Eddy Merckx has been admitted to the hospital again. The eighty-year-old cycling legend from Belgium has received a new hip prosthesis due to complications and is expected to remain in the hospital for about ten days.
Merckx already underwent surgery for a hip prosthesis at the end of last year after a fall with his bicycle. A few months later, the doctors discovered that the prosthesis was not fixed and had never attached to the bone.
Complications arose, and Merckx had to be readmitted to a hospital in Antwerp. “With an infection and a lot of fluid around the hip,” his entourage reports to Sporza.
Merckx underwent surgery again on Friday. The cycling icon will have to stay in the hospital until he no longer needs antibiotics.
Merckx is considered the best cyclist of all time. ‘The Cannibal’ not only won the Tour de France five times, but also the Giro d’Italia five times and the Vuelta a España once. In addition, he won three world titles on the road.