{"id":612640,"date":"2026-04-17T09:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/612640\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T09:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:36:11","slug":"cycling-legend-eddy-merckx-out-of-intensive-care-following-another-procedure-that-followed-hip-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/612640\/","title":{"rendered":"Cycling legend Eddy Merckx&#8217; out of intensive care following another procedure that followed hip injury"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Widely regarded as the greatest cyclist in history, 80-year-old <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/eddy-merckx\" title=\"Eddy Merckx\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Eddy Merckx<\/a> underwent a successful surgical hip washout on Monday, a procedure intended to halt the infection that has lingered for weeks. The operation, combined with antibiotic therapy, aims to reduce infection levels and stabilize his condition.\u201cNow we have to wait and see, but in any case, he\u2019s fine,\u201d his son, Axel Merckx, explained after the procedure, in comments reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hln.be\/wielrennen\/hij-stelt-het-goed-even-afwachten-nu-eddy-merckx-80-onderging-met-succes-operatieve-heupspoeling~a4f847c9\/?slug_rd=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Het Laatste Nieuws<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Following that accident, Merckx received a hip prosthesis, but the progression was not as expected. The implant failed to bond properly to the bone, forcing repeat surgeries and prolonging his recovery.<\/p>\n<p>Six operations in half a year<\/p>\n<p>Since then, the five-time Tour de France winner has been in the operating theatre six times in barely half a year, with four different prostheses implanted. All these procedures were performed under general anesthesia, an especially demanding process at his age.<\/p>\n<p>After the last operation, in September of last year, the situation appeared to have stabilised. However, the recent infection again disrupted the recovery process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut the process didn\u2019t go as well as we hoped,\u201d admitted Axel Merckx, explaining the need to step up treatment.<\/p>\n<p>A more aggressive treatment<\/p>\n<p>With the initial antibiotic course failing to deliver, the medical team opted for a more forceful solution. The procedure consisted of a surgical washout of the prosthesis, also under general anaesthesia, aimed at removing pus and infected tissue to tackle the bacterial infection.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverything went according to plan. He has moved from the intensive care unit to a regular room and, given the circumstances, he\u2019s doing well,\u201d his son assured.<\/p>\n<p>Monitoring progress<\/p>\n<p>The next step is to observe how his body responds to the treatment. His progress will dictate the recovery timeline in a process that, according to those close to him, will require time and patience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow we have to wait and see if the washout has the desired effect&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"280\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/eddy-merckx-1974-copyright-proshots-27074878.jpg@webp.webp\" class=\"w-auto h-auto\" alt=\"\u2018GOAT\u2019 debate in world cycling between Eddy Merckx and Tadej Pogacar\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Eddy Merckx in action in 1974.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Widely regarded as the greatest cyclist in history, 80-year-old Eddy Merckx underwent a successful surgical hip washout on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,28545,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-612640","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-eddy-merckx","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=612640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}