CPH:DOX 2026 pays tribute to Eddy Merckx across the country

How does one become a legend? For Belgian Eddy Merckx, his interest in cycling not only defined him, but the entire sport. On March 17 at 17.30 at Bremen, CPH:DOX invites you to a celebration of the iconic cyclist. Together with the podcast Cafe Eddy, hosted by Bastian Emil Goldschmidt and Brian Holm, we will watch the brand new documentary about Merckx and look back on a legendary career and the undeniable influence he has had on cycling to this day, and ask the question: Is Eddy Merckx really the greatest cyclist ever?

DOX:DANMARK, CPH:DOX’s nationwide festival, where many of the country’s municipalities hold their own documentary film festivals with selected films from the program, is also participating. Five cinemas across the country will show the documentary about Eddy Merckx and will be visited afterwards by Brian Holm and Bastian Emil Goldschmidt for a talk about cycling, Merckx, and his status today.

A living cycling legend

From his amateur beginnings in 1961 until his retirement in 1978, Eddy Merckx won a staggering 525 road races. The monuments, the world championship, 11 Grand Tours, and much more. Everything. No one has surpassed Merckx since, and today he is considered a living legend. The documentary Merckx – Race of a Champion is a stylish and compelling portrait of an invincible champion through thick and thin.

With vivid use of archive material, the documentary tells the story of the star’s meteoric rise. Behind the success, however, there were bumps in the road: doping cases, exclusions, crashes. When he won, he united Belgium. When he lost, the whole nation turned its back on him. The story of Merckx is the story of how a great talent pushed himself and his pain threshold to the limit to become the best in the world. A film about pain and willpower – and about a legend that even Tadej Pogačar cannot match.

Merckx or Pogačar?

Or what? Can Eddy Merckx still be considered unbeatable when we look at cycling today? It’s a tough question that cycling fans around the world could spend hours debating. If anyone here at home can give a qualified answer, it must be cycling connoisseurs Brian Holm and Bastian Emil Goldschmidt, who together host the podcast Café Eddy.

Here, they discuss the latest news in the world of cycling. With changing guests and room for strong opinions, there is an honest atmosphere where music, fashion, art, and poetry are also highlighted. Café Eddy is a tribute to cycling, its traditions, peculiarities, colorful cast of characters, intrigues, crashes, and the will to win.

CPH:DOX 2026

CPH:DOX is warming up for March 11-22 by regularly teasing special events, films, and guests that you can look forward to experiencing at the festival. True to tradition, the program will be packed with documentaries that shed light on the world we live in, seen from scientific, artistic, power-critical, human, young, experienced, unshakeable, fantastically funny, and completely absurd perspectives. CPH:DOX has grown beyond the capital and now also takes place digitally on the streaming service PARA:DOX and as local film festivals via DOX:DANMARK. In 2025, the festival welcomed more than 150,000 guests.

The full program for CPH:DOX and DOX:DANMARK will be announced in February 2026.

Photo: Paw Gissel, Incognita Distribution and Rasmus Weng Karlsen.