Alexander Vinokourov

Alexander Vinokourov
Medal record
Men's Cycling
Olympic Games
World Championships

Alexander Vinokourov
Personal information
Full name	Alexandre Nikolaivich Vinokourov ; Алекса́ндр Николаевич Винокуров
Nickname	Vino
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Weight	[undue weight? – discuss]
Team information
Current team	Astana
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	All-rounder
Major wins
	Vuelta a España (2006), 4 stages; Tour de France, 5 stages; Liège-Bastogne-Liège (2005); Amstel Gold Race (2003); Paris-Nice (2002, 2003); Dauphiné Libéré (1999); Tour de Suisse (2003); Deutschland Tour (2001)

Alexander Nikolaevich Vinokourov, also written Alexandre Vinokourov, (born 16 September 1973 in Petropavlovsk, Soviet Union, now Petropavl, Kazakhstan) is a Kazakhstani 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. He delivered a positive A-test for blood doping on 24 July 2007.^[1] As a result of Vinokourov's failed test, his entire Astana team pulled out of the 2007 Tour de France.

Early professional career

After competing in the 1996 Olympic Games road race for the Kazakhstan national team^[2], Vinokourov moved to France in 1997 and rode for the French elite team EC Saint-Etienne Loire de Pierre Rivory. He was offered a contract by Vincent Lavenu, then director of the Casino squad (now Ag2r) and started his professional career in 1998 with the Casino team. In his first year he won six races which included the Four Days of Dunkirk, Tour de l'Oise, and stages in the Tour of Poland and Circuit des Mines.^[3]

At the start of the 1999 season, he won the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana stage race and 3 months later he won two stages of the G.P. du Midi Libre. He followed this by winning the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré when 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.^[4] After this display, he was seen as a potential future tour contender.

In 2000 he joined Team Telekom. He won the Combination competition in Paris-Nice and finished third in the General classification of Critérium International. ^[5] In the Tour de France he finished 15th overall after working for team captain Jan Ullrich. His first win for the German Team was on stage 18 in the Vuelta a España in which he displayed his characteristic panache by bridging up over the final 15 kilometres 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.^[6] Several weeks later, he achieved a second place finish in the Road Race of the Olympic Games behind Telekom teammate Jan Ullrich and in front of another Telekom teammate Andreas Kloden.^[7]

In 2001 during the Deutschland Tour, Vinokourov time trialed himself to a stage win and took the yellow jersey from his Telekom teammate Erik Zabel. The dominance of the Telekom team at that race was evident on the following days Queen stage where Rolf Aldag won the stage and Vinokourov gained over a minute and a half over the rest of the peloton to ensure the stage race victory.^[8] He rode the Tour de France that year in support of Ullrich, where he finished 16th overall.

In 2002, Vinokourov won his first stage in Paris-Nice after he attacked Frenchman Laurent Jalabert and fellow Kazak and friend Andrei Kivilev on the Mont Faron ascent. This earned him the leaders jersey.^[9] On the penultimate stage to the Col d’Eze which ended in a mountaintop finish, Vinokourov kept his lead and won Paris-Nice the following day. Later in 2002, he won the first mountain stage in the Tour de Suisse ^[10] but several stages later he fell on a mountain descent and was taken to hospital after the stage.^[11] He chose not to continue in the race in order to prepare for the Tour but two weeks later, it was discovered he had obtained a hair line fracture of the coccyx, a bone at the end of the spine, and therefore could not take part in the Tour de France.^[12] Due to the absence of Ullrich for Team Telekom, Vinokourov was going to be the Team’s Tour leader that year.

2003 - The Breakthrough year

During the second stage of the 2003 edition of Paris-Nice was won by Italian Davide Rebellin who beat Vinokourov and Italian Dario Frigo, a crash had occurred further back in the peloton in which Andrei Kivilev and two other riders were brought down. While the other two were able to get back on their bikes, Kivilev suffered serious head injuries and fell into a coma. He died from his injuries during the night.^[13] Vinokourov was deeply shocked over his friend’s death and speaking two days later, he said he was more motivated than ever to try to win Paris-Nice.^[14] The following day Vinokourov put in a solid attack on the Mont Faron ascent to win the stage and take the leader’s jersey. It was an emotional win in which he pointed to the sky. Two days later, Vinokourov had won Paris-Nice and held up a photograph of Kivilev on the final podium.

