Alexandre Vinokourov to take a management position in Team Astana after retirement
Alexandre Vinokourov takes a solo victory in the Jubilee Criterium which might as well be his last professional appearance.
Some of the top cycling stars from across the globe participated at the race but the Kazakh managed to claim the top position restricting Philippe Gilbert of Team BMC and Vincenzo Nibali of Team Liquigas-Cannondale at the second and the third positions respectively.
"Today was a perfect celebration of my career,” he said afterwards.
“To have my family, my teammates and my friends with me riding around this beautiful setting was something I’ll never forget”.
“I would like to also thank all my fans for their amazing support throughout my professional career," he concluded.
The 39-year-old’s first professional appearance goes back to 1998 where he rode in Team Casino-Ag2r colours for a period of two years before joining Team Telecom in 2000.
He spent six years with Team Telecom and helped the team with several top performances through 2000-05.
Vinokourov joined Team Liberty Seguros-Wurth in 2006 for one year before signing a deal with Team Astana in 2007.
He has shown faith in Giuseppe Martinelli’s team for six consecutive seasons and has now decided to accept a management position in the team after retirement from professional cycling.
The cyclist registered the biggest victory of his career after winning gold at the 2012 London Olympics this year.
The cyclist rode exceptionally well during the 250 kilometre Olympics Men’s Road Race event and secured an important victory restricting the race favourites.
He completed the race in a total time of 5 hours, 45 minutes and 57 seconds with Rigoberto Uran Uran of Team Colombia at the second position.
Norwegian cyclist Alexander Kristoff finished eight seconds behind at the third spot while Taylor Phinney of USA and Sergey Lagutin of Uzbekistan occupying the fourth and the fifth positions in the respective order.
"It's nice to finish off my career with a gold medal. I will still race in the time trial on Wednesday, but I will just spin,” Vinokourov voiced after the Olympics Men Road Race.
“I have what I have wanted. I have the gold medal, and I can envision my retirement".
Alexander announced its retirement after the 2011 season, but the team needed some UCI points to improve its World Tour rankings and the cyclist decided to ride for one more season.
He rode relatively less races this year and the highlights of his 2012 season includes, the Tour de France, Criterium du Dauphine and the 2012 Olympic Games.
Team Astana has managed to secure the 11th overall position after the UCI World Tour team’s rankings with as many as 622 UCI points and is in no danger of losing its World Tour status for the next season at least.
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