Two icons, joined in orange by ornate lugs. Ernesto Colnago’s surname appears on the frame more than Merckx’s, in fact, and rightfully so, since it was Ernesto who designed the frame for Merckx so long ago. Look at the fluted seatpost, or the sleek, shiny stem with another famous name - Colnago - stamped into it.

Once you get past the initial awe of the bike, with the famous signature created by legendary hands, the details start to command your eyes to them. How tragic it would be to rub that scrawl off with the inside of one’s leg, perhaps in a Belgian rain storm. It appears Blume has wisely covered the signature over with protective film. The signature wanders a bit - it must be difficult to append one’s name to a round metal tube, something most of us will never experiment with - but it is unmistakable, like the face of its executor: E. “I got it signed yesterday,” Blume says, pointing to a black scrawl on the top tube near the seatpost.

Training wheels would have to suffice for the Tour.īlume is from Denmark, and while there are plenty of Danes having impressive starts to the 2019 Tour de France, Blume might have cause to beam the most. The wheels, he says, are not original, since he was actually out riding the bike. And it’s in near-pristine condition, with almost flawless paint and plenty of original spec components. “I bought it used from an Italian collector,” says Kristian Blume, the bike’s owner. It was easy to spot: thin tubes, blaze orange paint, the famous name, and a man standing behind it wearing one of the most recognizable jerseys in all of cycling. So perhaps it should come as no surprise that the coolest bike I spotted at the Tour de France so far was also emblazoned both with Merckx’s famous name and unmistakable visage. No other legends come close to the enthusiasm the two garner. The man himself wandered the team paddock during stages one and two, and it was easy to track him when he did: If the fans went mad, you could narrow it down to Merckx or Peter Sagan. The 2019 Tour de France Grand Depart festivities in Brussels, Belgium, have brought with them iconic images of the cycling legend, from a football field-sized banner at the Brussels Expo Center that you can see from your flight into Brussels airport, to a subway stop simply called Eddy Merckx. Don't miss a moment from Paris-Roubaix and Unbound Gravel, to the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, Vuelta a España, and everything in between when youīelgium has a face and it is Eddy Merckx.

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