Belgian cycling idol Eddy Merckx may face trial following an investigation of kickbacks paid for the supply of bicycles to Brussels police, reports said yesterday.

The 70-year-old five-time Tour de France winner was quoted by La Derniere Heure as saying: “I have nothing to say.”

Asked about the Merckx report, the public prosecutor’s office would only say that a case had been opened.

A spokesman declined comment on whether prosecutors wanted Merckx to face a graft trial after summer with 12 others, as La Derniere Heure said.

The newspaper said the cyclist, who won the Tour and the Giro five times each between 1968 and 1974, is suspected of giving a local police chief a discount on two Eddie Merckx bikes made by his company and securing a €15,000 contract to supply 46 bicycles to the police force in 2006.

The police chief was indicted in 2012 but an eventual trial could now involve more people.

Dubbed “The Cannibal” for his appetite for winning, Merckx founded his eponymous cycle company in 1980. He stepped down as chief executive in 2008 but remains involved.