Alexander Nikolayevich Vinokourov is a Kazakhstani former professional road bicycle racer and the current general manager of UCI WorldTeam Astana Qazaqstan Team.
75 Facts About Alexander Vinokourov
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Alexander Vinokourov began cycling in 1984 as an 11-year-old, competing within the former Soviet Union.
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Alexander Vinokourov moved to France in 1997 to finish his amateur career, and then turned professional there in 1998.
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Alexander Vinokourov retired after the Olympics and assumed management duties with Astana for 2013.
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Alexander Vinokourov was sacked as the team principal of Astana-Premier Tech in June 2021.
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Alexander Vinokourov is an honorary colonel in the Kazakh army but lives in France with his wife and children.
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In 1986 at age 13, Alexander Vinokourov became an athlete at a sports school in Almaty, then the capital of Kazakhstan, where he would train for the next five years.
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Alexander Vinokourov placed third behind Pascal Herve of France in the Regio Tour amateur stage race in Germany in 1993.
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Alexander Vinokourov arrived in France on 22 March 1997, after a sub-par performance due to illness in the Tour de Langkawi as a member of Kazakhstan's national team.
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Alexander Vinokourov came second in a stage of the Tour of Auvergne two weeks after he arrived in Europe, and was best climber in a Coupe de France race a week later.
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Alexander Vinokourov won six races in 1998, his first year as a professional, including the Four Days of Dunkirk, the Tour de l'Oise, and stages in both the Tour of Poland and Circuit des Mines.
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Alexander Vinokourov won the Criterium du Dauphine Libere, beating the American Jonathan Vaughters along the way.
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Alexander Vinokourov came second several weeks later in the Olympic Games behind Ullrich and in front of another Telekom teammate, Andreas Kloden.
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Alexander Vinokourov time-trialed to a stage win in the 2001 Deutschland Tour and took the yellow jersey from his Telekom teammate Erik Zabel.
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The dominance of the Telekom team was evident the following day when Rolf Aldag won and Alexander Vinokourov gained a minute and a half over the peloton to ensure victory.
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Alexander Vinokourov rode the Tour de France that year in support of Ullrich, where he finished 16th overall.
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Stage three had been neutralized and stage four was a time trial, but on stage five, which featured the race's only mountaintop finish, Alexander Vinokourov honoured his late-friend with a spectacular attack on Mont Faron that won him the stage and the leader's jersey.
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Forty days later, after the traditional period for mourning in Kazakhstan, Alexander Vinokourov won the Amstel Gold Race.
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Alexander Vinokourov built an advantage of 15 seconds that he fought to maintain up the steep Cauberg finishing climb, winning by four seconds ahead of Michael Boogerd.
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Alexander Vinokourov attacked on the flat first stage of the 2003 Tour de Suisse and only the Russian Serguei Ivanov could match him.
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Alexander Vinokourov was for the first time riding to win in the 2003 Tour de France.
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Alexander Vinokourov was to share this role in his team with the Colombian Santiago Botero.
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Alexander Vinokourov finished second on the stage to the l'Alpe d'Huez.
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Alexander Vinokourov moved into second overall, 21 seconds short of Lance Armstrong.
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Several days later in the individual time trial, won by Ullrich, Alexander Vinokourov took third position and kept it to the end.
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Alexander Vinokourov built ten seconds and won by four seconds.
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Alexander Vinokourov won the final stage in a breakaway sprint against Denis Menchov.
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Boogerd and Alexander Vinokourov had been matching each other while Rebellin waited for the sprint and won.
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Alexander Vinokourov crashed on the second stage of the Tour de Suisse, tearing ligaments in his shoulder.
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Alexander Vinokourov then rode the Vuelta a Espana but due to food poisoning lost time during the first week.
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Alexander Vinokourov rode the world championship and took the bronze medal in the time trial.
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Alexander Vinokourov had attacked the favourites for the Tour de France, reaching the breakaway before attacking at several hundred metres on the uphill finish to win the stage.
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Alexander Vinokourov travelled back to Kazakhstan to win the national championship ahead of Mizourov and Kashechkin.
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Alexander Vinokourov said in July 2005 that he was in as good condition as 2003, when he came third.
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Alexander Vinokourov came third in the opening time trial, beating Ullrich and Kloden by 15 seconds and 1:08.
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Alexander Vinokourov rode separately from his teammates, bringing speculation regarding Ullrich's role in the team.
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Alexander Vinokourov settled his differences when he won stage 21 to Paris.
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Soon only Leipheimer could hold his wheel, but he was not able to pass and so Alexander Vinokourov gained six seconds, Leipheimer four.
