On Wednesday morning, local residents were astonished to discover that the monument in honor of Eddy Merckx on Bouvreuilsplein in the Brussels municipality of Sint-Pieters-Woluwe had been destroyed. Vandals tore off the head of the artwork.
“The news reached us during the morning through several local residents. I immediately felt a strong emotion in their voices, between anger and desperation,” explains Mayor Benoît Cerexhe. “I am shocked myself. What satisfaction does someone get from such an act? Who now attacks a sportsman, a symbol of our country? Nothing can justify such an act.”
The municipality will file a complaint against unknown persons and analyze the images from surveillance cameras. In addition, the municipality is taking measures as quickly as possible to restore the artwork.
The Eddy Merckx monument was unveiled on March 28, 2019 on the occasion of the Grand Départ of the Tour de France in Brussels, in the presence of numerous prominent figures, including Merckx himself. That year, the Tour de France departed from Brussels to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his first overall victory.
The Belgian artist Stefaan De Croock created the artwork on behalf of the municipality. Eddy Merckx spent his childhood on Bouvreuilsplein – now also renamed Square Eddy Merckx – where his parents ran a grocery store.
