19 Facts About Laurent Jalabert

Laurent Jalabert was born on 30 November 1968 and is a French former professional road racing cyclist, from 1989 to 2002.

Laurent Jalabert turned professional with the French Toshiba team in 1989 and quickly established himself as a daring sprinter.

Laurent Jalabert moved on to the Spanish ONCE team under Manolo Saiz, where he reinvented himself as an all-rounder capable of winning one-day races and the tours.

Laurent Jalabert injured his face and promised his wife to change his style of riding.

Laurent Jalabert won the 1995 Vuelta a Espana along with the points and climbers' competitions.

Laurent Jalabert won the world time trial championship in 1997, and was French road champion in 1998, the year he initiated a pull-out of Spanish teams from the 1998 Tour de France in protest at treatment of riders in a police inquiry into drug-taking.

Laurent Jalabert moved to CSC in 2001, where he won the stage on 14 July, the French national day, Bastille Day, in the 2001 Tour de France.

Laurent Jalabert retired in 2002 after winning the mountains classification in the Tour de France and going on a solo escape in the Pyrenees.

Laurent Jalabert won several stages of the Tour de France, as a sprinter winning the points classification in the Tour de France twice and as a climber winning the mountains classification in the Tour de France twice.

Besides Eddy Merckx and Tony Rominger, Laurent Jalabert is the only cyclist who has accomplished the trifecta at the grand tour level in the 1995 Vuelta a Espana, where he won the general, sprinters' and climbers' classifications.

Laurent Jalabert won La Fleche Wallonne in 1995 and 1997, and the Clasica de San Sebastian in 2001 and 2002.

Laurent Jalabert won an award as the most combative rider in the Tour de France in 2001 and 2002.

On retirement, Laurent Jalabert was a consultant for Look cycles and contributed to a new line of bicycle frames.

Laurent Jalabert is a commentator for France 2 and 3, the national television stations, often from a motorcycle alongside the race.

In 2005, Laurent Jalabert ran the New York City marathon in 2h 55m 39s, coming 391st in a field of 36,894.

Laurent Jalabert exited the water in 1:16, which put him 966th after the swim.

On 11 March 2013 Laurent Jalabert was hit by a car while riding his bike near Montauban, France.

That same year, Laurent Jalabert was summoned by the French senate for a testimony about doping.

Laurent Jalabert's name was on the list of doping tests published by the French Senate on 24 July 2013 that were collected during the 1998 Tour de France and found positive for EPO when retested in 2004.