Viatcheslav Ekimov

Viatcheslav Ekimov

Ekimov in the prologue of the 2006 Tour of California.
Personal information
Full name	Viatcheslav Vladimirovich Ekimov
Nickname	Eki
Born	(1966-02-04) 4 February 1966 Vyborg, Soviet Union
Team information
Current team	Team Katusha
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider (retired) Team manager
Rider type	Time-trialist
Professional team(s)
1990–1992	Panasonic
1993	Novemail
1994	WordPerfect
1995	Novell
1996	Rabobank
1997–1998	U.S. Postal Service
1999	Amica Chip
2000–2006	U.S. Postal Service
Managerial team(s)
2009–2011	Team RadioShack
2012–	Team Katusha
Major wins
Grand Tours Tour de France 1 individual stage (1991) 2 team time trials Vuelta a España 1 individual stage (1999) Stage races Ronde van Nederland (2003) Three Days of De Panne (1996, 2000) One-day races and Classics World Individual Pursuit Championships (1990) World Points Race Championships (1991) National Road Race Championships (1997) Grand Prix Eddy Merckx (2000) Züri-Metzgete (1992)
Medal record Representing  Soviet Union Track cycling Olympic Games 1988 Seoul Track Team Pursuit Representing  Russia Road bicycle racing Olympic Games 2000 Sydney Road Time Trial 2004 Athens Road Time Trial[1][2]
Infobox last updated on 2 January 2014

Viatcheslav Vladimirovich Ekimov (Russian Вячеслав Владимирович Екимов; born 4 February 1966 in Vyborg near Leningrad), nicknamed Eki, is a Russian former professional racing cyclist. A triple Olympic gold medalist, he was awarded the title of Russian Cyclist of the Century in 2001. In October 2012, he was announced as the general manager of the Russian Team Katusha.^[3] The UCI, in a letter written to Katusha Team, denied them entrance into the 2013 World Tour. Among the many ethical violations the UCI cited, the appointment of Ekimov was among them for reasons unspecified.^[4]

Biography

Ekimov started training as a cyclist at age 12 with a bicycle school affiliated with the famous centre of Aleksandr Kuznetsov. He trained in Leningrad at Lokomotiv and later Armed Forces sports society during the Soviet era. He first competed professionally in 1990.

Ekimov won three Olympic gold medals:^[5] in the track team pursuit in Seoul (1988) for the USSR, and in an upset, in the road time trial in Sydney (2000) for Russia. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Ekimov won the silver medal for Russia in the men's road individual time trial, losing to American Tyler Hamilton. Hamilton's initial blood sample tested positive for blood doping, but the lab mistakenly froze the backup sample, rendering it unsuitable for the required second test. Though the Russian Olympic committee appealed the final standings on Ekimov's behalf, the lab's error made it impossible to definitively establish Hamilton's culpability and the American retained the gold medal. (Hamilton again tested positive a few weeks later and received a two-year competition ban.) In August 2012, Hamilton was stripped of his medal and Ekimov was promoted to gold.^[6]

Ekimov joined the USPS team in 1997 as its first key international signing, briefly retiring in 2001 before rejoining the team the following year. In the 2003 Tour de France Ekimov placed 10th in the prologue. He was a key force in the winning team time trial effort in stage four and was important to Lance Armstrong's fifth Tour victory both on the flats and in the mountains. He missed the 2005 Tour de France due to injuries received in a training ride with Armstrong in Texas.^[7] During the final stage of the 2006 Tour de France, now racing for the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, he announced that the 2006 Tour would be his last. He was honored by the peloton on the final stage, who allowed him to lead them over the line on the first of the eight laps of the Champs-Élysées. Ekimov started and finished 15 Tours de France, tying him with Lucien Van Impe for the third most Tour finishes, behind Joop Zoetemelk and George Hincapie.

In September 2006 he finished riding for Discovery, but stayed with the team as Assistant Directeur Sportif to Johan Bruyneel.^[8] He helped guide the Discovery riders during the U.S. Pro Cycling Championships in 2006 as well as the Tour of California and the Tour de Georgia.

On 9 September 2009, it was announced he would join Team RadioShack as Directeur Sportif.^[9]

In August 2012, Tyler Hamilton was officially stripped of the gold medal of the 2004 Olympic time trial following doping admission. As second placed cyclist in that race Ekimov has been upgraded to first place and will receive the gold medal according to an IOC official.^[10]

Major results

References

External links

Media related to Viatcheslav Ekimov at Wikimedia Commons

UCI Track Cycling World Champions – Men's individual pursuit
1946: Gerard Peters 1947: Fausto Coppi 1948: Gerrit Schulte 1949: Fausto Coppi 1950–51: Antonio Bevilacqua 1952–53: Sid Patterson 1954–56: Guido Messina 1957–59: Roger Rivière 1960–61: Rudi Altig 1962: Henk Nijdam 1963: Leandro Faggin 1964: Ferdinand Bracke 1965–66: Leandro Faggin 1967: Tiemen Groen 1968: Hugh Porter 1969: Ferdinand Bracke 1970: Hugh Porter 1971: Dirk Baert 1972–73: Hugh Porter 1974–75: Roy Schuiten 1976: Francesco Moser 1977–78: Gregor Braun 1979: Bert Oosterbosch 1980: Tony Doyle 1981–82: Alain Bondue 1983: Steele Bishop 1984–85: Hans-Henrik Ørsted 1986: Tony Doyle 1987: Hans-Henrik Ørsted 1988: Lech Piasecki 1989: Colin Sturgess 1990: Viatcheslav Ekimov 1991: Francis Moreau 1992: Mike McCarthy 1993: Graeme Obree 1994: Chris Boardman 1995: Graeme Obree 1996: Chris Boardman 1997–98: Philippe Ermenault 1999: Robert Bartko 2000: Jens Lehmann 2001: Alexander Symonenko 2002: Bradley McGee 2003: Bradley Wiggins 2004: Sergi Escobar 2005–06: Robert Bartko 2007–08: Bradley Wiggins 2009–10: Taylor Phinney 2011: Jack Bobridge 2012–13: Michael Hepburn 2014: Alex Edmondson 2015: Stefan Küng 2016: Filippo Ganna

UCI Track Cycling World Champions – Men's points race
1980: Stan Tourné 1981–87: Urs Freuler 1988: Daniel Wyder 1989: Urs Freuler 1990: Laurent Biondi 1991: Viatcheslav Ekimov 1992: Bruno Risi 1993: Etienne De Wilde 1994: Bruno Risi 1995: Silvio Martinello 1996: Joan Llaneras 1997: Silvio Martinello 1998: Joan Llaneras 1999: Bruno Risi 2000: Joan Llaneras 2001: Bruno Risi 2002: Chris Newton 2003: Franz Stocher 2004: Franck Perque 2005: Volodymyr Rybin 2006: Peter Schep 2007: Joan Llaneras 2008: Vasil Kiryienka 2009–10: Cameron Meyer 2011: Edwin Ávila 2012: Cameron Meyer 2013: Simon Yates 2014: Edwin Ávila 2015: Artur Ershov 2016: Jonathan Dibben