Alexander Vinokourov

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Alexandre Vinokourov
Personal information
Full name Alexandre Vinokourov
Алекса́ндр Николаевич Винокуров
Nickname Vino
Date of birth September 16, 1973 (age 33)
Country Flag of Kazakhstan Kazakhstan
Height 1.77 m
Weight 68 kg
Team information
Current team Astana
Discipline Road
Role Rider
Rider type All-rounder
Professional team(s)
1997-1999
2000-2005
2006
2006-		 Casino
Team Telekom/T-Mobile
Liberty Seguros - Würth
Astana
Major wins
Vuelta a España (2006), 4 stages
Tour de France, 3 stages
Liège-Bastogne-Liège (2005)
Amstel Gold Race (2003)
Paris-Nice (2002, 2003)
Dauphiné Libéré (1999)
Tour de Suisse (2003)
Deutschland Tour (2001)
Infobox last updated on:
December 15, 2006

Alexander Vinokourov, also written Alexandre Vinokourov, (born 16 September 1973 in Petropavlovsk, Soviet Union, now Petropavl, Kazakhstan) is a Kazakh professional road bicycle racer. He is often referred to by the nickname "Vino" and is known to be a fearless attacker and a good all-rounder.


Contents

[edit] Early professional career

Vinokourov became a professional in 1997 with the Casino team. His breakthrough was in 1998 when he won the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque. The following year he won Dauphiné Libéré where he beat the US Postal team rider Jonathan Vaughters. Vinokourov had won stage 2 and the yellow jersey but lost it to Vaughters after the Mont Ventoux time trial, but he was able to regain it on the following mountain stage after several attacks and withheld the US Postal team on the final stage to win the prestigious stage race.[1] After this display, he was seen as a potential future tour contender. In 2000 he joined Team Telekom (called T-Mobile Team since 2004). That year he achieved a second place finish in the Road Race of the Olympic Games behind Telekom teammate Jan Ullrich. He also won stage 18 in the Vuelta a España in which he displayed his characteristic panache by bridging up over the final 15 kilmetres and sprinting past the breakaway duo of the day, Roberto Laiseka and Vicente Garcia Acosta in the last 300 metres to steal the stage victory.[2]

Vino's breakthrough year was in 2003. That year he won Paris-Nice, a few days after his friend and fellow Kazakh Andrei Kivilev died. Exactly 40 days later, which is the traditional Kazakh period of mourning, he won the Amstel Gold Race. He dedicated both victories to Kivilev, and on occasion said that he rode with the strength of two men. In the same year he also won the Tour de Suisse and a stage in the Tour de France where he finished 3rd in the general classification of the Tour de France. Long considered to not be a serious contender for the grand tours, his podium finish showed that he can be a real threat for the general classification.

In 2004 he was one of the main favorites for the Tour de France, but a few weeks before the start he broke his shoulder in the Tour de Suisse, and was forced to miss the Tour de France. The 2005 season showed Vinokourov's excellent form in his win of the oldest of the classics Liège-Bastogne-Liège, a stage in the Dauphiné Libéré atop the mythical Mont Ventoux, and the Kazakh National Road Race Championships.

[edit] 2005 Tour de France

In July 2005, Vino's fans anxiously awaited the start of the 2005 Tour de France, to see what role he would play, and how he would do. In a June 28th cyclingnews.com interview, Vino claimed that he was in as good condition as he was in 2003 when he achieved third place overall. While all of Lance Armstrong's teammates clearly stated that they were riding for Lance, it is interesting to note that Vino said he was riding for the team. The implication was that if he or Andreas Klöden (who finished 2nd in 2004, while Ullrich was 4th) rode better than Ullrich, he would be the leader of the team.

Indeed, Vino managed to achieve third place in the opening time trial, beating Ullrich and Klöden by margins of 15 seconds and 1:08 respectively. In Stage 8, Armstrong himself displayed recognition of Vino's threat by following his attacks, but allowing Klöden to go. Many observed that Vinokourov tended to ride separated from his T-Mobile teammates. This fueled speculation regarding Ullrich's dominant role in the team.

