descent and went on to lose almost two minutes to Merckx.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=190}} Merckx was criticized for attacking while Ocaña had a flat, but Merckx responded that the year before Ocaña had done the same thing while the race was in the Alps.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=190}} Merckx won the following stage, regaining the lead which he had lost after the fourth leg.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=190}} During the next two major mountain stages, one to Mont Ventoux and the other to Orcières, he merely followed Ocaña's wheel.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=191}} He won three more stages before crossing the finish line in Paris as the race's winner,{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=192}} thus completing his second Giro-Tour double in the process.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=193}}

[[File:EddyMerckxHourRecordBike.jpg|thumb|left|[[Ernesto Colnago]] designed the bike Merckx used (pictured) during his [[hour record]] attempt to be similar to Merckx's track bike.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=197}} The bike weighed 5.9 kilograms and saw two hundred hours put into its production.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=200}}{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=224}}|alt=An orange bicycle behind glass.]]
After initially planning to attempt to break the [[hour record]] in August, Merckx decided to make the attempt in October after taking a ten-day hiatus from [[criterium]] racing to heal and prepare.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=197}} The attempt took place on 25 October in [[Mexico City]], Mexico at the outdoor track [[Agustín Melgar Olympic Velodrome|Agustin Melgar]].{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=198}} Mexico was chosen due to the higher altitude as this led to less air resistance.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=198}} He arrived in Mexico on the 21st to prepare for his attempt, but two days were lost due to rain.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=200}} His attempt started at 8:46 am local time and saw him finish the first ten kilometers twenty-eight seconds faster than the record pace.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|pp=201–202}} However, Merckx started off too fast and began to fade as the attempt wore on.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=203}} He eventually was able to recover and posted a distance of {{convert|49.431|km|0|abbr=on}}, breaking the world record.{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=204}}{{sfn|Heijmans|Mallon|2011|p=131}}{{sfn|Nauright|Parrish|2012|p=368}} After finishing he was carried off and was quoted saying the pain was "very, very, very significant."{{sfn|Fotheringham|2013|p=204}}