Roger De Vlaeminck shares hilarious Eddy Merckx doping control anecdote: "Eddy couldn't wee... When the doctor wasn’t looking I quickly poured half of mine into his container"

Roger De Vlaeminck and Eddy Merckx are two of the most successful cyclists of all time. Sharing many battles during the course of their careers, the two Belgian's were rivals but also had great respect for each other, as shown by the fact De Vlaeminck named his son Eddy.

To celebrate Merckx's 80th birthday this week, the pair were reunited, and one anecdote in particular caught the eye. When detailing their mutual respect as rivals, De Vlaeminck recalled a hilarious if somewhat curious anecdote from when he gave Merckx his wee to help his rival pass a doping control test.

“It was in Switzerland. Here’s what happened: it had been raining all day. Eddy won the sprint, I came in second. So off we went to the doping control," De Vlaeminck's tale begins in comments collected by De Telegraaf. The issue was though, that Merckx was struggling to produce a sample for the doctors to investigate, something that could have raised concerns for doping control.

"Eddy had already peed during the race and couldn’t go again," De Vlaeminck explains, revealing how he swooped in to save the day for his great rival, using some questionable tactics to fool the doping control. "I was still bursting. When the doctor wasn’t looking, I quickly poured half of mine into his container. He’d have done the same for me. Peeing in the rain, it’s quickly done — you don’t always think about it.”

Whilst it's unlikely this kind of thing would pass if used in the modern cycling world, for De Vlaeminck and Merckx the technique was successful, allowing Merckx to pass through doping control without ever giving a sample. “That’s right. It was freezing, and I was absolutely frozen. I also tend to pee easily during races. But I completely trusted Roger,” adds Merckx himself on the subject.