Jonathan Bellis

Jonathan Bellis
Bellis at the Sachsen-Tour 2008
Personal information
Full nameJonathan Bellis
NicknameJonnty
Born (1988-08-16) 16 August 1988 (age 36)
Douglas, Isle of Man
Height1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight69 kg (152 lb)
Team information
Discipline
  • Track
  • Road
Role
Amateur teams
–2005Manx RC
2005Glendene CC
2006–2008100% ME (British U23 team)
2013ILLI-Bikes Cycling Team
Professional teams
2008CSC–Saxo Bank (stagiaire)
2009–2011Team Saxo Bank
2012An Post–Sean Kelly
2014Christina Watches–Dana
2015ONE Pro Cycling
Managerial team
2019Drops

Jonathan Bellis (born 16 August 1988)[1] is a Manx former racing cyclist from Douglas, who rode professionally between 2008 and 2015 for the Saxo Bank–SunGard, An Post–Sean Kelly, Christina Watches–Dana and ONE Pro Cycling teams. He represented Great Britain on the track and the roads. Bellis briefly worked as a directeur sportif for UCI Women's Team Drops in 2019,[2] but was suspended, after being convicted of assault.[3]

Career

[edit]

Bellis emerged from the British Olympic Academy Programme. After success in European track championships, he became Britain's first medalist at the under-23 world road championship, in 2007, finishing third. He represented Britain at the 2008 Olympic Games in the road race. He then signed with CSC–Saxo Bank as a trainee and rode the 2008 Tour of Britain.[4]

On 19 September 2009, he crashed on a motor scooter near the Great Britain academy training base in Quarrata, Italy. At first he was in a critical condition, but soon became stable.[5] He began awaking from his induced coma four weeks later.[6] His skull had been shattered by the accident, and he had suffered fractures to the nose, cheekbones and sternum and a blood clot on his spine. Doctors initially feared that he would be quadraplegic, and he subsequently contracted infections, suffered a stroke and twice underwent an emergency tracheotomy. However Bellis managed to start riding again ten months after the accident and returned to competition at the 2010 Tour of Britain, a year after the crash.[7]

In 2012, he joined the An Post–Sean Kelly team.[8] Subsequently, he joined the ILLI-Bikes Cycling Team, a Belgian amateur squad, in 2013.[9] Bellis returned to the professional peloton in 2014, securing a deal with the Christina Watches–Dana team.[10] After one season Bellis was announced as part of the inaugural squad for the ONE Pro Cycling team in 2015.[11]

In December 2015 he announced via Twitter that he was retiring from professional competition. In an interview later that month he said he was hoping to remain involved in the sport in a coaching role.[12] He was subsequently appointed as a coach at Lee Valley VeloPark.[13]

Major results

[edit]
2005
4th Overall Junior Tour of Wales
1st Stage 4
2006
1st Team pursuit, UEC European Junior Track Championships
1st Individual pursuit, National Junior Track Championships
1st Stage 4 Junior Tour of Wales
2007
UEC European Under-23 Track Championships
1st Points race
1st Scratch
3rd Road race, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships
2008
Under-23 UIV Cup
1st Berlin
1st Copenhagen
3rd Road race, National Road Championships[14]
2009
8th Tour de Rijke

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Jonny Bellis". Team GB. Archived from the original on 26 February 2010. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  2. ^ O'Shea, Sadhbh (18 January 2019). "Down but not out: Drops team remain ambitious after difficult winter". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. Retrieved 12 February 2019. Former Saxo Bank rider, Jonny Bellis is the team's new directeur sportif.
  3. ^ "Jonny Bellis suspended by Drops Cycling Team after assaulting girlfriend". BBC Sport. BBC. 27 March 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  4. ^ Jonny Bellis enjoys eventful few months Archived 10 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine iomtoday.co.im 03-06-08; Accessed 22-07-08
  5. ^ Gallagher, Brendan (20 September 2009). "Johnny Bellis in hospital after road accident". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 20 September 2009.
  6. ^ "Bellis shows signs of improvement". BBC News. 12 October 2009.
  7. ^ Dirs, Ben (7 June 2014). "Jonny Bellis: Cycling's miracle man battles back from the brink". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
  8. ^ Bull, Nick (24 November 2011). "Bellis signs for An Post-Sean Kelly". Cycling Weekly. IPC Media Limited. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  9. ^ Hood, Ed (2 March 2013). "Jonathan Bellis – "I want to show that I can do it, not just talk about it"". Velo Veritas. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  10. ^ Gallagher, Brendan (7 February 2014). "Go Jonny Go! Interview with Jonny Bellis". Tour of Britain. SweetSpot. Archived from the original on 24 April 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  11. ^ Cary, Tom (9 December 2014). "England wicketkeeper Matt Prior launches UCI Continental team ONE Pro Cycling". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  12. ^ "Jonny Bellis hoping to remain in cycling following retirement". cyclingnews.com. 31 December 2015. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  13. ^ Shrubsall, James (19 January 2017). "Jonny Bellis: former pro who made amazing comeback from life-threatening injury is now a cycling coach". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  14. ^ Birnie, Lionel (29 June 2008). "Hayles Wins Men's National Road-Race Champs". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
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