Jelle Wallays: "It seems as if teams are only looking for 17 to 20-year-olds"

Jelle Wallays has reached the end of his contract with Cofidis and the teams are not immediately lining up to sign the West Flemish rider. He says his age is the most important factor why he no longer gets to race.

"It seems as if teams are only looking for 17 to 20-year-olds," the 34-year-old Cofidis rider told WielerFlits. "I have had many conversations, but the story of the teams that don't want me always comes down to the same thing: that I am getting too old. Is it because they have to pay those younger riders less?"

Wallays feels that his experience is not fully appreciated. "We are in an evolution in cycling in which experience no longer counts at all. That's what I sense in all conversations. Once you reach the age of thirty, it is very difficult to get a contract these days. Unless you win four to five races a year and gain a lot of UCI points. But don't you also need riders to support the leaders? I enjoy it as much when another teammate wins as I do."

The West Flemish would love to become domestique, but cannot find a team that wants to give him that opportunity. "If my career ends, I would regret that I never received the right appreciation within a team. They never quite knew what to do with me. While I always said that I like to ride in the wind for someone else. Riding fast and not breaking down easily is my specialty, but if you are only judged based on results, it becomes difficult."