Exactly 40 days later, which is the traditional period for mourning in Kazakhstan, Vinokourov won the Amstel Gold Race. Vinokourov had bridged up to the leading group with around 10 kilometres left and at 5 kilometres to go, Vinokourov put in an attack and got away. He built up a lead of 15 seconds that he fought hard to maintain up the steep finish of the Cauberg hill, winning with just four seconds ahead of Michael Boogerd.^[15]

On the relatively flat first stage of the 2003 Tour de Suisse, Vinokourov put in a decisive attack that only Russian Serguei Ivanov could match and won the stage and took the lead.^[16] On the first mountain stage of the race, Italian Francesco Casagrande dropped Vinokourov and closed the gap to just six seconds on the yellow jersey. On the following mountain stage, Casagrande attacked again and took the yellow jersey. But several days later in an Individual time trial, Casagrande cracked as Vinokourov produced a solid performance for fifth to retake the yellow jersey and to win the race.^[17]

Coming into the 2003 edition of the Tour de France, Vinokourov was for the first time riding the Tour with the aim of the General Classement. He was going to share this role with Columbian Santiago Botero. Vinokourov finished second on the stage to the l'Alpe d'Huez. On the following day, Vinokourov attacked on the final climb some 9km from the finish and won the stage. He moved into second overall some 21 seconds short of Armstrong. Several days later in the Individual time trial which was won by Ullrich, Vinokourov dropped into third position overall which he was able to keep to the end of the Tour. He was also voted the most combative rider of that year’s Tour.^[18] Long considered to not be a serious contender for the grand tours, his podium finish showed that he could be a real threat for the general classification.

2004 Season

In the 2004 edition of Paris-Nice, Vinokourov missed the decisive break that gained over five minutes over the rest of the peloton on the second stage ^[19] but he bounced back to win three stages of the race. On the fifth stage he attacked towards the end of a small climb with 8 km to go. He built up a lead of ten seconds which he maintained over the last kilometers and won the stage with only four seconds to spare. He dedicated the win to Kivilev.^[20] In the finale of stage 7, Vinokourov attacked the lead group on the flat windy coastal road with 5 km to go. He caught and passed Spaniard Samuel Sánchez with 2 km to go and then won the stage.^[21] On the final stage Vinokourov won against Russian Denis Menchov in a breakaway sprint.^[22]

In Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Vinokourov finished third behind Italian Davide Rebellin and Dutchman Michael Boogerd. Boogerd and Vinokourov had been matching each others’ attacks in the closing km while Rebellin waited for the sprint and won.^[23] Vinokourov crashed on the second stage of the Tour de Suisse^[24] which tore several ligaments in his shoulder which prevented him from contesting the Tour de France.^[25]

He returned to competition for the German stage race the Regio Tour at the start of August. On the second stage, he won the Individual time trial. On the following stage, he won the bunch sprint and took the leader’s jersey which he kept to win the stage race.^[26] He then rode the Vuelta a España but due to food poisoning, many of the T-Mobile riders were sick and Vinokourov lost a lot of time during the first week.^[27] Coming toward the end of the race, Vinokourov was recovering and finished fourth in the Individual time trial.^[28] He rode the World Championships and took the bronze medal in the Individual time trial.^[29]

