Eddy Merckx’s 1974 World Championship win was the third of his professional career – but it was arguably one of his biggest triumphs given what it represented at the end of a remarkable season.

First it was redemption for The Cannibal after missing out in a four-man sprint a year earlier amidst claims team-mate Freddy Maertens had betrayed him, and the counter-claim that Merckx had sold race.

Bigger than that, however, was the fact it completed an unprecedented triple crown, with Merckx becoming the first man to win the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and World Championship in the same year. Only Stephen Roche has since repeated the feat in 1987.

Merckx had already worked to size down the chasing group as Bernard Thevenet led solo up the road for nearly 100km, and the now-diminished lead group caught the Frenchman on the final lap.

Raymond Poulidor attacked first from the group of four but Merckx caught him on the final descent and outsprinted the rider nicknamed The Eternal Second in Montreal.

Little did he know it, but Merckx’s World Championship win and his Triple Crown would also represent the last of the Belgian’s successes in the Giro, Tour or worlds – but his status as the greatest ever cyclist had long since been assured.