Cycling news - Eddy Merckx rushed to hospital with head injury after crash

The 74-year-old was out riding with friends when he fell and suffered what the local press are describing as a "serious head injury" before being rushed to hospital.

Merckx was admitted in the Flemish town of Dendermonde and was kept in overnight with doctors keen to avoid taking risks because of the pacemaker he had fitted six years ago.

According to Paul van Himst, a close friend of Merckx, Belgium's most successful cyclist will undergo further tests today.

"I was in contact with his wife Claudine last night," he told Belgian broadcaster Sporza.

"According to her, it is, all in all, ok. Today, new tests are planned."

Merckx is one of the most decorated cyclists of all time, having won five Tour de France and five Giro d'Italia titles, as well as a solitary Vuelta a Espana to complete a career Triple Crown of Cycling, something only seven men in history have managed.

He also won three World Championships and 19 Monument races, including a record seven Milan-San Remo titles.

The news of Merckx's hospital admission comes just a few weeks after Tour de France star Raymond Poulidor, a former competitor of the Belgian who won seven TdF stages and a Vuelta title, was taken ill in central France.