Legends Of The Tour De France: Eddy Merckz [DVD]

I first became interested in the Tour de France in the early 1980's as a result of the then fledgling Channel 4's nightly coverage of the greatest stage race in the calendar. That interest turned into a desire to ride myself, and soon after meeting other cyclists I became aware of some of the near legendary deeds of past champions. No name was spoken in more reverential tones than Eddy Merckx, but having missed the era in which he rode the best you could hope for in pre YouTube days was a book, or if you could afford it an expensive VHS tape ordered from the back pages of Cycling Weekly. Merckx's palmares was the stuff of legend, and finally I have seen for myself what all the fuss was about thanks to Music Magpie charging me a paltry 65p for a copy. Nicknamed 'The Cannibal' there's plenty on these 2 x 50 minute discs to enjoy. Covering Merckx's five Tour victories between 1969-1975, there's footage from all of the stage wins he took in that period, much in black and white but later in that glorious woozy colour that only degraded videotape can give, which adds to the atmosphere of racing from another era. Excitable French race commentary is well subtitled, with Merckx seemingly able at will to ride away from his closest rivals and actually increase time gaps to a chasing peleton. There's occasional post stage interviews included as well as modern, framing interviews with those rivals, all seemingly in awe as well as revealing comments from the man himself. The whole is held together by a fine commentary from Phil Liggett. We learn that Merckx's dominance was so great he won not only the yellow jersey but on occasions the green points jersey and the polka dot King of the Mountains titles too. In an era when the race calendar ran differently Merckx would sometimes start this toughest of all races after winning the Giro d'Italia a few weeks before for good measure. However the documentary doesn't stint at showing Merckx's tribulations in the 1975 tour as he finally succumbed to the challenges of others, and in particular Merckx is fully cognizant of the refusal of others to help him as he strugged after the medicine he had dished out in those winning years.This is a well put together documentary that shows racing from an earlier era and shows a well rounded picture of a true cycling champion. If I had any criticism it is only minor - the music used can get a little repetitive and sometimes it is intrusively loud; and it would have been nice to see leader boards between stages to demonstrate the level of dominance rather than being told about it in passing. However these don't detract from a well constructed review that put me more in awe of the man than even before.

As a fairly detailed review of this product has already been provided I will keep my thoughts short and merely supplement what has already been said.I was unsure whether or not to buy this DVD initially. I had previously watched another DVD in the same series covering great Italian riders of the Tour de France. Though the coverage of Marco Pantani in that DVD was excellent, I found the rest of it rather disappointing - the race footage was very limited and too much of the DVD was subtitled interviews.I was slightly worried that the Merckx DVD may be more of the same. Fortunately that is not the case. There is plenty of excellent race coverage that properly creates the atmosphere that surrounded Merckx's achievements and makes this great viewing. Thankfully the interviews augment rather than detract from the coverage.Overall this has persuaded me that it is worth trying the French riders DVD in the same series. I hope it is as good as this one.

Enjoyed all the footage, although it does seem a bit rushed in places. I would have liked to see some of the footage which I already have on another DVD of Eddy's bike production after his retirement.Don't understand why there needs to be two discs when there is only 50 minutes on each. The biggest drawback is the use of subtitles which you have to concentrate on and means you miss so much of the picture, fortunately most is interviews.The background music is annoying especially as the volume is well above the narrative which it is slotted in between.

I really enjoyed this documentary, even the background music - although the volume difference between the narrative and the music is a bit irksome. I purchased this without being thorough enough is my research. This dvd is also included in the 6-dvd "gift set". The difference being that the 102 minute film is on one disc rather than arbitrarily split onto two, and the case is different (standard cheap black plastic). So for a similar price you get five more films (or three if you don't care about L. A.) hence more value for your money.

Excellent some good film of his races and good interviews a must for cycling fans

It's ok

A1

Excellent