Alexandre Vinokourov is keen to ride for Astana in the coming season – Cycling News
Alexandre Vinokourov of team Astana had to face disappointment as he crashed out of the Tour de France during stage 9 and was taken to hospital right away. He mentioned right after the crash that the injury is severe and will take quite some time to recover
as the cyclist has not raced since the Tour crash.
The 37-year-old was disappointed by the accident which fractured his femur and he lost his hopes to come back to the sport as he told the French media that he might not be able to ride back. Vinokourov announced his retirement on July 17, 2011 unofficially
but later on he confirmed his decision as he said, “As far as competing goes, I think I will leave it there. I don’t think I’ll get back on my bike as a professional. I’m going to call it a day now.” The statement by the cyclist came out of total disappointment
but his team-mates and Astana’s management has made him change his mind as Vinokourov has shown interest to ride in the next season.
Alexandre has shown interest to ride for team Astana in the 2012 London Olympics and he is sure that he will still make his place in the team. He has been a key player for Astana as he has secured 4 stage wins at the Tour de France, won the Vuelta a Espana
2006 along with many other major stage races. Despite his absence from professional cycling for quite some time he is still the top Astana rider at the UCI World Tour individual rankings as of September 2011. Vinokourov is currently at 14th position
with 230 points whereas Astana is currently at 15th spot with 412 points at the UCI World Tour teams rankings.
He has decided to join Astana back as Vinokourov believes that the new management is not familiar with the basics and he criticised the new Astana manager and his former friend Andrey Kashechkin. He mentioned that there are few people in his team who are
against his comeback but he only wants to help the team in the coming season.
Tags: