At the beginning of July marks a sad birthday for Laurent Jalabert. In 1994, the French runner was the victim of a terrible fall in Armentières who was going to transform his career.
Landed on the 1994 Tour de France with high ambitions, Laurent Jalabert saw his turn stop from the first stage disputed between Villeneuve d’Asq and Armentières, and his career switch. The fault of a gendarme who had the bad idea of wanting to take a photo – for a spectator – while the sprinters swallowed the bitumen at more than 60km/h. The soldier did not see Wilfried Nelissen tumbled down, who struck him head on and takes Laurent Jalabert into his fall, shoulder to shoulder with the recent Belgian champion.
The balance sheet is terrible. While the policeman suffers from a thorax, the Belgian runner is the victim of a concussion. The results are even heavier for Laurent Jalabert, who is sent to the hospital with several jaw lesions as well as several broken teeth. Mazametain will stay there for several weeks and will not find its work tool until three months later.
While Walter Planckaert, sports director of Wilfried Nelissen, point the finger “An organizational error”, Comparing the Tour de France to a fair, Jean-Marie Leblanc, the director of the Grande Boucle, only evokes a human error, explaining that “The police do not always know the rules of the Tour de France. »»
Laurent Jalabert reinvented himself
“It is an image that has remained a little in the spirits, and in mine, moreover, since it has helped to condition the rest of my career”, For his part, will confide Laurent Jalabert a few years later. Marked in the red iron by his fall and unable to mix again with a massive sprint, the sprinter went into a complete runner, capable of failing the podium of the Tour and even winning the Tour of Spain two years later.
“I got out of the hospital the day the runners arrived in Paris … That hurts. So you think. Now, what do I do? I am 24 years old. I continue to do the sprints ?, he still recently told in comments reported by The mountain. Going back on the bike, I realized that when there was sprint, where the guys did not brake, spread the elbows and went there thoroughly, I braked. »» What to force him to “Reinvent”.
“The Armentières accident transformed me, He explained at the end of his career. I decided to win my races other than by waiting for the last hectometers. I suddenly recalled my time among amateurs, when I systematically escaped myself to win my victories if not alone at least after a sprint with only a few. »» A year later, he was going to know the best period of his career by winning Paris-Nice, Milan-San Remo, La Flèche Wallonne or the Tour de Catalonia. Before shining on the Tour de France during which he even wears the yellow jersey.