However, Vino lost significant time in the mountain stages. Revenge came when he won Stage 11 of the Tour in a breakaway attack, outsprinting companion Santiago Botero at the finish. He topped the tour's literal high point, the Col du Galibier (2645m) and won the Henri Desgrange prize for the highest point in the Tour de France. Vino is known for his aggressive nature, attacking style and flair.

Alexandre Vinokourov
Alexandre Vinokourov
Registration for stage 8 in Pforzheim
Registration for stage 8 in Pforzheim

The tension between Vinokourov and his T-Mobile Team seemed to boil on stage 14 - a trek into the Pyrenees, where Vinokourov was dropped, chased for 20kms to rejoin and then after launching an attack from the Armstrong group, but his team-mates, Kloden and Ullrich reeled him in, causing many commentators and observers to criticise T-Mobile's tactics which were apparently just to support Jan Ullich & Germany. However 2 days later on the road to Pau, Vinokourov apparently settled his differences with Ullrich and his then T-Mobile Team but all was forgotten when Vinokourov won stage 21 to Paris - beating the sprinters at their own game.

After a spectacular 3rd place performance in the final time trial in the penultimate stage, losing time to only Armstrong and Ullrich, Vino moved up to 6th place overall, trailing Levi Leipheimer in 5th place by only two seconds. The final stage, usually a formality and not a real race for GC contenders, thus became a showdown for 5th place between Vino and Leipheimer. A sprint prime, which awards bonus time of 6, 4 and 2 seconds to first, second and third place respectively, was at km 75, in Châteny-Malabry. To protect his position, Levi and his Gerolsteiner teammates came to the front. Levi did not need the bonus time as much as needed to prevent Vino from getting it. As long as Gerolsteiner riders "stole" the points, Levi would be okay. As they approached the sprint, Gerolsteiner set a fast tempo at the front to discourage Vino from attacking. But at 1.5 km from the sprint, Vino attacked despite all their efforts. Soon only Levi could hold Vino's wheel, but he was not able to pass him, and so Vino gained six seconds, but Levi got four. Taking into account their exact times at the time trials to the nearest thousandth of a second, Levi was still ahead of Vino, but now only by a fraction of a second. When they reached Paris officials announced that the clock was stopped due to dangerous conditions (the cobblestone road was wet and slippery from rain), and that the final sprint prime was canceled. Levi said later that he was informed by his team that normal bonus time for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place on the stage would also not be awarded. He, and many others, including the OLN race announcers, thought Levi had a lock on 5th place. In any case, the final sprint is normally contested by the sprint specialists, and GC contenders usually cannot compete. In the final kilometers, several riders attacked and were in a breakaway for a while, but they were eventually caught. Then, as the pacelines for the sprinters were forming and the pace was increasing, Vino could be seen also moving to the front of the peloton. With 2 km remaining, Frenchman Laurent Brochard attacked and Vino jumped on his wheel. A few seconds later Brad McGee closed the gap and got on Vino's wheel. When Brochard cracked, McGee moved to the front, but Vino was able to follow him. They achieved a gap on the peloton that could not be closed. McGee zigged and zagged, making Vino work as much as he could, but in the end Vino found enough power to pull around McGee and win the stage! In Vino's own words:

"That was victory made of courage and guts - I really gave it all in the last kilometres, although I didn't think it was possible until I crossed the line. I just went 'à bloc' - it's unbelievable, magnificent! I have no words for it...
"I did think a lot about Kivilev yesterday in St. Etienne, and I think that motivated me even more. I'm very happy to win."

Vino's surge in the final meters earned him much admiration, and even the press room reportedly erupted in a rare round of applause as he robbed the sprinters of a stage win that is usually theirs.

Much to the surprise of many, Tour officials awarded the final time bonuses after all, so Vino gained the 20 seconds which put him into 5th place overall. Not bad, considering how little support he got from his team. As his contract with T-Mobile was up in 2005, during the Tour many speculated about which team he would join next, and whether it would be a team to give him full leadership support in the 2006 Tour. The team eventually turned out to be Manolo Saiz's Liberty Seguros-Würth.

