Amid calls for comment on the death of his rival and close friend Raymond Poulidor on Wednesday morning after an extended hospital stay, five-time Tour de France winner Eddy Merckx told Belgian media that the cycling accident he had in mid-October may have been more serious than reported. He told Belgian media that his mid-October cycling accident may have been more serious than reported.

Merckx crashed on October 13 while riding with friends and was taken to the hospital with what was described at the time as "serious head trauma."

He told Sporza.be on Wednesday, "It's getting better now, but it's still not what it should be. 'It's a little difficult to explain, but we have to do more tests.'

"If you saw what I went through you would know that I was very lucky. If it hadn't been for the chance of a nurse walking by, that might have been the end of it."

Merckx was discharged five days later, but the Belgian Sudpresse newspaper group reported at the time that Merckx had suffered a hemorrhage and was kept in intensive care overnight. [Merkus told "Sporza.be" that "50 years after Blois, and now this accident," revealing further clues as to the seriousness of the accident. Merckx was involved in an accident on a cycling course in Blois, France, in 1969, which killed Fernand Wambusto of Delny, his teammate.

Merckx also admitted Wednesday that Poulidor's death had a great impact on him.

"The cycling world has lost a monument, an icon," Merckx told Het Nieuwsblad. "You can't imagine how much France loved 'Poupou'. France loved his charm."

"He was perhaps the most popular sportsman in France. We no longer have a monument to a sportsman and a human being. It hit me very hard," he said.