Eddy Merckx, a five-time Tour de France winner was nicknamed The Cannibal. At 65, he still gives you the impression he could devour you whole
What are the similarities between sports and business?
You have to train, you have to make sacrifices and you have to make hard choices. Talent is not enough because cycling is a hard sport. You suffer a lot on the bike because if you have to climb higher it’s one hard hour of climbing when it’s 35-40 degrees. So you feel the pain but you have to overlook that. Similarly, I was a businessman for 30 years. I used to work in my factory [producing bikes] until evening. And after office hours I used to stay in my office to sell the bikes and then I used to try and find distributors in other countries. It was hard work even there. In both cases you need quality to do what you want to do. To be a champion you need talent and a little bit of experience.
You had a blistering rivalry with Luis Ocana in the 1970s…
(This story appears in the 05 March, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)