Who Is? 22.11.2017-2015-28: Ilnur Zakarin fuels Russian cycling fans' Grand Tour hopes. In XNUMX, the knot burst for the now XNUMX-year-old. He can already look back on a successful and dark youth. Now he should ensure success, especially in the Tour de France.
Name | Ilnur Zakarin | |
Birthday | September 15, 1989 | |
Place of Birth | Naberezhnye Chelny | |
Nationality | Russia | |
Size | 187 cm | |
Weight | 68 kg | |
Current team | Katusha Alpecin | |
specialization | classification driver mountaineer | |
Active as a professional | 2012 | |
Greatest successes | Junior European Champion in individual time trial 2007 Stage win at the 2015 Giro d'Italia Stage win at the 2016 Tour de France Winner of the Tour de Romandie 2016 Russian champion in individual time trial 2013, 2016, 2017 Fifth overall at the 2017 Giro d'Italia 2017rd overall at the Vuelta a Espana XNUMX |
The forgotten doping past of the European Junior Champion
Ilnur Zakarin was just 19 years old when he was banned from doping. Born in Naberezhnye Chelny, the Russian has taken an anabolic steroid called metandienone. The result was a two-year ban. In retrospect, he regretted his youthful sin: "I was young and stupid. There was an error." But the incident initially severely damaged his career. After all, before his ban in 2007, Zakarin was already the European Junior Champion in the individual time trial. After that it became quiet around him. Even after his doping ban expired, he did not find his way into professional cycling for a long time. In 2012 he signed with the Itera-Katusha team. In 2013 he switched to RusVelo. He was the first Russian champion in the individual time trial. He also won the tours Grand Prix Sochi, Grand Prix of Adygeya and Tour d'Azerbaijan. But Zakarin was a long way from professional cycling as a good source of income.
.@katushacycling's Ilnur Zakarin wants target @giroditalia and @lavuelta in 2017. https://t.co/LCRSVHE5af pic.twitter.com/ld24XfIKXm
— Canyon Bicycles (@canyon_bikes) 4 December 2016
In 2017 twice in the top 5 at Grand Tours
It was not until 2015 that Ilnur Zakarin made his breakthrough. He moved to Team Katusha and quickly rose to prominence. In April and May in particular, he drew attention to himself by winning the Tour de Romandie and a stage in the Giro d'Italia. Zakarin had arrived on the WorldTour and was highly regarded from then on. In the end, the Russian was able to live up to expectations and prove himself as a leader and climber on several tours. In 2016 he won a stage at Paris-Nice and the Tour de France. With fifth place at the Giro and third place at the Vuelta, he demonstrated his high ambitions in 2017. Zakarin has long since risen to become a serious classification driver. Although he has already been Russian champion in the individual time trial three times, his weakness in the fight against the clock is to be found. In the mountains - as well as short, poisonous hills - Zakarin is difficult to lose. His bike control is another shortcoming. But if he manages to make up for these deficits, we could soon have a Russian Grand Tour winner again.
Zakarin: “Podemos derrotar a Froome, pero not es fácil superar al Sky” https://t.co/9u0SQntUWE pic.twitter.com/W5m1YJl4tF
- NotiCiclismo (@ Noticiclismo1) 17 October 2017
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