Viatcheslav Ekimov

Viatcheslav Ekimov

Ekimov in the prologue of the 2006 Tour of California.
Personal information
Full name	Viatcheslav Vladimirovich Ekimov
Nickname	Eki
Born	(1966-02-04) 4 February 1966 Vyborg, Soviet Union
Team information
Current team	Team Katusha
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider (retired) Team manager
Rider type	Time-trialist
Professional team(s)
1990–1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997–1998 1999 2000–2006	Panasonic Novemail WordPerfect Novell Rabobank US Postal Amica Chip US Postal
Managerial team(s)
2009–2011 2012–	Team RadioShack Team Katusha
Major wins
Grand Tours Tour de France 1 individual stage (1991) 2 Team Time Trials Vuelta a España 1 individual stage (1999) Stage races Ronde van Nederland (2003) Three Days of De Panne (1996, 2000) One-day races and Classics World Individual Pursuit Championships (1990) World Points Race Championships (1991) National Road Race Championships (1997) Grand Prix Eddy Merckx (2000) Züri-Metzgete (1992)
Medal record Competitor for  Soviet Union Track cycling Olympic Games Gold 1988 Seoul Track Team Pursuit Competitor for  Russia Road bicycle racing Olympic Games Gold 2000 Sydney Road Time Trial Gold 2004 Athens Road Time Trial[1]
Infobox last updated on 2 January 2014

Viatcheslav Vladimirovich Ekimov (Russian Вячеслав Владимирович Екимов; born 4 February 1966 in Vyborg near Leningrad), nicknamed Eki, is a Russian former professional racing cyclist. A triple Olympic gold medalist, he was awarded the title of Russian Cyclist of the Century in 2001. In October 2012, he was announced as the general manager of the Russian Team Katusha.^[2] The UCI, in a letter written to Katusha Team, denied them entrance into the 2013 World Tour. Among the many ethical violations the UCI cited, the appointment of Ekimov was among them for reasons unspecified.^[3]

Biography

Ekimov started training as a cyclist at age 12 with a bicycle school affiliated with the famous centre of Aleksandr Kuznetsov. He trained in Leningrad at Lokomotiv and later Armed Forces sports society during the Soviet era. He first competed professionally in 1990.

Ekimov won three Olympic gold medals: in the track team pursuit in Seoul (1988) for the USSR, and in an upset, in the road time trial in Sydney (2000) for Russia. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Ekimov won the silver medal for Russia in the men's road individual time trial, losing to American Tyler Hamilton. Hamilton's initial blood sample tested positive for blood doping, but the lab mistakenly froze the backup sample, rendering it unsuitable for the required second test. Though the Russian Olympic committee appealed the final standings on Ekimov's behalf, the lab's error made it impossible to definitively establish Hamilton's culpability and the American retained the gold medal. (Hamilton again tested positive a few weeks later and received a two-year competition ban.) In August 2012, Hamilton was stripped of his medal and Ekimov was promoted to gold.^[4]

Ekimov joined the USPS team in 1997 as its first key international signing, briefly retiring in 2001 before rejoining the team the following year. In the 2003 Tour de France Ekimov placed 10th in the prologue. He was a key force in the winning team time trial effort in stage four and was important to Lance Armstrong's fifth Tour victory both on the flats and in the mountains. He missed the 2005 Tour de France due to injuries received in a training ride with Armstrong in Texas.^[5] During the final stage of the 2006 Tour de France, now racing for the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, he announced that the 2006 Tour would be his last. He was honored by the peloton on the final stage, who allowed him to lead them over the line on the first of the eight laps of the Champs-Élysées. Ekimov started and finished 15 Tours de France, tying him with Lucien Van Impe for the third most Tour finishes, behind Joop Zoetemelk and George Hincapie.

In September 2006 he finished riding for Discovery, but stayed with the team as Assistant Directeur Sportif to Johan Bruyneel.^[6] He helped guide the Discovery riders during the U.S. Pro Cycling Championships in 2006 as well as the Tour of California and the Tour de Georgia.

On 9 September 2009, it was announced he would join Team RadioShack as Directeur Sportif.^[7]

In August 2012, Tyler Hamilton was officially stripped of the gold medal of the 2004 Olympic time trial following doping admission. As second placed cyclist in that race Ekimov has been upgraded to first place and will receive the gold medal according to an IOC official.^[8]

Career highlights

References

External links

Media related to Viatcheslav Ekimov at Wikimedia Commons