The Cannibal is getting ready to kick back with a fruity drink somewhere.
Merckx will sell his shares and retire, reported the Sportwereld.be website on Friday.  He started his factory in 1980 upon his retirement from professional cycling, but now wishes to step out of the daily management of the company.
“If you’ve built something yourself, it’s always painful to say goodbye to it. But I had no other choice,” Merckx said, “because I do not have a successor who can take over the plant.”
Gita, Merckx’s distributor, said Eddy’s still going to be involved in the company and will have a minority share, and they think the marketing of the brand is likely to increase under the new ownership and management.  Interestingly, Axle Merckx, Eddy’s son, was a former Postal teammate of Lance Armstrong and is too busy heading up Lance’s U-23 developmental team to take over the family biz.
