Those of you who followed the Tour at all this year might have noticed that special Eddy Merckx bike that Sylvain Chavanel was riding after his stage 2 victory. The EMX-5 isn't my cup of tea, I'm a steel man but that doesn't mean that I completely ignore what Merckx is doing for modern racing. Over in Brussels, the Merckx team got together and did something special for Sylvain's Tour bike. A reader from Belgium sent me some photos for a special Merckx Mondays.
Check the rest out below.
Sylvain Chavanel's stage 2 victory led the team at EM to whip up a special paintjob.
Good to see they had a sense of humor during the process...
The resulting paintjob was a real neck-breaker and made international cycling news blogs everywhere.
Just love that green!
After the paint was dry, the bike was ready to be ridden. Sylvain Chavanel had one sick EMX-5. Many thanks to Jonathan from Belgium for sending me these photos! Hopefully this comes at a good time for everyone. This year's Tour was intense!
Comments
Here's a link to the picasa album the Merckx factory sent out last month that contains a whole slew of other pics, in addition to the above.
Posted by: Jeremy | August 2, 2010 1:48 PM
Glad you liked it Jeremy!
The next day, on the cobbles of northern France Chavanel punctured twice and had a mechanical issue aswell ... at some point he threw a EMX5 on the side out of frustration (see here: http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2010/07/tour-de-france-cobbles/ )
Although I'm a steel fan myself (I ride a Corsa 01 and a Corsa extra) I must say the Merckx EMX bikes ride damn well. Just tested a EMX-3 yesterday and I never thought a racing bike could be so solid and reactive.
Continue the good work on mondays!!!
Posted by: jonathan | August 4, 2010 5:55 PM