Eddy Merckx in Brussels, June 2025. (Photo: JOHN THYS)
A statue honoring cycling legend Eddy Merckx was vandalized in the Brussels suburb of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, where the Belgian rider grew up. The face of the five-time Tour de France winner was torn off, according to a statement released Wednesday by local authorities. Mayor Benoît Cerexhe expressed outrage, saying, “This Wednesday morning, residents discovered in astonishment that the statue of Eddy Merckx on Place des Bouvreuils had been vandalized. Who would want to attack an athlete who is a symbol of our country? Nothing justifies such an act.” He added that a complaint would be filed against unknown perpetrators.
Security camera footage will be analyzed, and a restoration is planned to return the statue to its original state as soon as possible, the mayor’s chief of staff told local media. The statue was inaugurated on March 28, 2019, to mark the “Grand Départ” of the Tour de France in Brussels. It stands in the square where Merckx’s parents once ran a grocery store. Now 80 years old, Merckx remains a highly respected figure in Belgium, born in Brussels with Flemish roots and fully bilingual, representing a symbol of unity in a country sometimes marked by linguistic tensions.