Alexander Vinokourov is happy with his new role in Team Astana
Alexander Vinokourov is still waiting for his first victory of the 2012 season. The cyclist is currently present in Malaysia and is training the young cyclists in Team Astana during the Tour de Langkawi 2012.
He joined Team Astana in 2007 and represented the team for the six consecutive seasons. The Russian helped the side with a number of victories during his stay with the side.
Vinokourov’s first overall position during the Vuelta a Espana 2006 is still considered to be his best performance with the team.
He claimed the third stage of the Tour of Basque Country and finished third overall at the Tour of Romandie, alongside bagging a stage 3 win at the race.
Alexander crashed during the Tour de France 2011 and has not recovered fully from the accident.
He broke his femur during the ninth stage of the French race and announced his retirement right after the crash.
The cyclist retired in July but then decided to come back to help the team with his UCI points, without which the team’s World Tour status would have been in danger.
Vinokourov was given the leader’s responsibilities during the Le Tour de Langkawi but he is currently seen in a support role with the team.
While commenting on his current form, Alexander noted that he is training hard but has not fully recovered since the Tour crash.
At present, he is looking after the young guns in the side, including Alexander Dyachenko and Dimitriy Gruzdev.
The 38-year-old briefed that he is happy with his new role in the team and can continue for at least seven more years.
While commenting on his future goals with the side, he stated, "If all goes well, I'll go to the Giro and the Tour de France after that. It is the ideal race to finish my career but Kazakhstan has only two spots".
He further added, “I don't want to take the place of another rider who can do better, because there will be eight or ten athletes aspiring to compete in the Olympics. We have to look at our possibilities and it seems the path is not the right one for me”.
Team Astana is currently holding the 2nd overall spot after the stage 5 classifications and is looking good to claim the overall spot from Team Androni Giocattoli in the coming stages of the race.
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