[edit] Astana-Würth Team

Liberty Seguros withdrew sponsorship on 25 May 2006 after the arrest of Manolo Saiz relating to blood doping a day earlier. A coalition of companies from Kazakhstan took over the sponsorship of the team, now called Team Astana. On June 30th, 2006, Astana-Würth withdrew from the 2006 Tour de France after five of its riders were implicated in the Operación Puerto doping scandal, leaving Vinokourov, one of the Tour favorites, with three remaining teammates, which fell below the required minimum six riders for a team to start the Tour. (It should be noted that despite continued inaccuracies in the press in describing the drug scandal of the 2006 Tour de France, Vinokourov was never accused or implicated in regard to this problem. He has been repeatedly grouped with the disqualified riders solely on his high finish in 2005, his team's inability to meet starting requirements due to disqualification of other team members and the media's failure to clarify his distinction.)

After some deliberation, officals decided that the Astana-Wurth could start in the third and final big round of the calendar, the Vuelta. After losing time in the first mountain stage, Vinokourov regained his strength and went into full attack. He lost the 7th stage closely to Spanish cycling star Valverde, Vinokourov took revenge by winning both the 8th and the 9th stage and climbing to the 5th place in the overall classification at the end of the first week. After a good time trial, and some aggressive climbing, on stages 17 & 18 (Stage 18 was won by compatriot and teammate Andrey Kashechkin), Vinokourov took the first place in the overall standings and claimed the Gold jersey from Alejandro Valverde. After a strong time trial, which would give him his 3rd stage victory of the 2006 Vuelta, Vinokourov secured his leading position and won the Vuelta.

[edit] Major victories and results (incomplete)

Medal record
Men's Cycling
Olympic Games
Silver 2000 Sydney Road Race
World Championships
Bronze 2006 Salzburg Elite Men's Time Trial
Bronze 2004 Verona Elite Men's Time Trial
2007 – Team Astana
2006 – Team Astana
2005 – T-Mobile Team
2004 – T-Mobile Team
2003 – Team Telekom
2002 – Team Telekom
  • 1st, Stage 3, Tour de Suisse
  • 1st, Overall and Stage 4, Paris-Nice
2001 – Deutsche Telekom
2000 – Deutsche Telekom
1999 – Casino
  • 1st, Overall and 1 stage, Dauphiné Libéré
  • 1st, Overall and 1 stage, Vuelta Valenciana
  • 1st, 2 stages, GP Midi Libre
1998 – Casino

[edit] References

  1. ^ 51st Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré. Cyclingnews. Retrieved on April 5, 2007.
  2. ^ Complete live report, Stage 18 Veulta. Cyclingnews. Retrieved on April 5, 2007.
  3. ^ http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/apr05/lbl05/?id=results Cyclingnews.com: Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2005
  4. ^ http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/jun05/dauphinelibere05/?id=results/dauphinelibere054 Cyclingnews.com: 2005 Dauphiné Libéré Stage 4, Tournon sur Rhone-Le Mont Ventoux
  5. ^ http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2005/jun05/kazkakhstan05/kazkakhstan053 Cyclingnews.com: Kazakhstan National Championship
  6. ^ htttp://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/tour05/?id=results/tour0511 Cyclingnews.com: 2005 Tour de France Stage 11, Courchevel-Briançon
  7. ^ http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/tour05/?id=results/tour0521 Cyclingnews.com: 2005 Tour de France Stage 21, Corbeil-Essonnes - Paris Champs-Élysées

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Denis Menchov		 Winner of the Vuelta a España
2006		 Succeeded by
To Be Determined
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Riders on Astana

Igor Abakoumov | Assan Bazayev | Antonio Colóm | Koen de Kort | Thomas Frei | Maxim Gourov | Rene Haselbacher | Maxim Iglinsky | Sergei Ivanov | Benoît Joachim | Andrey Kashechkin | Aaron Kemps | Matthias Kessler | Andreas Klöden | Alexey Kolessov | Julien Mazet | Eddy Mazzoleni | Gennady Mikhaylov | Andrey Mizurov | Steve Morabito | Dimitry Murajev | Gregory Rast | José Antonio Redondo | Paolo Savoldelli | Michael Schär | Alexander Vinokourov |  Sergey Yakovlev
Manager
Marc Biver
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