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Alexandre Vinokourov Posted: Wednesday July 10, 2002 7:12 AM
Cycling Weekly profiles the contenders for the Tour de France overall winner's yellow jersey. He says he’s not there for the GC and that his role will be to protect Erik Zabel,but the fact is the 2002 Tour is the chance of a lifetime for Alexandre Vinokourov. With no Jan Ullrich, ‘Vino ’no longer has to work his fingers to the bone in the mountains for the Telekom team leader, as he did last year -- and still took a top 20 place. Already a winner of the Dauphiné Libéré and the Four Days of Dunkirk, the swarthy rider from central Asia gained further confidence in his stage-racing abilities when he took the week-long Paris-Nice this spring. Since then his form has been confirmed once more with a mountain stage win in the Tour of Switzerland, although a recent crash could cause him problems. Sure,you can argue that the Tour is a lot harder and a lot longer than Paris-Nice. But the Race to the Sun has been a launch-pad for many of cycling’s great Tour stars -- Alex Zülle and Miguel Indurain are just two recent cases -- and Vinokourov, described by Telekom team manager Walter Godefroot as one of the most professional riders he knows, has all the qualities and talent needed to make the jump into the big time. Now’s his chance. Cycling Weekly is Britain's best selling cycling magazine with unrivaled coverage of UK and international bike racing. To save up to 25 percent on a Cycling Weekly subscription click here.
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