The career of Jan Bakelants (36) was one of trial and error. From his stage victory in the Tour to his horror fall in the Tour of Lombardy. You should remember this about Jan Bakelants’ cycling career.
Stunt in the Tour of the Future
“If I had signed with Lotto, I would be Philippe Gilbert’s assistant. At Quick-Step I would be Paolo Bettini’s servant. But I want to ride finals.”
It is a statement by an ambitious and young Jan Bakelants just before his baptism of fire as a professional cyclist.
Bakelants had caused a stunt in his last year of promise (2008) by winning the Tour of the Future. A stage race where Tour winners are born, just think of Pogacar, Bernal, Indurain and LeMond.
Bakelants owed that overall victory to an attack of 207 kilometers – of which the last 50 kilometers solo – in the 5th stage.
The top teams logically pulled the sleeve of the talented Bakelants, who ignored offers from Patrick Lefevere and Lotto, among others. Because Bakelants wanted to drive for his own account and at Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise he got that chance.
Yellow fairy tale in the Tour de France
Bakelants reached the peak of his career on June 30, 2013.
In the Tour, Bakelants took the lead in the final of the 2nd stage with 5 other gold diggers.
Bakelants played it smart and was the only one to escape the grip of the onrushing peloton on the sloping roads to Ajaccio. He held on to number 2 Peter Sagan for a few seconds.
That stage victory in the Tour was also the first professional victory in Bakelants’ career. As icing on the cake, he was also allowed to parade in the yellow jersey for 2 days.
Horror crash in cursed descent in Lombardy
Unfortunately, his guardian angel failed him several times in the Tour of Lombardy.
In the 2017 edition, Bakelants made a horror fall in the descent of the Colma di Sormano (where Remco Evenepoel also ended up in the ravine in 2020).
The verdict for Bakelants: 7 broken ribs and 4 broken vertebrae. During a bike fitting, Bakelants came to the conclusion that he had become 1 centimeter shorter.
2 years after that heavy fall, Bakelants went down again with the trembling in his legs in the sinking of Colma di Sormano. By the way, that was already his 3rd fall ever in that damned descent, because in 2010 Bakelants had already broken his wrist, knee and elbow.
Bakelants broke 7 ribs and 4 vertebrae in a fall at the 2017 Tour of Lombardy.
Unvarnished opinion in Extra Time Koers
During his career, Bakelants also turned out to be a highly regarded analyst in cycling talk shows.
In addition to analytical insight, the bio-engineer by training also has an unvarnished opinion, which we often enjoyed in Extra Time Koers.
In his criticism, Bakelants often points an accusing finger at the UCI. Especially when it comes to rider safety.
Tears of happiness in the Tour of Wallonia
6 years after his last victory, Bakelants was finally allowed to clench his fists again this summer.
In the final stage of the Tour of Wallonia, he put the peloton behind with a failure attempt in the final kilometer. It was somewhat reminiscent of his triumph in the Tour 9 years ago.
Bakelants cried tears of happiness: “I have always believed in it, but at a certain point there were only 5 people who still believed in it: myself and my family. It is good that everyone now grants me.”
Search too much for a new team
Due to the many setbacks, Bakelants has too often been faced with a search in autumn and winter in recent years.
At the end of 2018, Team Sunweb threw “Baki” a lifeline. 1 year later it seemed to be the end of his career when Bakelants was still without a team on Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
On January 7, 2020, Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert then provided the redemption. The same team informed him during this year’s Tour that Bakelants no longer fit into the plans of 2023.
“The last straw has not yet been squeezed out of my arsenal,” said Bakelants, who at 36 looked forward to what would come his way.
So he has now put an end to that.
