Discipline Road Role Rider | 2012–2014 Lotto-Belisol U23 Name Jef Meirhaeghe | |
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Born January 23, 1992 (age 32)
Ghent ( 1992-01-23 ) 2015– Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise Current team Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise | ||
Jef van meirhaeghe
Jef Van Meirhaeghe (born 23 January 1992) is a Belgian former professional road cyclist, who competed professionally for Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise.
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Amateur career
As a junior, Van Meirhaeghe won the 2010 Junior Tour of Flanders. After a year riding for the Soenens-Construkt Glas team, he rode for the Lotto-Belisol Under-23 team from 2012 to 2014. In February 2014, he finished on the podium of the under-23 edition of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, having been in a breakaway with the eventual race winner, Dimitri Claeys. In May 2014, he finished in the top ten of the Paris−Arras Tour, his best stage-race result to date. During this time he rode principally as a domestique for other riders, rarely having a chance to race for himself.
In August 2014, Van Meirhaeghe became the junior Belgian national road race champion, winning the race in a solo breakaway despite a gear-shift problem. Shortly after this victory, it was announced that Van Meirhaeghe was among six neo-professionals to sign for the Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise Professional Continental cycling team for the 2015 season.
Professional career
His first race for the team came at the 2015 Tour of Qatar. He subsequently raced in the 2015 Tour of Oman. He joined the breakaway on the first stage in an attempt to gain the young rider's jersey but failed. He then entered the breakaway on every subsequent stage of the race and was awarded the combativity jersey at the end of the race. On the final stage of the race, Van Meirhaeghe was part of the breakaway group that stayed away to the end of the race. He was tired following his efforts earlier in the race and did not even need to enter the breakaway in order to win the combativity classification, but he was ultimately able to stay with the leading riders. In the final part of the stage, he was beaten by his companions Matthias Brändle and Iljo Keisse; he took third place on the stage, which was the biggest result of his career to date.