Cambridge Encyclopedia :: Cambridge Encyclopedia Vol. 45

Laurent Jalabert - Grand tours, One-day races, Palmarès

French cyclist. His achievements include best sprinter (1994, 1995), winner of the Flèche-Wallonne (1995, 1997), runner up in the road racing world championships (1992), and overall points winner (green jersey) in the Tour de France (1992, 1995). He became world number one in September 1995.

Laurent Jalabert
Personal information
Full name Laurent Jalabert
Nickname Jaja
Date of birth November 30, 1968
Country France
Team information
Current team retired
Professional team(s)
1989-1991
1992-2000
2000-2002
Toshiba
Once
Team CSC
Major wins
4 stages Tour de France

3 stages Giro d'Italia

18 stages Vuelta a España

1x Vuelta a España 3x Paris-Nice 1x Tour de Romandie 1x Tour of Basque Country 1x Tour of Catalonia 1x Milan-Sanremo 1x Tour of Lombardy 1x World Champion 2x Clásica de San Sebastián 2x La Flèche Wallonne

Laurent Jalabert (born November 30, 1968) is a French former professional cyclist, from 1989 to 2002. Although he was never the winner of the Tour de France, he won the Vuelta a España in 1995; He won the World Time Trial Championship in 1997, and was the French national road champion in 1998 when he initiated the pull-out of the Spanish teams to protest against the treatment of the riders in the 1998 Tour de France. He moved to the newly-formed CSC team in 2001, where he once again gained the adoration of the French cycling public, winning the stage on the French national day, Bastille Day, in the 2001 Tour de France.

Grand tours

He has won several stages of Tour de France, early in his days as a sprinter winning the sprinter's green jersey twice and later as a climber winning the climber's polka dot jersey twice. His memorable wins on Bastille Day in Tour de France in 1995 and 2001 ensured him eternal place in the hearts of French cycling fans. Despite having started his career as one of the best sprinters in the peloton, his crash at the Tour de France stage finishing in Armentieres in 1994 made him rediscover himself as an all-rounder with the stamina needed to win Grand Tours such as the Vuelta a España or smaller stage races such as Paris-Nice.

Besides Eddy Merckx, he is the only other cyclist who has accomplished the trifecta at the grand tours level in the 1995 Vuelta a España, where he won the general, sprinters and climbers classifications.

One-day races

His palmares include two of cycling's five 'Monuments': the Milan-Sanremo in 1995 and the Tour of Lombardy in 1997.

Palmarès

Special Awards

1st in (UCI) rankings: (1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999) (2nd in 1998) Vélo d'Or international (1995) (2nd in 1997) Vélo d'Or national (1992, 1995, 2002) Mendrisio d'Oro (1995)

World Championships

World champion in Individual time trial (1997) French Road National Champion (1998)

Races

Vuelta a España (1995) (general classification, points and climbers jerseys) Milan-Sanremo (1995) Giro di Lombardia (1997) La Flèche Wallonne (1995, 1997) Paris-Nice (1995, 1996, 1997) Midi Libre (1996) Clásica de San Sebastián (2001, 2002) Classique des Alpes (1996, 1998) Tour de Romandie (1999) Tour of Catalonia (1995) Tour du Pays-Basque (1999) Tour Méditerranéen (2000) Critérium International (1995) Classic Haribo (1996) Paris-Bourges (1990) Milano-Torino (1997) Trofeo Luis Puig (1993) Coppa Agostoni (2002) Route du Sud (1996) Route Adélie (1997) Semaine Catalane (1999, 2000) Tour du Haut-Var (1998, 2002) Tour d'Armorique (1989) Tour Rioja (1993) Tour de Valence (1996) Tour de Burgos (1997) Tour des Asturies (1998) Escalada a Montjuïc (1997) Classica de Alcobendas (1993) Challenge Mallorca (1993, 1997) Sète-Mont Saint-Clair 1996) GP de Villafranca de Ordizia 1999) GP de Toulouse (1993, 1995) GP Amore-Bieta (1995) GP d'Aarhus (2002) French military champion (1988) 18 stages of the Vuelta a España 3 stages of the Giro d'Italia

Other placings

2nd in World Cycling Championship in road racing (1992) 2nd in the UCI World Cup (1991) 2nd overall Tour de Suisse (1999) 2nd overall 4 jours de Dunkerque (2001) 2nd in Championnat de Zurich (1991) 2nd in Wincanton Classic (1992) 2nd in the Coupe de France competition (1996)

Olympic Games

5th in the Olympic Games road race (2000)
Preceded by:
Tony Rominger
Winner of the Vuelta a España
1995
Succeeded by:
Alex Zülle


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