Astana team boss Vinokourov criticises sanctions against Russian athletes

London Olympic champion Alexandr Vinokourov does not agree with the sporting sanctions against Russian and Belarusian athletes due to Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine.

Vinokourov criticises

"I had a Ukrainian rider, this year I have a Russian (Gleb Syritsa) and a Belarusian (Alexandr Riabushenko) in the team. (...) I don't see that they should be responsible for Putin's decisions. It's like criticising an American because I disagree with Trump, or a Frenchman because I disagree with Macron," said the team boss of the Astana cycling team, which itself enjoys a dubious reputation due to its doping past, to the French sports newspaper "L'Equipe".

Everyone is affected by the events in Ukraine, emphasised the Kazakh: "I have friends in Kiev and Moscow, my wife is Ukrainian and my son has dual citizenship. I will never make a distinction between one and the other on the basis of nationality."

"It's ridiculous"

He grew up as a teenager when the Soviet Union collapsed. "I competed in many youth races against other Soviet republics, I wore the jersey of Kazakhstan, but we all spoke the same language, Russian. (...) We were part of a huge country that was being dismantled, but it wasn't our decision. Back then, nobody could have imagined that two republics would go to war with each other thirty years later," says Vinokourov.

The former team-mate of Jan Ullrich also cannot understand why his Russian and Belarusian riders are listed without nationality. "It looks as if the UCI (world governing body) wants to penalise them, as if these riders had invaded Ukraine themselves. It's ridiculous. (...) Isn't it enough to ban the national teams of Russia and Belarus from participating in the World Championships?"

A Russian rider from the Astana junior team has been suspended by the UCI for liking a pro-Russian tweet. "He's only 19 years old, does that alone make him guilty of a criminal offence at that age?"

Copyright 2023, dpa (www.dpa.de). All rights reserved