Eddie Merckx in hospital after heart scare

Brussels: Cycling great Eddie Merckx has been hospitalised in Brussels after complaining about heart pains, Belgian newspapers reported on Friday.

Het Laatste Nieuws and De Morgen said the 69-year-old Belgian had been suffering from hypertension and had lost consciousness last weekend.

Merckx, known as "The Cannibal" in the prime of his cycling career in the 1970s when he won the Tour de France five times, has a history of heart problems and had a pacemaker fitted last year.

A biography of the cyclist, published in March, 2012, said he had had a heart condition from the start of his career and should never have even competed professionally.

Friends of Merckx told AFP recently that he might undergo an angioplasty operation to widen narrowed or obstructed heart arteries.