Alexandr Vinokurov was one of the defining riders of his generation: aggressive, unpredictable, and able to win from almost any race situation. His palmares includes the 2012 Olympic road race, Grand Tour stages, and a Vuelta a Espana overall victory, but his career also carries the complications of a doping ban that remains part of his public record.
As Astana's long-running leader, Vinokurov has kept the Kazakh project alive through sponsor changes, ranking pressure, and waves of roster reconstruction. The team has repeatedly reinvented itself around opportunistic stage hunting, national identity, and the need to collect points wherever the calendar offers them.
In 2026, XDS Astana enters the Tour with the urgency of a team that has to be seen. Vinokurov's job is to turn that pressure into racing: attacks, mountain raids, sprint chances, and visibility that justifies the project beyond nostalgia.
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The squad
Alexandr Vinokurov is part of the XDS Astana story at the 2026 Tour — see the full team page.
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