sport.wikisort.org - Athlete

Axel Eddy Lucien Jonkheer Merckx[2] (born 8 August 1972) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer and the son of five-time Tour de France champion Eddy Merckx. He is team director of UCI Continental team Hagens Berman Axeon.[3]

Axel Merckx

Personal information
Full name	Axel Merckx
Born	(1972-08-08) 8 August 1972 (age 50) Uccle, Belgium
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	77 kg (170 lb)
Team information
Current team	Hagens Berman Axeon
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider (retired) General manager Team manager
Rider type	All-rounder
Professional teams
1993	Motorola (stagiaire)
1994	Team Telekom
1995–1996	Motorola
1997–1998	Team Polti
1999–2000	Mapei–Quick-Step
2001–2002	Domo–Farm Frites–Latexco
2003–2005	Lotto–Domo
2006	Phonak
2007	T-Mobile Team
Managerial teams
2009–	Trek–Livestrong[1]
2011	Team RadioShack
Major wins
Grand Tours Giro d'Italia 1 individual stage (2000) Stage races Tour de l'Ain (2003) One-day races and Classics National Road Race Championships (2000) GP de Wallonie (2001)
Medal record Representing  Belgium Men's road bicycle racing Olympic Games 2004 Athens Road Race

In his professional career (1993–2007), he won the Belgian national road race championship in 2000 and a bronze medal in the road race at the 2004 Olympic games in Athens.

Cycling career

Born in Uccle, Axel Merckx became a professional cyclist in 1993, winning the Belgian national road race championship in 2000. He vowed to make his mark by accomplishing feats that had eluded his father, such as winning a Tour de France stage at Alpe d'Huez and the Paris–Tours classic. He did not succeed, but competed in eight Tours de France and finished as the highest-placed Belgian rider six times. His personal best was cracking the top 10 during the 1998 edition.

Merckx won the bronze medal in the road race at the 2004 Games in Athens, breaking free in the final kilometre.

During the 2006 Tour de France, Merckx announced that he signed a new contract for one extra season with Phonak, later renamed iShares. He stated that this would be his last season as a professional road bicycle racer. However, after Phonak announced that it would stop sponsoring the cycling team, Merckx signed a contract with Team T-Mobile, where he had started his professional career. During the 2006 Tour Merckx was instrumental in forcing the pace of the peloton for teammate Floyd Landis who won the Tour. He was often times the only teammate able to stay with Landis and the group of favorites and he initially finished 31st overall, however it was later discovered that Landis had failed a doping control after stage 17 and the Tour win was revoked.

Merckx announced his retirement from professional cycling at the end of the 2007 Tour de France.[4] He won his last race at Lommel, in August 2007.[5]

He created the Granfondo Axel Merckx National Series, with its inaugural event being the Granfondo Axel Merckx Okanagan on 10 July 2011 in Penticton, British Columbia. His father, Eddy, rode in the inaugural event.

His name was on the list of doping tests published by the French Senate on 24 July 2013 that were collected during the 1998 Tour de France then retested in 2004. Merckx was not one of then 18 Riders named as testing positive for EPO but was on a list of 12 named riders whose test results were listed as "suspicious".[6]

Merckx is currently the owner and directeur sportif of the Hagens Berman Axeon team.[7]

Personal life

Merckx married Canadian triathlete Jodi Cross in 1997, and currently resides in Kelowna, British Columbia. They have two children, Axana (born 5 May 2001) and Athina Grace (born 29 June 2005).^{[citation needed]}

Because his father was made a baron—a personal, hereditary title—in Belgium, Axel Merckx has also been ennobled. He is therefore officially referred to as Écuyer (in French) or Jonkheer (in Dutch) Axel Merckx.[8][9][10] This honorific title is comparable to the British The Honourable, when the untitled person is the offspring of a baron, earl or viscount.

Major results

References

External links

• Axel Merckx at ProCyclingStats
• Axel Merckx at trap-friis.dk

На других языках

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- [en] Axel Merckx

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[es] Axel Merckx

Axel Merckx (8 de agosto de 1972) es un ciclista belga, hijo del también ciclista Eddy Merckx. Se inició en el fútbol, pero posteriormente se encaró hacia el ciclismo profesional.

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[fr] Axel Merckx

Axel Merckx, né le 8 août 1972 à Uccle, est un ancien coureur cycliste professionnel belge, devenu manager et directeur sportif de l'équipe Axeon-Hagens Berman.

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[it] Axel Merckx

Axel Merckx (Uccle, 8 agosto 1972) è un dirigente sportivo ed ex ciclista su strada belga. Professionista dal 1993 al 2007, conta nel suo palmarès una medaglia di bronzo nella prova in linea ai Giochi olimpici di Atene 2004, un titolo nazionale in linea e una vittoria di tappa al Giro d'Italia.

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[ru] Меркс, Аксель

Аксель Меркс (нидерл. Axel Merckx, род. 8 августа 1972 (1972-08-08) в Уккеле, Бельгия) — бельгийский профессиональный шоссейный велогонщик. Бронзовый призёр летних Олимпийских игр 2004 года в групповой гонке. Участник летних Олимпийских игр 2000 года. Сын Эдди Меркса.

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