Jelle Wallays (born 11 May 1989) is a Belgian former road cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2011 to 2023.

Jelle Wallays
Wallays in 2023
Personal information
Born (1989-05-11) 11 May 1989 (age 35)
Roeselare, West Flanders, Belgium
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight77 kg (170 lb)
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider typeClassics specialist
Amateur teams
2008–2010Beveren 2000[1]
2010Topsport Vlaanderen–Mercator (stagiaire)
Professional teams
2011–2015Topsport Vlaanderen–Mercator[2]
2016–2020Lotto–Soudal[3][4]
2021–2023Cofidis[5]
Major wins
Grand Tours
Vuelta a España
1 individual stage (2018)

One-day races and Classics

Paris–Tours (2014, 2019)
Dwars door Vlaanderen (2015)

Career

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Jelle Wallays is the brother and nephew of racing cyclists Jens Wallays and Luc Wallays.[6] He was coached by his uncle in his early racing career and competed in his first race at the age of 14. The start of his first year as a professional in 2011 was marred by a knee injury, however a few weeks after returning to competition he took the best result of his season at the Belgian National Road Race Championships, where he finished third behind Philippe Gilbert and Gianni Meersman.[1]

A winner of the Paris–Tours Espoirs in 2010, Wallays won the 2014 Paris–Tours having been in a breakaway that went in the opening kilometres of the 237.5 km (147.6 mi) race, making him the only rider to win the under-23 and elite men's editions of Paris–Tours.[7] He added a second victory in the race in 2019.

In 2015, he won the Dwars door Vlaanderen by attacking a group of three other riders a kilometre away from the finish line.[8]

Wallays joined Lotto–Soudal for the 2016 season, with a focus on working as part of the team's sprint train.[1] He was named in the startlist for the 2016 Vuelta a España.[9]

In October 2020, Wallays signed with the Cofidis team for the 2021 season.[10]

Major results

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Paris-Roubaix 2023 – Secteur pavé de Quiévy à Saint-Python – N° 157 Jelle Walley.

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

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Grand Tour 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
  Giro d'Italia Has not contested during his career
  Tour de France 131
  Vuelta a España 92 151 143 144
Legend
Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Presentation new rider: Jelle Wallays". Lotto–Soudal. Archived from the original on 1 June 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  2. ^ "Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise (TSV) – BEL". UCI Continental Circuits. Union Cycliste Internationale. Retrieved 6 February 2014.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "Lotto-Soudal". Directvelo (in French). Association Le Peloton. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  4. ^ "Steff Cras and Matthew Holmes complete Lotto Soudal's 2020 roster". Cyclingnews.com. 27 October 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  5. ^ "Cofidis". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 1 January 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  6. ^ Tytgat, Martin (7 March 2013). "Wielermilieu rouwt na overlijden Luc Wallays" [Cycling milieu mourns after death of Luc Wallays]. Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  7. ^ Wallays wins Paris-Tours classic
  8. ^ "Wallays wins Dwars door Vlaanderen". Cyclingnews.com. 25 March 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  9. ^ "71st Vuelta a España". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  10. ^ "Jelle Wallays, l'expérience au service de Cofidis" [The experienced Jelle Wallays, at the service of Cofidis]. Cofidis (in French). Groupe Cofidis Participations. 24 October 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
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