# Merckx and the World Championship--Montreal, 1974



## paredown (Oct 18, 2006)

A guy on the Classic Rendezvous posted some scanned personal slides taken in Montreal in 1974.
 Pictures here


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

paredown said:


> A guy on the Classic Rendezvous posted some scanned personal slides taken in Montreal in 1974.


I was there to watch Eddy's epic ride. Thevenet had been on a long solo breakaway and it came down to the last lap. One more climb up Mt Royal. I have a photo (I'll try to scan it tomorrow) of Eddy passing through the finishing line to start the last lap. He was towing the remnants of the bunch and he was in his highest gear (we could tell in those days!) on the slight uphill grade of the finishing straight of Boulevard Edouard Montpetit. He caught Thevenet on the classic climb of Camillien Houde and immediately attacked. Only Poulidor could respond and go with him. Eddy easily outsprinted him for the win. Eddy at his finest.


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

Felice, always watching him from behind


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## dimitris77 (Jul 4, 2011)

Damn these are cool jerseys and shorts!


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

Here's my pic of Eddy as promised. Notice the gear levers. He's in the big one - on a slight steady rise. And after 160 miles too.


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## paredown (Oct 18, 2006)

Mike T. said:


> Here's my pic of Eddy as promised. Notice the gear levers. He's in the big one - on a slight steady rise. And after 160 miles too.


Holy crap--53x15 maybe? Thanks!

Anyone who saw him ride had the same reaction--he looks fairly normal, but could ride like a space alien.


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## kbwh (May 28, 2010)

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

paredown said:


> Holy crap--53x15 maybe? Thanks!


I think 52/13 back in '74. 53 rings came much later.



> Anyone who saw him ride had the same reaction--he looks fairly normal, but could ride like a space alien.


What a powerhouse he was.


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## toomany (Dec 7, 2011)

Mike T. said:


> What a powerhouse he was.


I can tell you from personal experience, he still is.


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

kbwh said:


> Very nice. Thanks for sharing.


My pleasure. Digging out and scanning that pic (and sending it and its story to my best cycling buds) was a trip back in time.

Another snippet - The Olympic Velodrome (for the '76 Olympics in Montreal) was supposed to be ready in time for these world track championships in '74. But it wasn't going to be ready. The track itself (not the building) was being built by a family of velodrome builders I know from near me in Ontario (they built the current Forest City Velodrome in London Ont) - the Schelstraetes. So they built a temporary outdoor velodrome in a hurry. It was yards from the start/finish line where I took this pic.


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

toomany said:


> I can tell you from personal experience, he still is.


We're ALL ears!! Please share.


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## paredown (Oct 18, 2006)

Mike T. said:


> I think 52/13 back in '74. 53 rings came much later..


Toomany--was he there for the Kelowna Granfondo?

MikeT--the 53s were out there, just fairly rare. My Falcon San Remo Equipe (1972) came with a campy 53--no idea why except it was the model in full team livery--so maybe I got the bigboy ring!

Got me some serious time in an out and back time trial when we had a hellacious head wind going out and a huge tail wind coming back--everyone else was running out of gear and I had that 53 cranking for all it was worth. Made time on some riders who were considerably better than me!


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## toomany (Dec 7, 2011)

paredown said:


> Toomany--was he there for the Kelowna Granfondo?
> 
> MikeT--the 53s were out there, just fairly rare. My Falcon San Remo Equipe came with a campy 53--no idea why except it was the model in full team livery--so maybe I got the bigboy ring!
> 
> Got me some serious time in as out and back time trial when we had a hellacious head wind going out and a huge tail wind coming back--everyone else was running out of gear and I had that 53 cranking for all it was worth. Made time on some riders who were considerably better than me!


Not for the Kelowna event but he was for the Penticton event the previous week.

The Kelowna event had Trevor Linden and Alex Steida trying to blow each other up. Good times ...


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## paredown (Oct 18, 2006)

toomany said:


> Not for the Kelowna event but he was for the Penticton event the previous week.


Did you get him to autograph your Merckx(s)?


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## toomany (Dec 7, 2011)

paredown said:


> Did you get him to autograph your Merckx(s)?


I don't have Merckx's any more.

All 6 of them are moved along to new homes.


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## paredown (Oct 18, 2006)

toomany said:


> I don't have Merckx's any more.
> 
> All 6 of them are moved along to new homes.


Aren't the other bikes lonely now? 

Have you been downsizing everything or just the bike fleet?


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## toomany (Dec 7, 2011)

paredown said:


> Aren't the other bikes lonely now?


I doubt they have noticed yet to be honest. Sad comment that.






paredown said:


> Have you been downsizing everything or just the bike fleet?



