Alexander Nikolaevich Vinokourov, also written
Alexandre Vinokourov, (born September 16, 1973 in
Petropavlovsk, Soviet Union, now Petropavl,
Kazakhstan) is a Kazakhstani former 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. Vinokourov was
banned for one year for blood-doping following a
positive test during the 2007 Tour de France and
subsequently retired.
According to Vincent Lavenu, the man who offered
Vinokourov his first professional contract,
Vinokourov was training every day at 11 years of age
and that he also competed in cyclo-cross. Other
accounts of him have said he started cycling at the
age of 13. In 1986 and at the age of 13, Vinokourov
became an athlete at the sports school at what was
the capital of Kazakhstan at the time, Almaty. In
this sports school, he was subjected to very hard
training. The basis of the sports school comes from
the Soviet Union cycling regimes. At this school,
Vinokourov and the other sports school students
pursued training and fitness regimes for five years.
During this time Kazakhstan was still a part of the
Soviet Union and was known as the Kazakh Soviet
Socialist Republic. Vinokourov would have been
trained with a view of competing on the Soviet
national team. Around this time, Vinokourov did his
two year military service. Kazakhstan declared
independence on December 16, 1991 and after that
Vinokourov rode on the Kazakhstan national cycling
team. In 1993, Vinokourov finished third overall
behind Pascal Hervé of France in the German stage
race the Regio Tour. At this stage the race was an
amateur event but the following year it became a
professional event and Vinokourov would even win it
in 2004.[6] Other notable results and performances
by Vinokourov at this time included winning two
stages at the 1995 Tour of Ecuador and the 1996 Tour
of Slovenia. He competed in the 1996 Olympic Games
in Atlanta where he obtained 53rd place.
