Biography
Jussi was born on the 29th of March, 1981 in a small town called Riihimäki in southern Finland. Like all little boys and girls in Finland, Jussi learned to ski right after learning to walk. His dad, Mikko, who had won several skiing medals from races all over Finland, was teaching his son how to put the skis on and how to go fast with them.
Despite the success in cycling, initially it was skiing that got Jussi’s attention. However, cross country skiing didn’t provide enough adrenaline. Jussi wanted to go fast and do sharp turns, so he wanted to become an alpine skier! His mother, Sirkka-Liisa handmade a tight skiing suite and Jussi was all set to race on those steep hills of his region.
The winter doesn’t last forever, not even in Finland. Once the snow was gone, the skies were not of much use. In order to keep going fast, and getting those adrenaline rushes, Jussi was obliged to change discipline. He realised he could go almost as fast on a mountain bike, as he could on skies.
Getting hooked on mountain biking was the beginning of Jussi’s adventures in cycling. The whole family travelled all over the country to take Jussi to different mountain bike races. They travelled from the coasts of Helsinki all the way up to the Lapland. As a big bonus, they always came back with trophies and medals from different races.
Years went by and Jussi realized that he had some serious talent in mountain biking. He started to race all over the Europe, achieving some international victories and podiums as a junior.
At the start of the new millennium, Jussi decided to give road cycling a shot as well. Simultaneously, he started the fruitful co-operation with Antti Hagqvist, his coach and mentor for the coming years.
In the process of moving over to road cycling, Jussi heard that Esko Lummelampi was creating a road team together with Tommy Sigg. It was to become the beginning of a professional career. Soon after the creation of the team, they contacted Jussi and made him an offer to ride on the team.
Eager for new adventures, just 20 years old, Jussi accepted and joined the Swedish team Mälarenergi, together with his friend Kimmo Kananen. It would be the beginning of international success, beyond of what Jussi could have imagined.
After one year riding for Mälarenergi, Jussi got an interesting offer from France. This was when another important cycling-person entered into Jussi’s life. Joona Laukka, a former Finnish professional cyclist, arranged for Jussi to ride for a team in Roubaix, under the wings of Cyrille Guimard. Jussi couldn’t speak any French when he first got to France, but the cycling talent caught Guimard’s attention. Cyrille noticed Jussi’s gift for cycling and his determination to become even better. Cyrille personally started to guide Jussi. and he knew that this boy can win races! Towards the end of the season Jussi had over 10 victories and he was leading the French Cup. It was time to take the game to the next level. Guimard contacted Marc Madiot, the director of Française des Jeux, and told him about the young Finn on his team. It didn’t take long before Marc Madiot realized the potential, and signed Jussi to a part of his Pro Tour team. It became a milestone in Jussi’s career, and since 2004, Jussi has been an important part of the Française des Jeux pro cycling team.
