Five-time Tour de France winner Eddy Merckx was released from the hospital on Friday, a few days after being taken to the intensive care unit following a riding accident. Merckx crashed last Sunday while riding with friends and was immediately taken to a hospital in Dendermonde, near Ghent.

Merckx left the intensive care unit four days later, but was hospitalized for several days to undergo a series of medical tests; according to Sudpresse, Merckx suffered bleeding and was kept in the intensive care unit overnight. On Monday afternoon, Merckx was cleared for discharge and transferred to a regular ward.

On Friday, Sporza reported that Merckx was cleared for discharge and that the 74-year-old is now resting at home.

"He is happy to be home," his wife Claudine Merckx told Het Nieuwsblad.

"After all, home is better than the hospital.

Merckx was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat in 2013 and fitted with a pacemaker.

Merckx is widely regarded as the most successful cyclist of all time, winning the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia five times and 19 monuments in his career from 1965 to 1977.