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Tour officials awarded time bonuses after all, so Alexander Vinokourov gained 20 seconds to put him into 5th place.
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Alexander Vinokourov lost the 7th stage to Alejandro Valverde, took revenge by winning the 8th and 9th stages and climbed to 5th place at the end of the first week.
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Alexander Vinokourov was ranked inside the top 10 through the second stage, and he remained in contention for the overall until the fifth stage, when he experienced a misfortune.
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Alexander Vinokourov suffered severe cuts and abrasions to both knees and elbows, and serious bruising to his right buttock.
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The main field did not slow to allow Alexander Vinokourov to reintegrate with the bunch, but instead raced on towards the finish in Autun.
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Alexander Vinokourov remounted and began to chase, calling back seven of his eight teammates to help his bid to regain the leaders.
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The Astana train pursued the favorites, until Alexander Vinokourov himself surged ahead of his companions and led the last wave of the chase.
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Alexander Vinokourov won stage 15, a mountain stage finishing in Loudenvielle.
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The next day Alexander Vinokourov failed a doping control following his time trial victory.
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Alexander Vinokourov's blood had a double population of erythrocytes, which implied a homologous transfusion.
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Alexander Vinokourov delivered a positive for blood doping on 24 July 2007.
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Alexander Vinokourov was stripped of his stage 15 victory, which was awarded to Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg.
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Alexander Vinokourov must have known he would be tested at every opportunity, and the time trial was the perfect occasion.
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Alexander Vinokourov received a one-year suspension from the Kazakhstan Cycling Federation.
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Alexander Vinokourov, banned for a year after doping at the 2007 Tour de France, told the Belgian TV program Sporza that he wanted to race again in 2009.
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Alexander Vinokourov made his comeback in Tour de l'Ain in August 2009, riding for Kazakhstan.
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Alexander Vinokourov re-joined Astana on 24 August 2009 and was named for the 2009 Vuelta a Espana.
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Alexander Vinokourov rode well in the early-season Tour of the Mediterranean, where he finished 5th overall, and served as a super-domestique for his Astana teammate Alberto Contador at the Criterium International.
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Alexander Vinokourov successfully defended his overall lead and won the event over fellow doper, Riccardo Ricco of the Ceramica Flaminia team.
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Alexander Vinokourov arrived second and I went fourth just 12 seconds behind, which means that my legs were not bad either.
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Alexander Vinokourov targeted a strong performance in the Italian grand tour, although he took pains to downplay his chances of overall victory:.
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In December 2011, Swiss magazine L'Illustre ran a story about how Alexander Vinokourov had allegedly bought the victory.
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Barely a month later at the Giro d'Italia, Alexander Vinokourov finished 6th overall after having worn the pink jersey as leader of the general classification for five dramatic stages.
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Alexander Vinokourov couldn't hide the fact that he was happy to lead the Giro:.
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Alexander Vinokourov fulfilled his promise to Contador and served as his teammate's super-domestique during the Tour, which Contador completed ahead of Andy Schleck and Denis Menchov.
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True to his word, Alexander Vinokourov returned to pro cycling in 2012 as a rider and debuted at the Tour de Langkawi with his Astana teammates, the same place that Alexander Vinokourov started his pro career with Casino with his 1997 performance with the Kazakhstan national team.
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Alexander Vinokourov stated that the team was aiming for the "overall title", as opposed to any personal win.
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One week after the conclusion of the Tour, Alexander Vinokourov won the gold medal in the Men's Road Race at the London 2012 Olympics.
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Alexander Vinokourov then drew ahead of Uran in the final three hundred meters, and crossed the line alone, arms-aloft.
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Alexander Vinokourov became one of the oldest cyclists male or female to win an olympic medal and had the race been a World Championship he would have been older than the oldest rider to ever win gold with Joop Zoetemelk in 1985.
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Alexander Vinokourov stated that had this race been a world championship he felt it would have come down to a sprint finish because the teams would have been more complete and would have had better communication by using team radios, which were not used in the Olympics.
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Alexander Vinokourov rode his last race at the 2012 Clasica de San Sebastian.
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On 16 September 2012, Alexander Vinokourov auctioned his Olympic gold-winning Specialized bicycle.
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Alexander Vinokourov donated the money from the auction for treatment of five children with serious diseases.
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Alexander Vinokourov was awarded the rank of honorary colonel in the Kazakh army in 2000, after he finished second to his then-Telekom teammate Jan Ullrich in the men's Olympic road race in Sydney.
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Alexander Vinokourov was again recognized by the state for his sporting prowess in 2003 after finishing third overall in the Tour and received a medal as People's Hero First Class.
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Alexander Vinokourov opened his own bicycle shop on 5 May 2012 in Almaty.