2005 Season

Vinokourov’s first season win in 2005 and the first for the team that year was in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Vinokourov had broken away with German Jens Voigt with more than 50 kilometres to go. Vinokourov attacked several times on the final short climb around 6 km from the finish but could not get away from Voigt. Instead he waited and beat Voigt in the sprint.^[30] In the Dauphiné Libéré, Vinokourov won the stage that ended on the legendary Mont Ventoux ascent. He had attacked the group of all the favourites for the Tour de France which included the Americans Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer and Floyd Landis, bridging up to the remnants of the days breakaway before attacking at several hundred metres on the uphill finish to win the stage.^[31] Vinokourov travelled back to Kazakhstan where he won the National Championships ahead of Andrey Mizourov and Andrey Kashechkin which allowed him to wear the colours of Kazakhstan as he challenged Armstrong in the Tour de France.^[32]

2005 Tour de France

In July 2005, Vinokourov'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, Vinokourov 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 Vinokourov 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, Vinokourov 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 Vinokourov'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 fuelled speculation regarding Ullrich's dominant role in the team.

However, Vinokourov 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. Vinokourov is known for his aggressive nature, attacking style and flair.

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 Ullrich. 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, Vinokourov 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 Vinokourov 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, Leipheimer and his Gerolsteiner teammates came to the front. Leipheimer did not need the bonus time as much as needed to prevent Vinokourov from getting it. As long as Gerolsteiner riders "stole" the points, Leipheimer would be okay. As they approached the sprint, Gerolsteiner set a fast tempo at the front to discourage Vinokourov from attacking. But at 1.5 km from the sprint, Vinokourov attacked despite all their efforts. Soon only Leipheimer could hold Vinokourov's wheel, but he was not able to pass him, and so Vinokourov gained six seconds, but Leipheimer got four. Taking into account their exact times at the time trials to the nearest thousandth of a second, Leipheimer was still ahead of Vinokourov, 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 cancelled. Leipheimer 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 Leipheimer 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, Vinokourov could be seen also moving to the front of the peloton. With 2 km remaining, Frenchman Laurent Brochard attacked and Vinokourov jumped on his wheel. A few seconds later Brad McGee closed the gap and got on Vinokourov's wheel. When Brochard cracked, McGee moved to the front, but Vinokourov was able to follow him. They achieved a gap on the peloton that could not be closed. McGee zigged and zagged, making Vinokourov work as much as he could, but in the end Vinokourov found enough power to pull around McGee and win the stage! In Vinokourov'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.

Vinokourov'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 Vinokourov 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.

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 30, 2006, Astana-Würth withdrew from the 2006 Tour de France after five of its riders were implicated in the Operación Puerto doping case, 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.)

In the final Grand Tour of the season, the Vuelta a España, 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 cyclist Alejandro 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 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.

2007 Tour de France

In the 2007 season, Vinokourov was aiming for the overall victory in the Tour de France. After riding in the traditional "warm-up" races, like the Dauphine Libere, the 2007 Tour de France started on july 3rd in London. Vinokourov fell in the first week, severely injuring both of his knees. Due to his injuries, Vinokourov lost time in the Alps and Pyrénées, and was eliminated as a top contender.

After being written off as a contender, Vinokourov put in an outstanding performance in the first individual time trial to win the stage by 1:14 from second place Cadel Evans of Australia. Vinkourov said of his win: "I am happy with my performance, I am finding my legs again. Now I want to attack in the Pyrénées. I want to thank everyone in and around the team that encouraged me to get through the Alps." ^[33] He also secured a gutsy win in stage 15, a mountaintop finish in Le Louron.

On July 24 it was announed that Vinokourov failed the doping control following his individual time trial victory (his blood tested positive for homologous doping - the presence of another person's red blood cells).

Following the announcement of the positive test, the whole Astana team withdrew from the race at the request of ASO president Patrice Clerc. Vinoukourov left the Tour disgraced.

If Vinokourov's B sample comes back positive, Australian Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) will be declared the winner of stage 13. Vinokourov could also be stripped of his stage 15 victory. According to Phil Liggett, long-time commentator for the Tour, "It is incomprehensible that Vinokourov could do such a thing when he must have known he was under suspicion because of his dealing with disgraced doctor Michele Ferrari in Italy. He must have known he would be tested at every opportunity and the time trial was the perfect occasion."^[34]