Alexander Vinokourov

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Early professional career

Image:Alexandre Vinokoerov2.jpg Alexander Vinokourov, also written Alexandre Vinokourov, (born 16 September 1973 in Petropavlovsk, Soviet Union, now Petropavl, Kazakhstan) is a Kazakh (ethnic Russian) professional road bicycle racer. He is often referred to by the nickname, "Vino".

Vinokourov became a professional in 1997 with the Casino team. His breakthrough was in 1999 when he won the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque and the Dauphiné Libéré. 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 a stage in the Vuelta a España.

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 finished 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 has shown 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.

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 signicant time in the mountain stages. Revenge came when he won Stage 13 of the Tour in a breakaway attack, outsprinting companion Santiago Botero at the finish.

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. When Frenchman Laurent Brochard attacked, 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."

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' Liberty Seguros-Würth, which Vino joins with TMO teammate Sergei Yakovlev. Liberty Seguros-Würth will likely become centered around Vinokourov for the Tour de France. He joins Joseba Beloki, Jörg Jaksche, Igor González de Galdeano and Roberto Heras, riders who are or were all interested a top-10 TdF General Classification place.

Victories (incomplete)

2001

2002

2003

2004

  • Stage 5, Le Puy-en-Velay - Rasteau, Paris-Nice
  • Stage 7, Digne les Bains - Cannes, Paris-Nice
  • Stage 8, Nice - Nice, Paris-Nice
  • Overall, Regio Tour International
  • Stage 2, Mulheim(Ger) TT, Regio Tour International
  • Stage 3, Neuenberg - Guebwiller(Fra), Regio Tour International

2005

Notable Results

  • Silver Medallist, 2000 Olympic Road Race
  • 3rd Place, 2003 Tour de France
  • 5th Place, 2005 Tour de France
  • 3rd Place, 2004 World Time Trial Championship

External links

Members of T-Mobile Team
Rolf Aldag | Eric Baumann | Marcus Burghardt | Bas Giling | Giuseppe Guerini | Torsten Hiekmann | Sergei Ivanov | Matthias Kessler | Andreas Klier | Andreas Klöden | Bernhard Kohl | Tomas Konecny | André Korff | Paco Lara | Daniele Nardello | Olaf Pollack | Jan Schaffrath | Bram Schmitz | Stephan Schreck | Oscar Sevilla | Tobias Steinhauser | Jan Ullrich | Alexander Vinokourov | Steffen Wesemann | Christian Werner | Sergej Yakovlev | Erik Zabel
Manager
Walter Godefroot
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