Another rider that we have seen very little of this season is Alexandre Vinokourov who inadvertantly got tangled up in the recent Spanish doping incident, which ultimately lead to the demise of Liberty Seguros (Vino’s team). However several companies from Kazakhstan stepped in to offer sponsorship for three years.
While the new sponsorship is good-news for Vinokourov their is still a bit of doubt to whether the French cycling federation will allow a team that was involved in blood doping. Vinokourov spoke to reporters ahead of Sunday’s start at the Dauphiné Libéré, where he finished 10 seconds off the winning time set by Dave Zabriskie (CSC) in the opening prologue.
“Just like everyone, the only thing I know about all this is what I’ve read in the papers,” Vinokourov told L’Equipe. “I also believe my director (Saiz) who says he has nothing to do with all this. He has my confidence. Manolo said he’s not ready to be here at the race, but he’s not going to quit. He’s a fighter and it’s a mentality that I like.”
I for one would hate to see Vino out of the Tour de France, he is a very exciting rider to watch and is very unpredictable. Hopefully this years edition will allow the Kazakhstan rider to participate.
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