Trying to downsize a lot of stuff, general de-crapping and de-cluttering. House/real estate prices here are still going north and I would like to put the house up maybe next year, move into something smaller (a lot fewer sq ft) and smaller yard. The babies are in college now so unlikely they are going to want to get a pick up soccer game going in the back yard.

A much smaller house with an "extra garage" for my bikes and wood shop would be ideal.


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## paredown (Oct 18, 2006)

Sounds ideal--garage for the bikes and room for the woodshop. Similar dream here.. but we'll stay put and I'll have to build the garage.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

atpjunkie said:


> Felice, always watching him from behind


I thought that was Moser... I think they were both in that race but I can only find results for Moser (7th) though Gimondi was defending champ... ?


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

Creakyknees said:


> I thought that was Moser... I think they were both in that race but I can only find results for Moser (7th) though Gimondi was defending champ... ?


According to Wikipedia, Moser rode for the Filotex team. Look at the shorts in this pic.


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## Cinelli 82220 (Dec 2, 2010)

First picture says it all, Moser is looking around at the camera, but Merckx is looking straight ahead totally focussed on winning.


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## venturelli (Dec 31, 2013)

*World Amateur Road-Race Montreal 1974*

Hello,

I am Brazilian and raced in the men-amateur road-race at Montreal 1974. It was done the day before the professionals riders did. The Mount Royal circuit was exactly the same for both races. Difference was race-lenghts: 14 laps = 175 km and 21 laps = 263 km.

The GP Montreal 2013 (206 km) recently won by Peter Sagan was also raced in the same circuit after almost 40 years! 

Does anyone have photos of the Montreal Amateur road-race 1974?

Eduardo Venturelli
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Mike T. said:


> I was there to watch Eddy's epic ride. Thevenet had been on a long solo breakaway and it came down to the last lap. One more climb up Mt Royal. I have a photo (I'll try to scan it tomorrow) of Eddy passing through the finishing line to start the last lap. He was towing the remnants of the bunch and he was in his highest gear (we could tell in those days!) on the slight uphill grade of the finishing straight of Boulevard Edouard Montpetit. He caught Thevenet on the classic climb of Camillien Houde and immediately attacked. Only Poulidor could respond and go with him. Eddy easily outsprinted him for the win. Eddy at his finest.


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

venturelli said:


> Hello,
> I am Brazilian and raced in the men-amateur road-race at Montreal 1974. It was done the day before the professionals riders did. The Mount Royal circuit was exactly the same for both races. Difference was race-lenghts: 14 laps = 175 km and 21 laps = 263 km.
> *The GP Montreal 2013 (206 km) recently won by Peter Sagan was also raced in the same circuit after almost 40 years*!
> Does anyone have photos of the Montreal Amateur road-race 1974?
> Eduardo Venturelli


The current Mount Royal circuit is a little different than the 1974 World's circuit and the '76 Olympic circuit - it now uses the piece of Avenue du Parc that has the start and finish line with its 180 degree turn before the finish. Before, it would come along Cote Sainte Catherine and turn right and quick left straight up the mountain. Back then the finish was on Boulevard Edouard Monpetit.

I didn't get any photos from the amateur race.


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## Cinelli 82220 (Dec 2, 2010)

Go to the flickr photoset for the pics in the link at the start of this thread.

There are a few pictures of the amateurs and women's races. A nice one of Beryl Burton too.


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## venturelli (Dec 31, 2013)

Cinelli 82220 said:


> Go to the flickr photoset for the pics in the link at the start of this thread.
> 
> There are a few pictures of the amateurs and women's races. A nice one of Beryl Burton too.


--------------------

Thanks for the info but unfortunately I did not find the way to see the pics you mentioned. Could you teach me?


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## Cinelli 82220 (Dec 2, 2010)

Go to the first post in this thread.
Click on the link that says "pictures here".
Go to the lower right hand corner of that page.
Click on World Championships 1974 2nd group.

Hope that helps! 

I was there too with my trusty Kodak Instamatic. My pictures were not quite so good.


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## venturelli (Dec 31, 2013)

<object id="4a98987b-6948-b898-da9a-1a93fabe8892" width="0" height="0" type="application/gas-events-abn"></object>Ciao,
Bingo! Beautiful photos.
Thanks.


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## Sun Rider (Jul 8, 2012)

Just saw this thread. On vacation in Vermont when I read that the Professional World Road Championships would be in Montreal. A two hour drive from where I was staying. 
Wife and I drove up to Montreal and spent eight glorious hours on the side of Mt. Royale.
We saw the Great Eddy Merckx make is final break with Poulidor hanging on to his wheel.
Still get goose bumps thinking about it. Still have the program from the championships.


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