Ján Valach (born 19 August 1973) is a Slovak retired professional road cyclist. He represented his nation

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

in two editions of the Olympic Games (1996 and 2008), and later competed as a member of professional cycling team before his official retirement in 2010. He now works as a

directeur sportif A ''directeur sportif'' (, ) is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event. It is seen as the equivalent to a field manager in baseball, or a head coach in football. At professional level, a directeur sportif follows t ...

for

UCI WorldTeam A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road bicycle racing, road cycling, the UCI World Tou ...

Amateur and professional career

Born in

Myjava Myjava (; historically also Miava, , ) is a town in Trenčín Region, Slovakia. Geography It is located in the Myjava Hills at the foothills of the White Carpathians and nearby the Little Carpathians. The river Myjava flows through the town. It ...

, Valach made his official debut as an amateur cyclist at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, where he finished sixty-eighth in the men's road race by less than a second behind the

peloton In a road Cycle sport, bicycle race, the peloton (, originally meaning ) is the main group or pack of riders. Riders in a group save energy by riding close (drafting (racing), drafting or slipstreaming) to (particularly behind) other riders. The ...

leader

Abraham Olano Abraham Olano Manzano (born 22 January 1970) is a Spanish retired professional road racing cyclist, who raced as a professional from 1992 to 2002. He won the UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race, World Road Championship in 1995 UCI ...

of Spain, recording his personal best time in 4:56:48. During his amateur career, Valach has claimed three Slovak titles in elite national championships (1997 and 1998) until having shown his great talent and passion for sport, he turned professional in 1999 with . In 2001, Valach became a Slovak champion in both road race and time trial at the elite championships, and thereby continued to defend both titles in the same tournament by the following year. When folded after the 2002 season, Valach was left with no contract. Competing under a freelance agent, Valach pulled ahead from a vast field of cyclists to dominate the road race at the 2003 Coupe des Carpathes in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in 3:57:03. Valach signed a two-year contract with in 2004 and eventually rode for Austria's Aposport Krone Linz (AKL) in 2006. Following a short demise from AKL and achieving mediocre results in numerous tournaments, Valach joined the professional cycling team in the 2007–2008 season. He had solidified his lead by defeating the Austrian cyclist Michael Pichler at Völkermarkter Radsporttage road race, and also sprinted into a second-place finish at the second stage of

Sachsen Tour The Sachsen Tour was a multi-stage road bicycle race held in the region of Saxony, Germany. It was first held in 1985 and wasorganised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour from 2005 until its final edition in 2009. Between 1985 and 1995 it was an ...

in 5:52:17, trailing behind Great Britain's Dean Downing by less than a second. Twelve years after competing in his last Olympics, Valach qualified for his second Slovak squad, as a 34-year-old, in the men's road race at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

by receiving a berth from the UCI Europe Tour. Riding against his teammates Roman Broniš and Matej Jurčo, Valach remained as the only Slovak cyclist to successfully complete a grueling race with a sixty-second-place effort in 6:34:26. Valach's official result was later elevated to sixty-first position, when Italy's

Davide Rebellin Davide Rebellin (9 August 1971 – 30 November 2022) was an Italian professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 1992 and 2022 for twelve different teams, taking more than sixty professional wins. He was considered one of the ...

had tested positive for CERA that consequently stripped of his Olympic silver medal. Following his success in road cycling, Valach extended his contract with for another annual season (2008–2009). After he officially retired in 2010, Valach was appointed as the manager and head coach for Slovakia's cycling team. In October 2016 announced that had been appointed as a

Major results

;1996 : 1st Overall

Okolo Slovenska Okolo Slovenska (; ) is an annual road cycling stage race in Slovakia. Founded in 1954, since 2017 it has been rated as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. It is a stage race that usually includes five or more stages. History Okolo Slovenska ...

::1st Stage 9 : 7th Overall

Tour de Langkawi The Tour de Langkawi is a stage race, multiple stage bicycle racing, bicycle race held in Malaysia. It is named after the archipelago Langkawi, where the first edition started and finished. The race has been held annually since 1996, primarily ...

;1997 : 1st MaillotSlovakia

Road race, National Road Championships ;1998 : National Road Championships ::1st MaillotSlovakia

Road race ::1st MaillotSlovakia

Time trial In many racing sports, an sportsperson, athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial (TT) against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athle ...

;2001 : National Road Championships ::1st MaillotSlovakia

Road race ::1st MaillotSlovakia

Individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also trac ...

::1st

Team time trial : 1st Prologue Tour d'Egypte ;2002 : National Road Championships ::1st MaillotSlovakia

::1st

Team time trial ;2003 : 1st Coupe des Carpathes ;2004 : 2nd Road race, National Road Championships ;2005 : 2nd

, National Road Championships ;2007 : 2nd Road race, National Road Championships ;2008 : 1st Völkermarkter Radsporttage, Austria ;2009 : 3rd Road race, National Road Championships

References

External links

NBC 2008 Olympics profile2008 Olympic Profile – Sport Pravda Slovenska
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Valach, Jan 1973 births Living people Slovak male cyclists Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for Slovakia Sportspeople from Myjava Cyclists from the Trenčín Region 21st-century Slovak sportsmen