Vintage, black and white photos of Eddy Merckx will always be my favorite. Here’s one from 1969, Eddy racing in the TDF time trial race Revel-Revel. On his yellow jersey is the number 51, a marveled pairing of numbers in the Tour’s history.

Back then, “Champions are born with the back number 51” was a common saying in the Peloton and with good reason. Many legends were adorned by these digits: Eddy Merckx, Louison Bobet, Bernard Thèvenet and Luis Ocana. All of which exceeded a simple win and elevated themselves into cycling’s history.

Thanks to the Flickr stream of Walter Vermeulen for this week’s Merckx Mondays!