Alex Zülle

Alex Zülle

Zülle at the 1993 Tour de France
Personal information
Full name	Alex Zülle
Nickname	Perro Loco "Rompetechos"
Born	(1968-07-05) 5 July 1968 Wil, Switzerland
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	All-rounder
Amateur team(s)
1988-1991	Helvetia, Isotonic, Churrasco, Mavick
Professional team(s)
1991–1997	ONCE
1998	Festina
1999–2000	Banesto
2001–2002	Team Coast
2003–2004	Phonak
Major wins
Grand Tours Tour de France 2 Stages Giro d'Italia 3 Stages Vuelta a España General Classification (1996, 1997) 9 Stages Stage races Tour de Suisse (2002) Tour of the Basque Country (1995, 1997) Paris–Nice (1993) Volta a Catalunya (1996) Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme (1992, 1996) One-day races and Classics World Time-Trial Champion (1996)
Medal record Competitor for   Switzerland Road bicycle racing World Championships 1996 Lugano elite time-trial

Alex Zülle (born 5 July 1968) is a Swiss former professional road bicycle racer. During the 1990s he was one of the best cyclists in the world, winning back-to-back in the 1996 and 1997 Vuelta a España, taking second place in the 1995 and the 1999 Tour de France. He was world time-trial champion in Lugano in 1996.

Biography

Early career

Zülle was born and brought up in Wil in the canton of St. Gallen, son of a Swiss father, Walter Zülle and Wilhelmine, from Brabant, Netherlands. As a child he wanted to be a skier but at 18 he was injured in an accident. He began cycling in the Netherlands for rehabilitation before giving up because it was too windy.^[1]

His father, having bought cycling equipment, persuaded him to give cycling another go when they returned to Switzerland. After several years as a successful amateur, Zülle turned professional in 1991. He approached the former sporting director of the Swiss team, Helvetia, Paul Köchli, but Köchli signed Laurent Dufaux instead.^[1]

Zülle then approached Manolo Saiz, but was rebuffed because, among reasons, he did not contract riders who wore earrings. Eventually, Saiz softened and Zülle rode for ONCE as a stagaire or apprentice in the Volta a Catalunya. He attacked frequently and finished third. Saiz relented and Zülle signed his first professional contract in September 1991.^[2] He remained with ONCE until 1997.^[3] Most of its riders were Spanish. Zülle spoke only Swiss-German when he joined but at the end of the Vuelta a España he answered journalists in Spanish.^[4]

Festina affair

In 1998, Zülle joined Festina. The team was banned from the 1998 Tour de France amid doping allegations which later became known as the Festina affair. Five Festina riders including Zülle admitted taking EPO.^[5] Zülle said he took it to satisfy his sponsors. He also said he was deprived of his spectacles during the police interview.^[6] On 28 November 1998, Zülle's haematocrit was found to be 52.3%, 2.3% over the limit.

1999–2004

His career coincided with that of Miguel Indurain, five-time Tour de France winner. Zülle was second in the Tour in 1999. He also won the Vuelta and Tour de Suisse, and stages in the Giro d'Italia.

Zülle retired in 2004, and held a party for his fans in Wil in October that year.^[7]

Palmarès

Grand Tour Results (2 victories)

	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Tour de France
General classification	DNF	41st	8th	2nd	26th	DNF	DNF	2nd	DNF	-	-	-
Mountains classification	-	-	-	3rd	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Points classification	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Youth classification	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Stages won	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Giro d'Italia
General classification	-	-	-	-	-		14th	DNF	-	-	-	-
Mountains classification	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Points classification	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Youth classification	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Stages won	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-
Vuelta a España
General classification	DNF	2nd	4th	20th	1st	1st	8th	37th	49th	109th	-	DNF
Mountains classification	-	2nd	-	3rd	-	2nd	-	-	-	-	-	-
Points classification	-	2nd	3rd	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Combination classification	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Stages won	-	3	-	1	1	1	1	1	1	-	-	-

See also

• Doping at the Tour de France
• List of doping cases in cycling
• List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences

References

External links

• Official website (German), some content available in English
• Alex Zülle collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Alex Zülle in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

UCI Road World Champions – Men's time trial 1994: Chris Boardman 1995: Miguel Indurain 1996: Alex Zülle 1997: Laurent Jalabert 1998: Abraham Olano 1999: Jan Ullrich 2000: Serhiy Honchar 2001: Jan Ullrich 2002: Santiago Botero 2003–05: Michael Rogers 2006–07: Fabian Cancellara 2008: Bert Grabsch 2009–10: Fabian Cancellara 2011–13: Tony Martin 2014: Bradley Wiggins 2015: Vasil Kiryienka