Laurent Jalabert was born in France in 1968, a professional cyclist from 1989-2002. Affectionately known as "Jaja", he rode to victory in many one-day and stage races and was ranked number 1 in the 90s. Although he was never the winner of Tour de France, he won the Vuelta a Espaņa in 1995, in a rare feat where he won the leaders jersey, sprinters jersey, and climbers jersey all in the same race. He is only the second rider in history who have done this.
He turned professional with the French Toshiba team in 1989 and quickly established himself as one of the most daring sprinters in the professional peloton. He then moved on to the Spanish ONCE team under the supervision of Manolo Saiz, where he reinvented himself as an all-rounder capable of winning any one-day race and even Grand Tours. 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. This caused discontent from the French cycling fans and it took many years for the fans to warm up to him again. He moved to the newly-formed CSC team in 2001 before retiring in 2002 to spend more time with his family.
He has won several stages of Tour de France, early in his days as a sprinter winning the sprinters green jersey twice and later as a climber winning the climbers 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 Espaņa 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 Espaņa, where he won the general, sprinters and climbers classifications while riding for the powerful ONCE team. He is known as one of the hardest racing cyclists of all times, competing in a hundred races a year at times.
His palmares include two of cycling's five monuments, the Milan-San Remo in 1995 and the Tour of Lombardy in 1997. He also won the Fleche Wallone twice in 1995 and 1997, and the Classica San Sebastian twice in 2001 and 2002. Notably absent from his palmares is the World Cycling Championships Road Race, where he was also second in 1992 behind Gianni Bugno of Italy. However, he won the World Championships Time Trial in 1997. He also won the most combative award in Tour de France in 2001 and 2002.
Upon retirement, Jalabert acted as a consultant for LOOK cycles and have contributed in the development of their new line of bicycle frames. He is also a commentator for France 2 TV station, often found on a motorcycle following the major races and commentating live on radio. He resides near Geneva, Switzerland.
